ABOVE ALL ELSE, deep in my soul, I’m a tough Irishwoman.”

A famous quote from one of Ireland’s most famous actresses.

But from today, Maureen O’Hara will have another identifier. She will also be an Academy Award winner.

At 94 years of age, the Irish actor will receive an honorary Oscar from the Academy today.

Source: AP/Press Association Images

On hearing the news earlier in August, O’Hara said she cried – and then proved her emotion by crying again during an interview with a number of reporters.

“It’s just absolutely wonderful,” she said. “I keep thinking, ‘Oh, this is a league of baloney. They’re not telling me the truth.”

O’Hara has made 60 films, the last being more than 12 years ago. She had a famous on-screen partnership with John Wayne, whom she starred with in a number of films such as her 1938 debut How Green Was My Valley.

Fan favourites include The Quiet Man and Miracle on 34th Street.

Tonight is due to be a special moment for the Dublin woman, who was theatrically educated at the John Street West Girls’ School near Thomas Street and the Rathmines Theatre Company in the 1920s and 1930s.

She had never even been nominated for an Oscar, once stating: “Lost in a crowd of greats, not a single Oscar. That’s showbiz.”

She joins Myrna Loy in a very short list of two people to receive the Honorary Academy Award at the Governors Awards who were never nominated in an acting category.

From the photo archives: St Patrick’s Day 1954

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