Biografia

She was having lunch with actress Lucille Ball the moment Lucy first saw Cuban musician Desi Arnaz, whom she later married.

She became an American citizen on January 25, 1946 but has retained her Irish citizenship. It was the first time in history that the United States government recognized an Irish citizen as Irish. This led to a change in process for all Irish immigrants.

In the early 1940s, she was one of the actresses invited to the White House for a benefit dinner. She sat right next to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Performed many of her own stunts in her films, rare for an actress at that time.

Was John Wayne's favorite actress and he considered her a real friend, the only woman he thought of in that way. When he lay dying in his hospital bed, he watched on television as Maureen petitioned Congress to give him a Congressional Gold Medal, which they did by a unanimous vote.

Speaking as an actress, I wish all actors would be more like Duke [John Wayne]--and speaking as a person, it would be nice if all people could be honest and as genuine as he is. This is a real man.

To the people throughout the world, John Wayne is not just an actor, and a very fine actor--John Wayne is the United States of America.

Charles Laughton and his wife, Elsa Lanchester, were never blessed with children. Years after he died, Elsa wrote her autobiography and claimed they never had children because Laughton was homosexual. That's rubbish. Whether or nor Laughton was gay would never have stopped him from having children. He wanted them too badly. Laughton told me the reason they never had children was because Elsa couldn't conceive, the result of a botched abortion she'd had during her earlier days in burlesque. Laughton told me many times that not being a father was his greatest disappointment in life.

I was talking to a director I knew and [John Ford] just turned around and punched me on the jaw. There was no reason or explanation, and I walked straight out of the house and vowed I'd never speak to him again. Of course, I did, but it took a while. He never apologized and I never found out why he hit me.

[on John Ford] I think he was a bitterly disappointed man. More than anything he wanted to be in Ireland or be a military hero. So every so often his anger would spill out and whoever was closest got the brunt of his anger.