Jane Darwell

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Jane Darwell (* 15. October 1879 in Palmyra , Missouri as Patti Woodard ; † 13 August 1967 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress . She received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her appearance as Mother Joad in The Fruits of Anger (1940) .

life and career

Jane Darwell (right) in the silent film The Goose Girl (1915)

Patti Woodard was born in Missouri in 1879 as the daughter of railroad owner William Robert Woodard and his wife Ellen Booth. Originally she wanted to perform in the circus or as an opera singer, but her father refused these plans. Eventually she took professional acting classes and began her career in the theater. In 1909 she played with the play The Wedding Day for the first time on Broadway , where she appeared in three other plays over the next few decades. In 1913 the character actress completed her first film appearance under her stage name Jane Darwell and appeared in a number of other silent films until 1915, but then went back to the theater. Even at a young age, she embodied roles that were significantly older than herself, often matronly roles.

It wasn't until 1930, with the advent of talkies , that Darwell was back in front of the camera next to child star Jackie Coogan in Tom Sawyer , where she played the role of the widow Douglas. Under contract with 20th Century Fox , she starred in numerous films with Shirley Temple in the 1930s , often as a servant, aunt or mother. In supporting roles, the plump actress was often cast as a somewhat strict, but maternal figure. In 1939 she played in the classic film Gone With the Wind the role of the Atlanta high-society lady Mrs. Merriweather, who was very worried about her reputation . For her performance as a mother of Henry Fonda in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath , the film adaptation of the novel of the same of John Steinbeck , Darwell won at the Oscars in 1941 the Oscar for best supporting actress . She played the self-sacrificing mother Joad, who has to lead her family through America in difficult times.

Throughout her career, Jane Darwell has starred in other John Ford films, including Fist Law of the Prairie and Tracks in the Sand . Under William A. Wellman's Director Western The Ox-Bow Incident , she played in 1943 a malicious woman called "Ma", which incites the inhabitants of a Western village to cruel vigilantism. In addition to her film career, she continued to appear in the theater, and from the 1950s she also took on numerous guest roles on television, for example in an episode of the series The Real McCoys as 100-year-old grandmother McCoy. Darwell's last appearance was as the woman sitting in front of the cathedral and feeding the birds in the Disney classic Mary Poppins . The health of the elderly actress was already in poor health at the time and she was allegedly personally persuaded by Walt Disney to perform.

Jane Darwell has appeared in over 170 films during her career. A star, height 6733 Hollywood Walk of Fame commemorates her. The actress died of a heart attack at the age of 87. She was never married and had no children. Her grave is in Forest Lawn Memorial Park .

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jane Darwell in the Internet Broadway Database , accessed November 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ Jane Darwell at Answers

Web links

Commons : Jane Darwell  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Darwell, Jane
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Palmyra , Missouri , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1967
Place of death Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California , United States