Roy Thorsen, whose full name was Roy Thorvald Thorsen, was an American businessman and West Point graduate best remembered publicly as the longtime husband of legendary child actress Margaret O’Brien. Born on November 13, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, Roy built a professional life outside Hollywood and was described in biographical accounts as a steel-industry executive. He and Margaret married in 1974, raised their daughter Mara Tolene Thorsen, and remained together until Roy’s death on June 4, 2018. In retirement, he discovered an unexpected second passion: digitally restoring old photographs, including priceless images from Margaret’s childhood career.
Quick Bio
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Roy Thorvald Thorsen |
| Known As | Roy Thorsen |
| Date of Birth | November 13, 1930 |
| Birthplace | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Date of Death | June 4, 2018 |
| Age at Death | 87 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | United States Military Academy at West Point |
| West Point Class | 1955 |
| Profession | Businessman / steel-industry executive |
| Wife | Margaret O’Brien |
| Marriage | June 1974 |
| Daughter | Mara Tolene Thorsen |
| Retirement | Around 2000 |
| Later Interest | Digital photo restoration |
| Known For | Margaret O’Brien’s husband and his own professional/private life |
| Net Worth | Not publicly verified |
| Cause of Death | Not publicly confirmed in reliable records |
Who Was Roy Thorsen?
Roy Thorsen lived a very different life from his famous wife.
Margaret O’Brien had been appearing before cameras since she was a little girl.
Roy was not an actor.
He was not a movie producer.
He did not build a celebrity brand.
Instead, Roy’s background included military education, engineering-oriented professional work and corporate business.
West Point records identify Roy Thorvald Thorsen as a member of the United States Military Academy Class of 1955 and record his birth on November 13, 1930, and death on June 4, 2018.
That gives Roy’s story an interesting contrast.
He eventually married one of Hollywood’s most recognizable former child stars, yet his own world was largely outside entertainment.
Roy Thorsen Was Born in Brooklyn
Roy was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 13, 1930.
IMDb and his memorial record both give the same full name, birth date and death date.
He grew up during a very different era of American life.
The Great Depression was still shaping families during his childhood.
The United States then entered World War II while Roy was still young.
By the time he reached adulthood, military service and technical careers were respected paths for ambitious young men.
Roy chose one of the country’s most demanding educational institutions.
Roy Thorsen Attended West Point
Roy studied at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
West Point’s own Class of 1955 archives provide especially useful evidence about this part of his life.
The class history says 470 cadets graduated in June 1955 with Bachelor of Science degrees.
Roy appears repeatedly in archived class photographs from his cadet years, including pictures from 1953 and the class’s 100th Night activities.
This gives us more than a biography website repeating the phrase “West Point graduate.”
He was genuinely part of the academy’s Class of 1955.
What Would Roy Have Studied at West Point?
The West Point Class of 1955 curriculum was extremely broad.
Class records show cadets studied subjects including:
Mathematics.
Physics.
Chemistry.
Engineering.
Mechanics.
Electricity.
Military tactics.
Law.
Social sciences.
Military psychology.
Physical education.
That type of technical background fits well with the business and industrial career Roy later pursued.
It also helps explain why a career in engineering-related industries would have been a natural direction after graduation.
What Did Roy Thorsen Do for a Living?
Roy’s professional career is not documented in the same detail as Margaret’s acting career.
That is understandable.
Actors leave movie credits.
Executives often do not.
Published biographies of Margaret O’Brien describe Roy as a steel-industry executive.
An older newspaper column published around the time Margaret was preparing to marry him described Roy as a landing-gear manufacturer, suggesting that his professional experience also included industrial or aerospace-related manufacturing.
These descriptions are not necessarily contradictory.
People can move between industries and executive positions over long careers.
What is clear is that Roy’s profession belonged to business and industry rather than Hollywood.
Roy Thorsen Was Not an Actor
This is worth stating because his name appears on celebrity-photo websites and entertainment databases.
Roy regularly attended public functions with Margaret.
Getty’s archive contains photographs of the couple at film-industry parties, award events and charity occasions from the 1970s onward.
But appearing beside an actress does not make someone an actor.
There is no established Roy Thorsen filmography showing a professional acting career.
His fame came through marriage.
His career came from a different world.
Who Was Roy Thorsen’s Wife Margaret O’Brien?
Margaret O’Brien was already famous long before she met Roy.
Born Angela Maxine O’Brien in 1937, she became one of MGM’s most successful child performers during the 1940s.
Her best-known films include:
Journey for Margaret
Jane Eyre
The Canterville Ghost
Meet Me in St. Louis
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
Little Women
The Secret Garden
Her performance as Tootie in Meet Me in St. Louis, opposite Judy Garland, became one of her most memorable roles.
The Academy honored Margaret as the outstanding child actress of 1944 with an Academy Juvenile Award.
She also received two Hollywood Walk of Fame stars, one for motion pictures and one for television.
Roy therefore married someone whose childhood was part of Hollywood history.
Margaret O’Brien Had Been Married Before
Roy was Margaret’s second husband.
She first married commercial artist Harold Allen Jr. in 1959.
That marriage ended in divorce in 1968.
Several years later, Roy entered her life.
Public photographs show Margaret and Roy attending an event together as early as April 1973, before their 1974 marriage.
However, reliable sources do not provide a detailed first-person story explaining exactly where or how they first met.
So it would be better not to invent a romantic “first meeting” story.
What we know is that the relationship was established by the early 1970s and became a marriage in 1974.
When Did Roy Thorsen and Margaret O’Brien Marry?
There is a small disagreement in published records.
A biography of Margaret O’Brien by Allan R. Ellenberger gives the wedding date as June 6, 1974.
IMDb lists June 8, 1974.
Because strong secondary references differ by two days, the safest wording is simply:
Roy Thorsen and Margaret O’Brien married in June 1974.
What matters far more is what followed.
The marriage lasted until Roy’s death in June 2018.
That was almost 44 years together.
Their Marriage Was Remarkably Long
Hollywood marriages are often discussed because they end quickly.
Roy and Margaret’s story was very different.
Their relationship survived decades of changing careers, family responsibilities and public appearances.
The couple could frequently be seen together at film-industry events.
Getty’s archives document Roy beside Margaret at events in the 1970s, 1980s and later years.
In 2014, only four years before Roy’s death, the couple attended the TCM Classic Film Festival together.
That continuity is one of the most striking parts of their story.
Roy and Margaret Had One Daughter
Roy and Margaret became parents to Mara Tolene Thorsen.
Mara was Margaret’s only child.
There is another date disagreement here that deserves careful treatment.
Some modern biographies list Mara’s birth year as 1977.
But IMDb gives the much more specific date July 12, 1976.
Even more importantly, a December 1976 Associated Press photo caption described Mara as five months old, which strongly supports a birth around July 1976 rather than 1977.
For that reason, July 1976 appears more consistent with the contemporary evidence.
Roy Thorsen as a Father
Photographic archives give us small glimpses of Roy as a family man.
Getty records Margaret, Roy and young Mara together at the Annual Celebrity Easter Sunday Brunch in Beverly Hills in 1977 and again in 1978.
These images show something simple but important.
Roy was not merely the man standing beside Margaret at premieres.
He and Margaret were raising a daughter together.
The family sometimes participated in Hollywood events, but Mara did not grow into a conventional child celebrity.
Her parents appear to have protected much of her private life.
Who Is Mara Tolene Thorsen?
Mara remained far less famous than her mother.
Current professional information associates a Mara T. Thorsen, Ph.D. with psychology and advanced academic study, including graduate education in psychology and sociology-related fields.
However, because Mara has not built a mainstream celebrity identity, her private details should not be expanded unnecessarily.
What matters for Roy’s biography is simple:
She was his only daughter with Margaret and an important part of their family life.
Roy Retired Around 2000
One of the best sources for understanding Roy as a person is something he wrote himself.
In October 2007, the Ventura County Star published an article under Roy T. Thorsen’s name titled “Photo restoration. How it helps others and me.”
In it, Roy explained that he had retired around 2000.
Retirement gave him time.
Margaret soon gave him a project.
She told him many of her old photographs from her film career had faded or become damaged.
Roy mentioned that computer software could restore them.
Margaret’s response was essentially:
Why don’t you learn to do it?
And he did.
Roy Thorsen Became a Photo Restorer
This may be the most charming part of his story.
Roy did not simply press an automatic button on a computer.
He said he spent weeks and months reading manuals, attending seminars and practicing.
Eventually, he restored Margaret’s childhood photographs and preserved them digitally on CDs or DVDs.
Think about the significance of that.
Margaret’s childhood images are not merely family snapshots.
They document the career of one of Hollywood’s most famous MGM child actresses.
Many of those photos dated back decades.
Roy helped protect them from further deterioration.
He Began Restoring Photos for Other Stars
Roy’s restoration work expanded beyond Margaret.
In his 2007 article, he said he had restored photographs for several film and television personalities.
One example was actress and entertainer Rose Marie, remembered for The Dick Van Dyke Show and Hollywood Squares.
Roy described restoring a badly damaged old photograph from Rose Marie’s early performing career.
When he returned the repaired image, she became emotional.
For Roy, that reaction made the work meaningful.
He was not simply repairing pixels.
He was returning memories.
Roy Even Created a Name for His Restoration Work
Roy’s 2007 article mentioned a website for his photo work called “Roystorations.”
The name cleverly combined:
Roy + restorations.
It gives us a rare glimpse of Roy’s personality.
He had spent much of his life in technical and business environments.
After retirement, those problem-solving skills turned into a creative hobby that helped preserve entertainment history.
The activity also brought him closer to Margaret’s world.
His Technical Background Probably Helped
It is easy to see why Roy became interested in digital restoration.
His West Point education included technical subjects.
His professional life was associated with industry and engineering-oriented business.
Photo restoration requires patience, careful observation and comfort with technology.
Those qualities likely suited him well.
We should not claim that West Point directly trained him for Photoshop decades later.
But it is interesting that a technically educated businessman found a detailed computer-based hobby after retirement.
Roy Helped Preserve Margaret O’Brien’s Hollywood History
Margaret’s photographs covered an extraordinary era.
She worked during MGM’s golden period.
She acted alongside performers such as Judy Garland.
She appeared in major studio productions when Hollywood operated very differently from today.
Old photographs from that era can fade.
Paper can crack.
Colours change.
Negatives can become lost.
Roy’s restoration work therefore had value beyond the couple’s home.
By repairing and digitizing images, he helped preserve material connected with classic Hollywood.
That may be one of his least famous but most interesting accomplishments.
Roy and Margaret Continued Attending Film Events
Even though Roy was not an entertainer, he became familiar to classic-film photographers because he often accompanied Margaret.
Getty’s collection includes photographs of the couple at:
Film celebrations.
Charity events.
Award luncheons.
Celebrity gatherings.
Classic-film festivals.
This continued well into their later years.
For someone who lived mostly outside fame, Roy handled a great deal of proximity to it.
He appears to have done so without trying to make himself the star.
When Did Roy Thorsen Die?
Roy Thorvald Thorsen died on June 4, 2018.
He was 87 years old.
His memorial record confirms both his birth and death dates.
West Point’s memorial archive independently records the same dates for Roy Thorvald Thorsen of the Class of 1955.
That consistency gives us strong confidence in this part of his biography.
What Was Roy Thorsen’s Cause of Death?
A reliable public cause of death is not clearly provided in the memorial sources reviewed.
Dignity Memorial records his death but does not list a medical cause.
For that reason, articles should not guess.
He was 87 at the time of his death, but age alone does not tell us what caused someone to die.
The correct answer is:
Roy Thorsen’s specific cause of death has not been publicly confirmed in the strongest available records.
How Long Were Roy and Margaret Married?
Depending on whether June 6 or June 8 is used as the wedding date, Roy died just a few days before what would have been their 44th wedding anniversary.
That makes the length of the marriage especially poignant.
They had spent almost 44 years together.
They raised a daughter.
They attended decades of events.
Roy supported the preservation of Margaret’s photographic history.
And Margaret remained his wife until his death.
Is Margaret O’Brien Still Alive in 2026?
Yes.
Margaret O’Brien was born January 15, 1937 and remains one of the surviving performers associated with Hollywood’s Golden Age. Her career began when she was a small child and eventually stretched across film, television and stage.
Her marriage to Roy is now part of her long personal history.
When people search Roy Thorsen today, most discover him because they first encounter Margaret.
But his life contained its own achievements.
Roy Thorsen’s Net Worth
Roy Thorsen’s net worth was never reliably made public.
Some biography sites may attach a dollar estimate to his name.
There is not enough financial evidence to support those numbers.
Roy worked in executive and industrial roles, but public information does not reveal:
His salary.
Company shares.
Property ownership.
Investments.
Retirement assets.
Estate value.
Therefore, any exact figure should be considered speculation.
Why Do People Still Search for Roy Thorsen?
The answer begins with Margaret O’Brien.
Classic-film fans continue watching Meet Me in St. Louis.
They learn about Margaret’s extraordinary childhood career.
Then they begin looking into her personal life.
Who did she marry?
Did she have children?
Who was Roy Thorsen?
That search leads to a surprisingly interesting story.
Roy was not simply an unnamed celebrity spouse.
He was a West Point graduate.
A businessman.
An industry executive.
A husband of nearly 44 years.
A father.
And later, a skilled photo-restoration enthusiast who helped preserve old Hollywood memories.
Roy Thorsen’s Life Was Different From Hollywood Fame
This may be what makes him interesting.
Margaret’s career depended on being seen.
Roy’s life mostly did not.
She worked in front of cameras.
He worked in industry.
She had awards and movie posters.
He had a West Point education and executive career.
Then, in retirement, their worlds came together in an unexpected way.
Margaret had the old photographs.
Roy learned how to restore them.
It is a small story, but a memorable one.
Final Thoughts
Roy Thorsen was born Roy Thorvald Thorsen on November 13, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York.
He attended West Point and graduated with the Class of 1955. West Point’s own archives preserve photographs and records from his cadet years.
He later built a career in industry, with Margaret O’Brien biographies describing him as a steel-industry executive.
Then Hollywood entered his personal life.
Roy married Margaret in June 1974.
Their marriage produced one daughter, Mara Tolene Thorsen, and lasted until Roy’s death in 2018.
But perhaps the most personal information about Roy came from Roy himself.
After retiring around 2000, he learned digital photo restoration because Margaret’s old childhood pictures were fading and damaged.
What began as a project for his wife became something bigger.
He restored images for other entertainers too, including Rose Marie, and wrote about how rewarding it felt to rescue photographs people feared were lost forever.
Roy died on June 4, 2018, at age 87.
He never became a Hollywood star.
That was not his story.
His story was about a technical education, a long business career, nearly 44 years of marriage, fatherhood and a retirement hobby that quietly helped protect pieces of Hollywood history.
FAQs About Roy Thorsen
Who was Roy Thorsen?
Roy Thorsen was an American businessman and West Point graduate best known publicly as the longtime husband of actress Margaret O’Brien.
What was Roy Thorsen’s full name?
His full name was Roy Thorvald Thorsen.
When was Roy Thorsen born?
Roy was born on November 13, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York.
When did Roy Thorsen die?
He died on June 4, 2018.
How old was Roy Thorsen when he died?
He was 87 years old.
What was Roy Thorsen’s cause of death?
A specific cause of death is not clearly disclosed in reliable public memorial records.
Was Roy Thorsen a West Point graduate?
Yes. West Point archives identify Roy Thorvald Thorsen as a member of the Class of 1955.
What did Roy Thorsen do for a living?
Biographical sources describe him as a steel-industry executive, while an older newspaper reference described him as involved in landing-gear manufacturing.
Was Roy Thorsen an actor?
No established professional acting career is documented for Roy. He attended many entertainment events because of his marriage to Margaret O’Brien.
Who was Roy Thorsen’s wife?
His wife was Margaret O’Brien, the famous MGM child actress known especially for Meet Me in St. Louis.
When did Roy Thorsen marry Margaret O’Brien?
They married in June 1974. Sources disagree slightly between June 6 and June 8.
How long were Margaret O’Brien and Roy Thorsen married?
They were married for almost 44 years, remaining together until Roy’s death in June 2018.
Did Roy Thorsen have children?
Yes. Roy and Margaret had one daughter, Mara Tolene Thorsen.
When was Mara Tolene Thorsen born?
IMDb gives July 12, 1976, and a December 1976 Associated Press caption described her as five months old. Some later references incorrectly or inconsistently give 1977.
What did Roy Thorsen do after retirement?
After retiring around 2000, Roy learned digital photo restoration and repaired many old photographs from Margaret O’Brien’s career.
Did Roy restore photos for other celebrities?
Yes. Roy wrote that he restored photographs for other film and television personalities, including Rose Marie.
What was Roystorations?
Roy used the name Roystorations for his photo-restoration work, combining his name with the word “restorations.”
What was Roy Thorsen’s net worth?
His personal net worth was never reliably verified. Specific online estimates should be treated as speculation.
Why is Roy Thorsen famous?
He is primarily remembered as Margaret O’Brien’s husband, but he also had an independent professional career, graduated from West Point and later became involved in digital photo restoration.
Is Margaret O’Brien still alive?
Yes. Margaret O’Brien remains part of the surviving generation connected with Hollywood’s Golden Age.
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