Maureen O'Sullivan dies, aged 87

The Irish-born actress and film star Maureen O'Sullivan has died, aged 87. A notable character player and leading lady in many Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s, she was the mother of the actress Mia Farrow.

In a career spanning more than six decades, she appeared in more than 60 films, and also starred on television and on Broadway.

Born in 1911 in Boyle, Co Roscommon, and educated at a convent near London and at a Paris finishing school, Ms O'Sullivan was spotted at the Dublin Horse Show in 1930 by the American film director Frank Borzage, who directed her in her screen debut, a supporting role in Song o' My Heart, a musical starring John McCormack.

After making several films with Fox, she transferred to MGM, where she took the role which made her most familiar to audiences, playing Jane to Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan in six films. She also had supporting roles in some notable films of the era, including The Thin Man, Anna Karenina and Pride and Prejudice. She starred in the Marx Brothers comedy A Day at the Races and took the lead in several other MGM second features.

In 1936 she married the writer-director John Farrow, with whom she had seven children, including the actresses Mia and Tisa Farrow. She retired from the screen in 1942, but returned to films occasionally in later years, among them the 1948 thriller The Big Clock (directed by her husband), and the 1953 Douglas Sirk melodrama All I Desire.

In the 1950s she began working in television, hosting a syndicated series called Irish Heritage. Never Too Late, in a role she repeated in the 1965 film version. Her last notable role was in 1985, when she appeared with Mia in Woody Allen's Hannah and her Sisters.