Going My Way is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran. Crosby sings five songs with other songs performed onscreen by Metropolitan Opera's star mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir. Going My Way was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's.
The Quiet Man is a 1952 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Ford. It stars John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen. The screenplay by Frank S. Nugent was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story of the same name by Maurice Walsh, later published as part of a collection titled The Green Rushes. The film features Winton Hoch's lush photography of the Irish countryside and a long, climactic, semi-comic fist fight. It was an official selection of the 1952 Venice Film Festival.
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) is an American musical comedy-drama film, produced and directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a priest and a nun who, despite their good-natured rivalry, try to save their school from being shut down. The character Father O'Malley had been previously portrayed by Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was produced by Leo McCarey's production company, Rainbow Productions.
Maureen O'Sullivan was an Irish-American actress, best known for playing Jane in the Tarzan series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo and Myrna Loy. In 2020, she was listed at number eight on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Maureen O'Hara was an Irish–American actress and singer, who became successful in Hollywood throughout the 1940s to 1960s. She was a natural redhead who was known for playing passionate but sensible heroines, often in Westerns and adventure films. She worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne on numerous occasions.
Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, earning the award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic My Left Foot (1989). She also appeared in films such as The Field (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004) and Albert Nobbs (2011).
Rio Grande is a 1950 American romantic Western film directed by John Ford, and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. It is the third installment of Ford's "cavalry trilogy", following two RKO Pictures releases: Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
Fionnghuala Manon "Fionnula" Flanagan is an Irish stage, television, and film actress. For her contributions to the entertainment industry, she was given the IFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Flanagan is known for her roles in the films James Joyce's Women (1985) and The Others (2001), for the latter of which she won a Saturn Award. She was honored with the Maureen O'Hara Award at the Kerry Film Festival in 2011, the award is offered to women who have excelled in their chosen field in film. She was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards during her acting career. In 2020, she was listed at #23 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
The Long Gray Line is a 1955 American Cinemascope Technicolor biographical comedy-drama film in CinemaScope directed by John Ford based on the life of Marty Maher and his autobiography, Bringing Up the Brass, co-written with Nardi Reeder Campion. Tyrone Power stars as the scrappy Irish immigrant whose 50-year career at West Point took him from a dishwasher to a non-commissioned officer and athletic instructor. Maher was buried there in January 1961.
Mary Gordon was a Scottish actress who mainly played housekeepers and mothers, most notably the landlady Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the 1940s starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Her body of work included nearly 300 films between 1925 and 1950.
The Rising of the Moon is a 1957 Irish anthology film directed by John Ford. It consists of three episodes all set in Ireland:
Keep Your Seats, Please is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Monty Banks and starring George Formby, Florence Desmond and Alastair Sim. It marked the film debut of the child star Binkie Stuart. The film was made by Associated Talking Pictures.
The Kerry Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, during October / November. The Kerry Film Festival is funded by Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland, the Arts Council as well as having corporate sponsorship.
On the Nose is an Irish/Canadian comedy/fantasy film released in 2001. It was written by Tony Philpott and stars Dan Aykroyd and Robbie Coltrane in a magical comedy where a long dead Australian aboriginal's head is used to predict winners in horse races. The movie was filmed in Dublin, Ireland.
Binkie Stuart was a Scottish film actress. During the 1930s she enjoyed brief fame as a child actress and was considered Britain's answer to Shirley Temple.
The Women's Home Internationals are an amateur team golf championship for women contested between the four Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, where Ireland is represented by the whole island of Ireland on an All-Ireland basis. After the Ladies' Golf Union, the former governing body for women's golf in Great Britain and Ireland, merged into The R&A in 2016, The R&A took over organisation of the event. The match is played annually and the venue cycles between the four nations.
Paddy the Next Best Thing is a 1908 romantic comedy novel by the British writer Gertrude Page.
