Whatever Happened to ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ Child Star Margaret O’Brien?
What To Know
- Margaret O’Brien, famed for her childhood role as “Tootie” in Meet Me in St. Louis, became one of MGM’s most celebrated young stars and won a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1944.
- After facing challenges transitioning to adult roles, she found success in television throughout the 1950s and 1960s and later made headlines when her long-lost Oscar was recovered in 1995.
- Now 89, O’Brien remains active in interviews and classic film events, reflecting fondly on her career and continuing to engage with fans and the film community.
Margaret O’Brien turns 89 on January 15, 2026 — but while she’s been an adult for a long time, for many classic movie fans, she will always be remembered as the adorable little girl who stole scenes in Meet Me in St. Louis. Appearing opposite Judy Garland as “Tootie” Smith, O’Brien delivered one of the most emotionally moving child actor performances of the studio era, earning a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1944 and helping to define what youthful authenticity on screen could look like. Have you ever wondered what she is up to in recent years? The actress is still making public appearances, often for events celebrating her classic films.
How did Margaret O’Brien begin her career?
The actress, born Angela Maxine O’Brien in San Diego in 1937, entered films at an astonishingly young age, appearing in a small uncredited role in Babes on Broadway at around three years old. Her true breakthrough came the following year in Journey for Margaret, where critics praised her unusually natural acting style for such a young child. MGM quickly recognized her appeal, placing her in a steady stream of prestige productions, including Jane Eyre, The Canterville Ghost, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Little Women and The Secret Garden. By the mid-’40s, she was one of the studio’s most visible young stars.
Everett Collection
Her mother, Gladys Flores, who had a theatrical background as a flamenco dancer, guided her through long shooting days and the unusual demands of child stardom. Looking back, O’Brien has consistently described those years as happy ones rather than stressful. As she explained in her recent interview with Tell Me Tell Me Stories on Instagram, “It was work as children, but … we were patient children, and we were good children.”
What happened when Margaret O’Brien grew up?
Everett Collection
As she grew older, the transition into adult roles proved difficult, a challenge many former child stars faced in the studio system. She appeared on the cover of Life magazine in 1958 under the headline “How the Girl’s Grown,” signaling an effort to reshape her public image.
Television became an important outlet for that reinvention. Throughout the late ’50s and ’60s, she appeared on series such as Wagon Train, Rawhide, Perry Mason and Combat!. In later years, she reunited with former co-stars on shows including Marcus Welby, M.D. and appeared in a 1991 episode of Murder, She Wrote alongside Angela Lansbury, her co-star from Tenth Avenue Angel.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
One of the most remarkable chapters of O’Brien’s life came not from a film role, but from the real-life mystery surrounding her stolen Oscar. As a teenager, her special juvenile statuette disappeared after a family maid failed to return it from cleaning. For decades, the award was presumed lost. In 1995, nearly fifty years after she first received it, memorabilia collectors unknowingly purchased the engraved statuette at a flea market, which led to its identification and return by the Academy. At the ceremony marking its recovery, O’Brien told reporters that people should never give up hope when something precious goes missing, a sentiment that became one of the most touching stories in Oscar history.
In her personal life, O’Brien married Harold Allen Jr. in 1959, though the marriage ended in divorce in the late ’60s. In 1974, she married steel executive Roy Thorvald Thorsen, and the couple remained together until his death in 2018. They shared one daughter, Mara Tolene Thorsen.
Where is Margaret O’Brien today?
View this post on Instagram
While she never completely stepped away from acting, O’Brien’s later years have been marked by more selective projects, occasional independent films, interviews, and continued participation in classic film events.
Even into her late eighties, O’Brien remains creatively active and deeply appreciative of her career. In the same recent interview, she spoke about how meaningful it was to bring beloved books to life on screen, mentioning Jane Eyre, The Secret Garden and Meet Me in St. Louis. She also shared that she has returned to radio performance in Seattle, participating in live productions that recreate the classic format of old radio dramas she grew up performing. Reflecting on her long career, she summed it up simply and warmly: “It was a fun life. And still is.”
Remind 
Where Are They Now? Child Stars and Teen Idols
June 2024
What happened to those teen idols and child stars we swayed to, swooned over and watched as they grew up (while we grew up as well)?
Buy This Issue