For Christmas I received the musical Meet Me In St. Louis starring Judy Garland and Margaret O’Brien. Margaret O’Brien was a great child actress. She was born Angela Maxine O’Brien on January 15, 1937 in San Diego, California. Her father, a circus performer, died shortly after her birth. Her mother was a well-known flamenco dancer.

Her first film appearance was in Babes on Broadway when she was just four years old. In the 1944 movie Jane Eyre, O’Brien played a young french girl and spoke and sang convincingly with a French accent. She was six years old. The same year she appeared in Meet Me In St. Louis as the precocious five year old Tootie. She was awarded with an Academy Junior Award in 1945 for outstanding child actress of 1944.

In 1949 she appeared in Little Women as Beth and The Secret Garden as Mary. After 1949, her film roles became few and far between. She did not make the transition well to adult roles.

She has been married twice and has one daughter, Mara Tolene Thorsen born in 1977.

Featured Margaret O’Brien Movies: