Hollywood Legend Lends Talents To New Holiday Film

You’re sending the script for a Christmas movie to Maureen O’Hara. How special does it have to be?

Well, first consider that you’re approaching a Hollywood legend who knows a thing or two about classic holiday films. In 1947, she starred in a little Christmas fable that has stirred a few hearts over the years - “Miracle on 34th Street,” the one with child star Natalie Wood.

Then consider that since 1971, O’Hara has been coaxed out of retirement for just two projects: “The Red Pony,” a 1973 TV movie co-starring Henry Fonda, and “Only the Lonely,” the 1991 film with a role written specifically for her.

So what are the chances of persuading O’Hara to star in your Christmas movie? Common sense might tell you that the odds are impossibly long.

Emmy-winning producer Beth Polson did not stop to calculate those odds. She had that much faith in “The Christmas Box,” a script based on Richard Paul Evans’ surprise best seller. And as O’Hara’s character learns in “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”

Yes, O’Hara loved the script. Yes, she agreed to star with Richard Thomas and Annette O’Toole in “The Christmas Box,” which CBS will air tonight at 9.

“I know it’s a tall order,” O’Hara said during a telephone interview, “but we are all hoping that ‘The Christmas Box’ will become a companion to ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’ “

Those are high hopes, yet this story has the reputation of being an overachiever. An advertising executive, Evans wrote the slim book as an inspirational gift for his family and friends.

Unable to find a publisher, he decided to self-publish “The Christmas Box.” Last year, it hit the New York Times list of paperback best sellers. This year, it is being published in hardcover by Simon & Schuster.

“So few films with sentiment and heart get made today,” O’Hara says, “so when one this good comes along, you do it.”

Thomas plays Richard Evans, who reluctantly agrees to move with his wife (O’Toole) and daughter (Kelsey Mulrooney) into the sprawling mansion of elderly Mary Parkin (O’Hara). A wealthy widow, Mary needs live-in help.

Although set in her ways, the lonely Mary starts to respond to mother and daughter. Richard, always busy with his new business, is having a tougher time warming up to Mary and the house.

“I don’t know if we have a classic on our hands,” O’Hara says, “but I know the chemistry is right, and you have to start with that. Working with Richard, Annette and little Kelsey Mulrooney was a dream.

“Look at ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’ The reason it works is that you have the right mix of people, from wonderful Edmund Gwenn as Santa Claus to John Payne and Natalie Wood. The magic was there.

“That’s why the original ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ is still the favorite, thank goodness. It hasn’t been replaced by the remakes. You can’t recapture magic.”

At 75, O’Hara spends summers in her native Ireland (“fishing and playing golf and enjoying myself”) and the rest of the year at her home on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands.

Even though she’s accepted only two acting assignments in more than 20 years, O’Hara feels “like the acting muscles never get out of shape. Actors are born, and throughout life, you hone the gifts that God gave you. But you don’t lose them. Actors are born.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TV PREVIEW “The Christmas Box” airs tonight at 9 on KREM-Channel 2.