5 Little-Known Facts About John Wayne’s Romance Dramedy ‘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).