The Dublin-born actress who won Irish and international hearts through her appearance in The Quiet Man alongside John Wayne, revealed she had survived three brushes with cancer – and is now dealing on an ongoing basis with diabetes.

But, she insisted, her wide, trademark smile still dazzling: "There is no pain. I have had cancer three times so I am a survivor. I do think people should see to it that they get treatment – and don't be afraid.

"As long as God doesn't yet want you, you keep going. I tell people not to be afraid. I should be terrified but I am confident that Charlie Blair and John Wayne have been to God and said: 'Keep her out of here for another while'," Ms O'Hara grinned.

Now 89, Ms O'Hara added that she loved coming back to Foynes, which holds many memories for her.

"I love driving along the side of the river. It's so beautiful," she said.

She has been a patron of Foynes Flying Boat Museum since it opened 20 years ago – and in the new book, she tells the story of how she and Capt Blair returned to Foynes by flying boat in 1976.

"I know I felt a great lump in my throat the minute the great flying boat touched the water," she writes.

Thousands were there to greet them – and later a sculpture was unveiled at Foynes Yachts Club in honour of her late husband, who had flown the last flying boat out of Foynes in 1945 and flown the first land plane into the new Shannon Airport a day later.

The book, Foynes Flying Boat Museum, also contains an excerpt from Capt Blair's autobiography, Red Ball in the Sky, describing a flight from Foynes to New York.

Complied by museum director Margaret O'Shaughnessy, the book tells the story in words and pictures of the golden era of flying boats when Foynes was an international hub. It has been published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the museum – and to provide visitors with a significant keepsake.

Brimful of telling detail, it also contains photographs of the many famous people who passed through Foynes between 1939 and 1945, including Ernest Hemmingway, John F Kennedy, Bob Hope, Yehudi Menuhin and Eleanor Roosevelt.