5 Little-Known Facts About John Wayne’s ‘The Quiet Man’
John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara made five films together, including three with director John Ford. But the trio’s best known collaboration is The Quiet Man, a 1952 romantic dramedy that won Ford his last of his Academy Awards.
Wayne played the retired American boxer Sean Thornton, and O’Hara portrayed Mary Kate Danaher, the Irish redhead with whom he fell in love after returning to his homeland. Penned by Frank S. Nugent and based on the short story of the same name by Maurice Walsh, The Quiet Man almost didn’t reach the screen but now stands as a perennial favorite, especially around St. Patrick’s Day (see below for when it is airing this year).
Everett Collection
1 John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, and John Ford had to make Rio Grande before The Quiet Man
Everett Collection
In her 2004 memoir, O’Hara wrote that major studios deemed The Quiet Man a “silly, stupid little Irish story that will never make a penny” and turned the project down, per Showbiz CheatSheet. Republic Pictures president Herbert J. Yates finally relented and agreed to produce the picture — on the condition that Ford, Wayne and O’Hara make the Western film Rio Grande for him first.
2 In her rage toward Wayne, O’Hara broke a bone in her wrist during filming
Everett Collection
O’Hara also revealed in her memoir that she suffered an injury while filming Sean and Kate’s climactic kiss in the White O’ Morn cottage. She was “mad as hell” at Wayne that day of filming, so she planned to “sock Duke in the jaw and really let him have it,” she wrote, per Showbiz CheatSheet. But her plan “backfired” when Wayne put his hand up to block the sock.
“I knew I had really hurt [the hand] and tried to hide it in the red petticoat I was wearing,” O’Hara wrote. “Duke came over and said, ‘Let me see that hand. You nearly broke my jaw.’ He lifted it out of hiding; each one of my fingers had blown up like a sausage. … I had a hairline fracture in one of the bones in my wrist, but in the end, got no sympathy. I was taken back to the set and put to work.”
3 O’Hara’s family played the film’s score for her in her final hours
Victor Young’s score for The Quiet Man ushered O’Hara from this world to the next when she died in her sleep at age 95 in 2015. “She passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family as they celebrated her life listening to music from her favorite movie, The Quiet Man,” said a statement from her family, per USA Today.
4 A fan club gathers for annual viewings of the film
The Quiet Man Society is “a group of fellows with Irish ancestry who gather annually for the viewing of The Quiet Man,” according to its Facebook page. During their viewings, the group invites other fans to stream the movie at the same time and to join them on Facebook for trivia questions, provided “you’re not having some craic somewhere else.”
5 E.T. is a fan of The Quiet Man
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
In the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, we see the titular alien watching The Quiet Man, specifically the aforementioned kiss between Sean and Mary Kate. And because of his telepathic link to E.T., Elliott (Henry Thomas) even recreates that liplock with a classmate.
In an interview with the American Film Institute, per BFI, Spielberg said that Ford inspires him so much that he tries to watch one of Ford’s films before every film project of his own. “He’s like a classic painter,” Spielberg added. “He celebrates the frame, not just what’s inside it.”
When is The Quiet Man Airing in March 2025?
You can watch The Quiet Man on March 16 at 1pm ET on INSP and at 2pm ET on Fetv as part of their Sunday matinee. Also, catch it on TCM on March 17 at 7pm ET. Although it’s not available for streaming, you can rent it easily. Don’t miss this classic gem!
Remind 
Wild West- Heroes & Villains
November 2022
Celebrates the unique sense of justice, compassion and adventure in the Old West as seen on TV and in the movies
Buy This Issue