St. Patrick’s Day Tribute: Irish Movie Stars

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with movies starring some of the greatest stars in movie history.  If you haven’t seen all of these, you deserve a pinch!

1. Maureen O’Hara — her fiery red hair was made for technicolor and she was ideally cast opposite John Wayne in films like “The Quiet Man” and “McLintock.”  I especially loved her as the mom in “Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Parent Trap.”

2. Colin Farrell — he is electrifying as a bad guy but willing to go all out in a comedy like “Horrible Bosses” or the wonderfully weird “The Lobster.” I especially loved him as a sensitive gay man in “A Home at the End of the World,” and his appearance with Elmo on “Sesame Street.”

3. Saoirse Ronan — one of the most talented young stars working today, she first gained international stardom in “Atonement” and has shown astonishing range in films like “Hanna” and “Brooklyn.”

4. Liam Neeson — an Oscar winner for “Schindler’s List,” Neeson is equally at home in serious drama and in action films like “Taken.”

5. Pierce Brosnan — the most elegant of the James Bonds, Brosnan also played a very different kind of spy in “The Matador” and sang (or tried to) in “Mama Mia.”

6. Peter O’Toole — best known for “Lawrence of Arabia,” but his most endearing performance is probably the swashbuckling movie star guesting on a live television show in “My Favorite Year.” And don’t miss him as a movie director in “The Stunt Man” and an art expert turned thief in “How to Steal a Million.”

7. Jonathan Rhys Meyers — he was Henry VIII on HBO’s “The Tudors” and the soccer coach in “Bend it Like Beckham.”

8. Chris O’Dowd — Kristen Wiig could not resist him in “Bridesmaids,” and he was equally appealing in “Pirate Radio” and the British sitcom “The IT Crowd.”  He plays the manager of a girl group in “The Sapphires” and created the very funny series “Moone Boy.”

9.  Daniel Day-Lewis — he played Abraham Lincoln, but he has also played real-life Irish icons Christy Brown (“My Left Foot”) and Gerry Conlon (“In the Name of the Father”).

10. Pat O’Brien — this dependable character actor starred as Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne.