Jane Darwell

Early Life

Jane Darwell was born Patti Woodard on October 15^th, 1879 in Palmyra, Missouri. She led a comfortable middle class childhood thanks to her father, William Woodard, who worked as the president of the Louisville Southern Railroad. Jane took an interest in performance at an early age, much to the chagrin of her traditionally minded father. Despite her father's disapproval, she spent much of her youth as a circus rider and aspiring opera singer. When she finally made the decision to become a stage actress, Woodard changed her last name to Darwell to avoid any degradation to her family's name.

Darwell then threw herself into acting, taking voice, piano, and drama lessons. Somewhere during this time she decided to become to nun and entered a convent. However, the marriage to God did not last and pretty soon after she left to continue her path in acting.

Early Career

Darnell appeared on the Broadway stage in 1909, appearing in the play The Wedding Day. She then moved to Chicago, where she made a living acting in theatrical productions. In 1913 the 33-year-old actress made her screen debut in the short The Capture of Aguinaldo. Over the next two years Darwell appeared in nearly twenty-film, mainly in non-speaking bit roles. Her final role during this two-year film blitz was in the Cecile B. DeMille directed 1914 picture Rose of the Rancho. She then took a 16-year hiatus from film and returned to her first love: the stage. Darwell returned to the Broadway in the early 1920s, appearing Merchants of Venus and Swords.  She remained exclusively on the stage until the early 1930s, with the advent of talking pictures.

Darwell made her silver screen return in 1940 as the Widow Douglas in John Cromwell's Tom Sawyer and remained in Hollywood. It wasn't long before the actress's professionalism helped her become a respected and well-known character actress.  Due her Shout features and motherly disposition, Darwell quickly became typecast of the matronly figure to the main character and appeared in six Shirley Temple films as either her trusted housekeeper or favorite grandmother.

Film Career

Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s she worked tirelessly, on average appearing in over 10 films a year between 1933 and 1939. Much of that work was in "B" pictures with a couple notable expectations such as the monumental epic Gone With the Wind, playing the town gossip, Mrs. Merriwether and 1943's The Ox-Bow Incident, where she played grizzled frontiers woman.

In 1940 Darwell played the role for which she is most remembered today, Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. The role gave her a chance to expand her typecast role of family matron into something more. She brought to the role a sense of dignity and determination despite the abject poverty of the films subject matter. She was able mix salt-of-earth sensibility with an odd sense of nobility as she kept her family together against the forces of poverty and cultural apathy. For her role, she was awarded the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor.

Darnell remained a staple on the big screen into the 1940s and 50s, remaining primarily in the "B" pictures with notable exceptions such as the before mentioned Ox-Bow Incident and My Darling Clementine, both Western starring her on frequent on screen son Henry Fonda. She also continued her stage work, where she could explore her craft more as typecasting was less common for on the state. She even returned to Broadway in 1944, playing Mrs. Feeling in the popular comedy Suds In Your Eye.

Television and Later Life

By the 1950s Darwell's health began to wane and her film appearances became less frequent. She did, however, continue to work in the growing medium of television, making her small screen debut on The Red Skelton Hour in 1950.  She then made appearances in popular series such as The Loretta Young Show, The Ford Television Theatre and Playhouse 90. She reunited with Shirley Temple, of course playing Grandma, in Shirley Temple's Story Book. In 1961 she was cast as yet another grandma, this time as Grandmother McCoy in the sitcom The Real McCoys.

By the 1960s, Her health was rapidly deteriorating and she retired to the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California. However, in 1963 she was approached by Walt Disney himself to play the Bird woman in his upcoming film Mary Poppins. The film marked her final appearance on the silver screen and afterwards she re-entered a quiet retirement after over half a century in the business.

Jane Darwell died on August 13^th, 1967 in Wooldland Hills California of Myocardial infarction. She was 87 years old.