Irish Hollywood legend Maureen O’Hara is making plans to return to the village of Cong, County Mayo, 60 years after she filmed “The Quiet Man” alongside John Wayne in the same location. On August 26, she will launch the first ‘Quiet Man’ Festival.

O’Hara played the iconic role of Mary Kate Danaher in the 1950s smash-hit movie and this year marks the movie’s 60th anniversary.

Over the last 60 years Maureen O’Hara’s iconic movie has brought millions of tourists to the village of Cong and its environs eager to see where the movie was shot.

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Fittingly, O’Hara will stay at Ashford Castle later this month, just as she did 60 years ago.

O’Hara will be celebrating her 91st birthday on August 17 but this hasn’t slowed the Hollywood star down. As she works tirelessly to promote her own Irishness and the film industry in Ireland.

Speaking about the “Quiet Man” some years ago she said that out of all other movie this one had won a special place in her heart. She said, “I have often said that The Quiet Man is my personal favourite of all the pictures I have made. It is the one I am most proud of, and I tend to be very protective of it. I loved Mary Kate Danaher. I loved the hell and fire in her.

“As I readied to begin playing her, I believed that my most important scene in the picture was when Mary Kate is in the field herding the sheep and Seán Thornton sees her for the very first time. It’s a moment captured in time, and it’s love at first sight. I felt very strongly that if the audience believed it was love at first sight, then we would have lightning in a bottle. But if they didn’t, we would have just another lovely romantic comedy on our hands. The scene comes off beautifully.”