Margaret O'Brien | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

Highest Rated: 100% Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Lowest Rated: 67% The Unfinished Dance (1947)

Birthday: Jan 15, 1937

Birthplace: San Diego, California, USA

This child star of the 1940s was best known for her natural, emotional style and her startling facility for tears. As Maxine O'Brien (her birth name), she first appeared in a civil defense film starring James Cagney, then in a bit in "Babes on Broadway" (both 1941). Sensing her potential, MGM signed her, changed her first name to Margaret and starred her in the tour de force "Journey for Margaret" (1942), as a terrified London war orphan who "adopts" reporter Robert Young. It was an adult, intelligent and slightly scary performance which made her an overnight star. She was loaned out to Fox for "Jane Eyre" (1944). O'Brien's next big showcase came with "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944). As Tootie Smith, the feisty but fragile little sister of Judy Garland, she was a bright point in a very good film, especially in her musical numbers with Garland and during a Halloween sequence in which she confronts a grouchy neighbor. For her performance, she was awarded a special juvenile Oscar. Her next two features, "Music for Millions" (1944) and the drama "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" (1945) were also impressive. Two good roles came her way in 1949, as the tragic Beth in a remake of "Little Women" and as Mary Lennox in "The Secret Garden."

Highest rated movies

100% 87% Meet Me in St. Louis 100% 83% Jane Eyre 86% 73% The Canterville Ghost 75% 83% Little Women 67% 29% The Unfinished Dance

Photos

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Margaret O'Brien

Margaret O'Brien Margaret O'Brien CANTERVILLE GHOST, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien, Charles Laughton, 1944 DR. GILLESPIE'S CRIMINAL CASE, Margaret O'Brien, Lionel Barrymore, 1943 JANE EYRE, Margaret O'Brien, 1944, (c) 20th Century Fox, TM & Copyright JANE EYRE, Margaret O'Brien, Joan Fontaine, 1944. TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. JANE EYRE, Margaret O'Brien, 1944, TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. JANE EYRE, Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien, 1944, TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. MADAME CURIE, Greer Garson explaining story of Madame Curie to Margaret O'Brien on set, 1943 MUSIC FOR MILLIONS, Margaret O'Brien is helped with her doll house furniture by director Henry Koster on set, 1944 View more photos

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Stu's Show Self - 2022
No Score Yet No Score Yet Impact Event Unknown (Character) - 2020
No Score Yet 100% Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story Self - 2018
No Score Yet No Score Yet Beverly Hills Christmas II Mrs. Foxworth (Character) - 2018
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Ms. Stevenson (Character) - 2017
No Score Yet 22% Halloween P... Trap Kill! Kill! Bridgette's Grandmother (Character) - 2017
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dead in Love Cris (Character) - 2009
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sunset After Dark Unknown (Character) - 1996
No Score Yet 75% Amy Hazel Johnson (Character) - 1981
No Score Yet No Score Yet Death in Space Unknown (Character) - 1974
No Score Yet 27% Heller in Pink Tights Della Southby (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Little Women Beth March (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet Glory Clarabel Tilbee (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet Her First Romance Betty Foster (Character) - 1951
75% 83% Little Women Beth (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet 75% The Secret Garden Mary Lennox (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet 54% Tenth Avenue Angel Flavia Mills (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet No Score Yet Big City Midge (Character) - 1948
67% 29% The Unfinished Dance "Meg" Merlin (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet 33% Bad Bascomb Emmy (Character) - 1946
No Score Yet No Score Yet Three Wise Fools Sheila O'Monahan (Character) - 1946
No Score Yet 81% Our Vines Have Tender Grapes Selma Jacobson (Character) - 1945
No Score Yet 70% Lost Angel Alpha (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet 67% Music for Millions Mike (Character) - 1944
100% 87% Meet Me in St. Louis Tootie Smith (Character) - 1944
100% 83% Jane Eyre Adele Varens (Character) - 1944
86% 73% The Canterville Ghost Lady Jessica de Canterville (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet 55% Thousands Cheer Customer in Red Skelton Skit (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case Margaret (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 59% Journey for Margaret Margaret White (Character) - 1942

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar Unknown (Character) 2024
63% 85% Haven Executive Producer 2013
No Score Yet 89% Murder, She Wrote Jane (Guest Star) 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hotel Unknown (Guest Star) 1983
No Score Yet No Score Yet Adam-12 Unknown (Guest Star) 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet Combat! Unknown (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet Perry Mason Virginia Trent (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dr. Kildare Unknown (Guest Star) 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rawhide Unknown (Guest Star) 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet I've Got a Secret Guest 1952 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wagon Train Unknown (Guest Star) 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet Studio One Unknown (Character) 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet What's My Line? Guest 1951 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet Climax! Unknown (Character) 1955 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet Showcase 39 Unknown (Character) 1954
Margaret O'Brien | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)
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