Jane Darwell
A heavy-set character player with a hearty voice and a slightly worried expression, Jane Darwell was often cast in matronly roles. Although she played a wide variety of roles (including an unsympathetic part as one of the lynchers in the memorable "The Ox-Bow Incident" 1943) in a career spanning well over 100 credits from the early 1930s through the mid-60s, she was most typically seen as concerned, warm-hearted mothers. For many fans, Darwell will always be remembered for her towering, Oscar-winning performance as Ma Joad in John Ford's stirring adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940). One of her last screen appearances was as an elderly woman seen tossing crumbs to the pigeons while Julie Andrews warbled "Feed the Birds" in "Mary Poppins" (1964).
Photos
Jane Darwell
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
97% |
|
Mary Poppins | Bird Woman (Character) | - | 1964 |
83% |
|
The Last Hurrah | Delia Boylan (Character) | - | 1958 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Girls in Prison | Matron Jamieson (Character) | - | 1956 |
88% |
|
There's Always Tomorrow | Mrs. Rogers (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Life at Stake | Landlady (Character) | - | 1955 |
67% |
|
Hit the Deck | Jenny (Character) | - | 1955 |
73% |
|
The Bigamist | Mrs. Connelley (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet |
|
Affair With a Stranger | Ma Stanton (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | It Happens Every Thursday | Mrs. Eva Spatch (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Journey Into Light | Mack (Character) | - | 1951 |
80% |
|
The Lemon Drop Kid | Nellie Thursday (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
Excuse My Dust | Mrs. Belden (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady | Mrs. Murphy (Character) | - | 1950 |
100% |
|
Wagon Master | Sister Ledeyard (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet |
|
Three Husbands | Mrs. Wurdeman (Character) | - | 1950 |
50% |
|
Caged | Isolation Matron (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Second Face | Mrs. Lockridge (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Father's Wild Game | Minverva Bobbin (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Redwood Forest Trail | Hattie Hickory (Character) | - | 1950 |
87% |
|
3 Godfathers | Miss Florie (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Red Stallion | Mrs. Aggie Curtis (Character) | - | 1947 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Keeper of the Bees | Mrs. Ferris (Character) | - | 1947 |
100% |
|
My Darling Clementine | Kate Nelson (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Dark Horse | Aunt Hattie (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Three Wise Fools | Sister Mary Brigid (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | I Live in Grosvenor Square | Mrs. Patterson (Character) | - | 1945 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Captain Tugboat Annie | Tugboat Annie (Character) | - | 1945 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sunday Dinner for a Soldier | Mrs. Helen Dobson (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Impatient Years | Minister's Wife (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Music in Manhattan | Mrs. Pearson (Character) | - | 1944 |
92% |
|
The Ox-Bow Incident | Jenny Grier (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet |
|
Stage Door Canteen | Self | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gildersleeve's Bad Day | Aunt Emma Forrester (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tender Comrade | Mrs. Henderson (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe | Mrs. Mariah Clemm (Character) | - | 1942 |
100% |
|
All Through the Night | Mrs. Donahue (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Highways by Night | Grandma Fogarty (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | On the Sunny Side | Annie (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Great Gildersleeve | Aunt Emma Forrester (Character) | - | 1942 |
100% |
|
The Devil and Daniel Webster | Ma Stone (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Small Town Deb | Katie (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Thieves Fall Out | Grandma Allen (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet |
|
Chad Hanna | Mrs. Huguenine (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet |
|
Brigham Young | Eliza Kent (Character) | - | 1940 |
100% |
|
The Grapes of Wrath | Ma Joad (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Youth Will Be Served | Supervisor Stormer (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Zero Hour | Sophie (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet |
|
Jesse James | Mrs. Samuels (Character) | - | 1939 |
90% |
|
Gone With the Wind | Mrs. Dolly Merriwether (Character) | $198.7M | 1939 |
67% |
|
The Rains Came | Aunt Phoebe (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Grand Jury Secrets | Mrs. Keefe (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Miracle on Main Street | Mrs. Herman (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Five of a Kind | Mrs. Waldron (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Three Blind Mice | Mrs. Kilian (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet |
|
Little Miss Broadway | Miss Hutchins (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Time Out for Murder | Polly (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet |
|
Love Is News | Mrs. Flaherty (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fifty Roads To Town | Mrs. Henry (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Laughing at Trouble | Glory Bradford (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Great Hospital Mystery | Miss Sarah Keats (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dangerously Yours | Aunt Cynthia Barton (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Singing Marine | Ma Marine (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | White Fang | Maud Mahoney (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet |
|
Private Number | Mrs. Meecham (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Ramona | Aunt Ri Hyar (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet |
|
Poor Little Rich Girl | Woodward (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Star for a Night | Mrs. Martha Lind (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The First Baby | Mrs. Ellis (Character) | - | 1936 |
100% |
|
Craig's Wife | Mrs. Harold (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet |
|
Curly Top | Mrs. Denham (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet |
|
Life Begins at 40 | Ida Harris (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tomorrow's Youth | Mary (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Navy Wife | Mrs. Louise Keats (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | McFadden's Flats | Nora McFadden (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | One More Spring | Mrs. Sweeney (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet |
|
Paddy O'Day | Dora (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet |
|
Heat Lightning | Gladys (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Desirable | Frederick's Mother (uncredited) (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | He Couldn't Take It | Mrs. Case (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet |
|
Finishing School | Maude (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Most Precious Thing in Life | Mrs. O'Day (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Once to Every Woman | Mrs. Wood (Character) | - | 1934 |
57% | No Score Yet | The White Parade | Miss "Sailor" Robets (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Blind Date | Ma Taylor (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet |
|
One Sunday Afternoon | Mrs. Lind (Character) | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet |
|
Before Dawn | Mrs. Marble (Character) | - | 1933 |
76% |
|
Design for Living | Curtis' Housekeeper (uncredited) (Character) | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet |
|
Ann Vickers | Mrs. Gage (uncredited) (Character) | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Emergency Call | Head Nurse Brown (Character) | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Air Hostess | Ma Kearns (Character) | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Child of Manhattan | Mrs. McGonegal (Character) | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet |
|
Hot Saturday | Mrs. Brock (Character) | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet |
|
Fighting Caravans | Pioneer Woman (uncredited) (Character) | - | 1931 |
83% | No Score Yet | Huckleberry Finn | Widow Douglas (Character) | - | 1931 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tom Sawyer | Widow Douglas (Character) | - | 1930 |
100% | No Score Yet | Hypocrites | Madam (Character) | - | 1915 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Unknown (Character) | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Timmy & Lassie | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lassie | Mrs. Brenner (Guest Star) | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wagon Train | Mrs. Anderson (Guest Star) | 1959 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Circus Boy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Screen Directors Playhouse | Unknown (Character) | 1956 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Climax! | Unknown (Character) | 1955 |