I also went with other. I just can't think of any of her work that i didn't enjoy. However i think that most of us will agree that the most believable couple pairing was with THE DUKE. The chemistry is just so strong you forget it is a movie and feel like you are watching a couple who are your long time friends. i also think that whie she has received many complements on how beautiful she was and still is for someone over 80, that hollywood never really gave her, her due when it came to her looks. a few of her very early movies it seems they tried to make her the starlett type. you know just another pretty face well built girl that after 30 would never be seen again,but she was so much more and way too talented and probably tough to accept that type of type casting and i for one am glad for that. I remember the 1st time i actually noticed that she was one heck of a beautiful woman. she was 41 and co starring in The Parent Trap. The actress Joanna Barnes, who played the girlfriend of the dad was, well, a walking, talking and breathing Barbie doll. She was the perfect image of what most people think is every mans dream girl. It is the scene where Mrs. O'Hara was standing bare foot on a stool reaching up for something that it hit me how much more than just a pretty face and great actress she is, not having the role of the beauty queen but the proper boston raised mother in her motherly clothes and apron. i guess i was 16 or so it was near 1982 when vcr's had dropped in price where a regular family could afford them and we had rented several movies with The Parent Trap being my little sisters selection.
As the years went by and i saw her in movies she made at an earlier age as well as at an older age i figured out what it was that i found so attractive and appealing about her. Yes other actresses were prettier or more fit to the hollywood mold of a beauty queen, but they never had the class or carried themselves with the modest confidence of Mrs. O'Hara. She never had to hide any flaws in her acting ability behind a scant wardrobe or overly stated focus on her beauty, she was and is beautiful from the inside out, and it comes through in every minute of every scene i have had the pleasure of seeing her perform.
In fact during a discussion with some guys i work with i listed her as the best of all time. The younger guys laughed and rattled of girls from baywatch and the like but the guys my age and older all got what i was trying to explain and they had to agree. Even in her last few movies where she is 75 to 80 you can still see the inner beauty that time can never take away. The baywatch types will be long forgotten as age takes away their appeal, but she will be remembered long after we are gone and while she may never get credit as being a sex symbol, someone will always be observant enough to see her true beauty and talent for which no adjective can come close to describing. The only thing left to say is thank you Mrs. O'Hara for all the joy your work has given to so many people for so many years and The Christmas Box will or should be canonized as a classic in the same way as Miracle on 34th Street. Your work just seems to be like wine and gets better with age.
