Shirley O'Hara

Shirley O'Hara, born Shirley Har on August 15, 1924, in Rochester, Minnesota, was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television from the 1940s through the 1980s. She died on December 13, 2002, at the Motion Picture Hospital in Calabasas, California, from complications of diabetes at the age of 78.

O'Hara grew up in Rochester, where she graduated from Rochester High School in 1942. During her senior year, she held jobs at three film theaters in downtown Rochester. Following graduation, she relocated to Hollywood, where employment as an elevator operator at Saks Fifth Avenue connected her with industry professionals. She signed with RKO Studios at age 18 and made her film debut in 1943 in the Kay Kyser musical Around the World. That same year, RKO held a competition to identify the "shapeliest 'shadow girl'" for a role in Ghost Ship, in which the leading lady appeared only in silhouette; O'Hara won the part, and the selection process was covered in the September 13, 1943, issue of Life magazine. Additional film appearances included Higher and Higher, Tarzan and the Amazons, and The Chase, as well as Ghost Ship in 1952.

During World War II, O'Hara contributed to the Hollywood Canteen and received the Support for America award in recognition of those wartime efforts. Her Broadway career ran from 1929 to 1955 and included appearances in Meteor, Button Button, Harriet, and Inherit the Wind. In the 1950s, she appeared in multiple television series, among them Fireside Theatre, Gunsmoke, The Millionaire, Racket Squad, and Dragnet. In 1970, she played Mrs. Drew in the episode "The Mysterious Mr. Tate" on the western series The Virginian.

In the early 1970s, O'Hara was appointed director of public relations for The Burbank Studios and became a member of the Publicists Guild, from which she retired in 1995. She continued acting during this period, appearing in the films Duel in 1971 and Rocky in 1976. On television, she played Mrs. Malone, a night school teacher, in the season four Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Writer" in 1973, and recurred on the Bob Newhart Show as temporary secretary Debbie Flett across three episodes.

O'Hara was married twice. Her first marriage was to Jimmy McHugh Jr., with whom she lived in England while he led the London branch of MCA Inc.; they had one son, Jimmy McHugh III, before divorcing. Her second husband was Milton Krims.