--- name: "Jane Darwell" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jane-darwell" roles: ["Actor"] born: "15 October 1879" died: "13 August 1967" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 79 average_as: "actor" average_over: 4 updated: "2026-09-20T01:02:14.771860+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Jane Darwell Actor. Born 15 October 1879 in Palmyra, Missouri, USA. Died 13 August 1967. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 15 October 1879, Palmyra, Missouri, USA - **Died:** 13 August 1967 - **Active:** 1934–1943 - **Also known as:** Patti Woodard - **Frequently works with:** [Henry Fonda](https://film.one/person/henry-fonda.md) - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as actor, over 4 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 74 (2), 1940s 85 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 81 to 80 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 2 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 2, Romance 2, Music 1, War 1, Western 1 - **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $406m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Darwell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230159, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002034/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8515 ## Fi1m on Jane Darwell > Jane Darwell was the woman Hollywood sent for when a family needed holding together, and for more than thirty years she did it without hurry. She was typecast, she knew it, and in *The Grapes of Wrath* she showed what the type could bear. Before the Joads leave Oklahoma, Ma sits alone by the stove with a box of things she cannot take. A postcard, a china dog, a pair of earrings. She holds the earrings up to her ears in front of a small mirror, and John Ford holds the shot, and Alfred Newman keeps the music out, and Jane Darwell does not cry. It moved us more than we were ready for, and it did so because she plays it as a woman making a decision rather than a woman being pitied. Everything else she does in *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940) follows from that stove: broad, unhurried, the person who decides when the truck leaves. She had been on stage from about 1909 and in silents for Lasky from 1913, went back to the theatre, and came back to the screen in 1930 with *Tom Sawyer*. Short, stout and plain-featured, she was under contract to 20th Century Fox and cast, again and again, as mothers, grandmothers and housekeepers. She made five films with Shirley Temple. She was Mrs Merriwether in *Gone with the Wind* (1939). By her own account she grew tired of the small-town wives and genial mothers, and it is hard to blame her. Then Ford handed her Ma Joad. She said it was "a grand part", and it is the one time the type was asked to carry a whole film rather than furnish it. Henry Fonda plays her son with his voice kept low and his hands still; she plays his mother as the fixed point he moves around. They made three films together, and she made three with Ford, including *My Darling Clementine* (1946), where she is Kate Nelson. When she was let off the type, as Ma Grier leading the lynch mob in *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), the same stillness came out as something colder, and we would like to have seen more of that. What she did well is easy to name and hard to do. She did not ask to be liked. She did not play warmth; she played someone who had things to get done and would be warm if there was time. The weakness was never hers; it was the studio's, which found a shape that worked and kept pouring into it. Her last part, in *Mary Poppins* (1964), was the Bird Woman, and Disney had to ask her for it in person. After more than thirty years of getting other people's families onto the truck, she ended by sitting still. It suited her. ## Biography Jane Darwell was an American actress of stage, film and television. Born Patti Woodard on 15 October 1879 in Palmyra, Missouri, she studied voice, piano and dramatics before making her stage debut and entering silent films around 1913–1914. She appeared in more than 100 feature films over five decades. Darwell is best known for her role as Ma Joad in *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other credits include Mrs Merriwether in *Gone with the Wind* (1939), roles in *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943) and *My Darling Clementine* (1946), and the Bird Woman in *Mary Poppins* (1964). She also appeared in *The White Parade* (1934) as Sailor Roberts. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and died on 13 August 1967 in Los Angeles, California. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, missouriencyclopedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (4) - *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), Fi1m 84, as Ma Grier — [page](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident.md) - *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), Fi1m 86, as Ma Joad — [page](https://film.one/film/the-grapes-of-wrath.md) - *Gone with the Wind* (1939), Fi1m 74, as Mrs. Merriwether — [page](https://film.one/film/gone-with-the-wind.md) - *One Night of Love* (1934), Fi1m 73, as Mrs. Barrett - Mary's Mother — [page](https://film.one/film/one-night-of-love.md) ## Complete filmography (183) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Disney's Greatest Lullabies Volume 2* (1986), as (archive footage) - *Mary Poppins* (1964), as Bird Woman - *Burke's Law* (1963), series, as Mrs. Leah Mulligan - *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962), series, as Mamie Carnation - *Hound-Dog Man* (1959), as Grandma Wilson - *The Last Hurrah* (1958), as Delia - *Maverick* (1957), series, as Mrs. Knowles - *Three Men on a Horse* (1957), as Lady on Bus - *The Greer Case* (1957), as Annie Jackson - *Sincerely, Willis Wade* (1956), as Mrs. Jacoby - *Girls in Prison* (1956), as Matron Jamieson - *Prima Donna* (1956), as Lena - *There's Always Tomorrow* (1956), as Mme Rogers - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *Screen Director's Playhouse* (1955), series, as Lena - *A Life at Stake* (1955), as Landlady - *Hit the Deck* (1955), as Jenny - *The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin* (1954), series, Actor - *Climax!* (1954), series, as B. Cool, Mrs. Koestler - *Studio 57* (1954), series, Actor - *Lassie* (1954), series, Actor - *The Bigamist* (1953), as Mrs. Connelley - *Letter to Loretta* (1953), series, as Irene Townsend - *Affair with a Stranger* (1953), as Ma Stanton - *The Sun Shines Bright* (1953), as Aurora Ratchitt - *It Happens Every Thursday* (1953), as Mrs. Spatch - *The Ford Television Theatre* (1952), series, as Mama Mumby - *Cavalcade of America* (1952), series, as Minna - *We're Not Married!* (1952), as Mrs. Bush - *Journey Into Light* (1951), as Mack - *Excuse My Dust* (1951), as Mrs. Belden - *The Lemon Drop Kid* (1951), as 'Nellie Thursday' Regan - *Father's Wild Game* (1950), as Minerva Bobbin - *The Second Face* (1950), as Mrs. Lockridge - *Three Husbands* (1950), as Mrs. Wurdeman - *Redwood Forest Trail* (1950), as Hattie Hickory - *Surrender* (1950), as Molly Hale - *Caged* (1950), as Isolation Matron - *The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady* (1950), as Mrs. Murphy - *Wagon Master* (1950), as Sister Ledyard - *Red Canyon* (1949), as Aunt Jane - *3 Godfathers* (1948), as Miss Florie - *Studio One* (1948), series, as Anna - Maid - *Train to Alcatraz* (1948), as Aunt Ella - *The Red Stallion* (1947), as Aggie Curtis - *Keeper of the Bees* (1947), as Mrs. Ferris - *My Darling Clementine* (1946), as Kate Nelson - *Three Wise Fools* (1946), as Sister Mary Brigid - *The Dark Horse* (1946), as Aunt Hattie - *Captain Tugboat Annie* (1945), as Tugboat Annie - *I Live in Grosvenor Square* (1945), as Mrs. Patterson - *She's a Sweetheart* (1944), as Mom - *Music in Manhattan* (1944), as Mrs. Pearson - *The Impatient Years* (1944), as Minister's wife - *Reckless Age* (1944), as Mrs. Connors - *Tender Comrade* (1944), as Mrs. Henderson - *Government Girl* (1943), as Miss Trask (uncredited) - *Family Feud* (1943), as The Mother - *Stage Door Canteen* (1943), as Jane Darwell - *Gildersleeve's Bad Day* (1943), as Aunt Emma Forrester - *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), as Ma Grier — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident.md) - *The Great Gildersleeve* (1942), as Aunt Emma Forrester - *Highways by Night* (1942), as Grandma Fogarty - *The Battle of Midway* (1942), as Narrator (voice) - *The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe* (1942), as Mariah Clemm - *Men of Texas* (1942), as Mrs.Scott aka Aunt Hattie - *It Happened in Flatbush* (1942), as Mrs. Maguire - *On the Sunny Side* (1942), as Annie - *Young America* (1942), as Grandmother Nora Campbell - *All Through the Night* (1942), as Mrs. Donahue - *Small Town Deb* (1941), as Katie - *All That Money Can Buy* (1941), as Ma Stone - *Private Nurse* (1941), as Miss Adams - *Thieves Fall Out* (1941), as Grandma Allen - *Chad Hanna* (1940), as Mrs. Bettina Huguenine - *Youth Will Be Served* (1940), as Supervisor Stormer - *Brigham Young* (1940), as Eliza Kent - *Untamed* (1940), as Mrs. Maggie Moriarty - *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), as Ma Joad — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/the-grapes-of-wrath.md) - *Miracle on Main Street* (1939), as Mrs. Herman - *Gone with the Wind* (1939), as Mrs. Merriwether — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/gone-with-the-wind.md) - *20,000 Men a Year* (1939), as Mrs. Allen - *The Rains Came* (1939), as Aunt Phoebe Smiley - *Grand Jury Secrets* (1939), as Mrs. Keefe - *Unexpected Father* (1939), as Mrs. Callahan - *The Zero Hour* (1939), as Sophie - *Inside Story* (1939), as Aunt Mary Perkins - *Jesse James* (1939), as Mrs. Samuels - *Up the River* (1938), as Mrs. Graham - *Five of a Kind* (1938), as Nurse Waldron - *Time Out for Murder* (1938), as Polly · Helen's supervisor - *Little Miss Broadway* (1938), as Miss Hutchins - *Three Blind Mice* (1938), as Mrs. Kilian - *Battle of Broadway* (1938), as Mrs. Rogers - *The Jury's Secret* (1938), as Mrs. Sheldon, Bill's Mother - *Change of Heart* (1938), as Mrs. Thompson - *Dangerously Yours* (1937), as Aunt Cynthia Barton - *Wife, Doctor and Nurse* (1937), as Mrs. Krueger - *The Singing Marine* (1937), as Ma Marine - *Slave Ship* (1937), as Mrs. Marlowe - *Fifty Roads to Town* (1937), as Mrs. Henry - *The Great Hospital Mystery* (1937), as Nurse Sarah Keats - *Nancy Steele Is Missing!* (1937), as Mrs. Mary Flaherty - *Love Is News* (1937), as Mrs. Flaherty - *Laughing at Trouble* (1936), as Glory Bradford - *Craig's Wife* (1936), as Mrs. Harold - *Star for a Night* (1936), as Mrs. Martha Lind - *Poor Little Rich Girl* (1936), as Woodward - *White Fang* (1936), as Maud Mahoney - *Private Number* (1936), as Mrs. Frisby - *Little Miss Nobody* (1936), as Eva Bradley - *Captain January* (1936), as Eliza Croft - *The First Baby* (1936), as Mrs. Ellis - *The Country Doctor* (1936), as Mrs. Graham - *Paddy O'Day* (1936), as Dora - *We're Only Human* (1935), as Mrs. Walsh - *Metropolitan* (1935), as Grandma - *Navy Wife* (1935), as Mrs. Louise Keats - *Curly Top* (1935), as Mrs. Denham - *Wig-Wag* (1935), as Mrs. Winchell - Jack's Mother - *Life Begins at Forty* (1935), as Ida Harris - *McFadden´s Flats* (1935), as Nora McFadden - *One More Spring* (1935), as Mary Sweeney - *The Gilded Lily* (1935), as Woman in Crowd at Southampton (uncredited) - *Bright Eyes* (1934), as Mrs. Higgins - *Gentlemen Are Born* (1934), as Landlady - *The White Parade* (1934), as Sailor - *Happiness Ahead* (1934), as Mrs. Davis - The Landlady - *Tomorrow's Youth* (1934), as Mary O'Brien - *Desirable* (1934), as Frederick's Mother - *Embarrassing Moments* (1934), as Mrs. Stuckelberger - *Million Dollar Ransom* (1934), as Ma McGarry (Uncredited) - *Blind Date* (1934), as Ma Taylor - *One Night of Love* (1934), as Mrs. Barrett - Mary's Mother — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/one-night-of-love.md) - *Most Precious Thing in Life* (1934), as Mrs. O'Day - *Let's Talk It Over* (1934), as Mrs. O'Keefe - *Change of Heart* (1934), as Mrs. McGowan - *The Scarlet Empress* (1934), as Miss Cardell, Sophia's Nurse (uncredited) - *Finishing School* (1934), as Maude (uncredited) - *Wonder Bar* (1934), as Baroness (uncredited) - *Once to Every Woman* (1934), as Mrs. Wood (uncredited) - *Journal of a Crime* (1934), as Dinner Guest (uncredited) - *David Harum* (1934), as Mrs. Woolsey (uncredited) - *Heat Lightning* (1934), as Gladys - *Fashions of 1934* (1934), as Customer at Maison Elegance (uncredited) - *Cross Country Cruise* (1934), as Mrs. O'Hara (Uncredited) - *Design for Living* (1933), as Curtis' Housekeeper - *He Couldn't Take It* (1933), as Mrs. Case - *King for a Night* (1933), as Mrs. Williams - *Roman Scandals* (1933), as Roman Spa Proprietress (uncredited) - *Only Yesterday* (1933), as Mrs. Lane - *Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men* (1933), as Mrs. Spence - Landlady (uncredited) - *Ann Vickers* (1933), as Mrs. Gage (uncredited) - *One Sunday Afternoon* (1933), as Mrs. Lind - *Before Dawn* (1933), as Mrs. Marble - *Bed of Roses* (1933), as Mrs. Webster -- Head Prison Matron (uncredited) - *Emergency Call* (1933), as Nurse Brown (uncredited) - *Jennie Gerhardt* (1933), as Boardinghouse Keeper (uncredited) - *The Girl in 419* (1933), as Nurse Esmond - *Bondage* (1933), as Mrs. Elizabeth Wharton - *Murders in the Zoo* (1933), as Banquet Guest (uncredited) - *Child of Manhattan* (1933), as Mrs. McGonagle - *The Past of Mary Holmes* (1933), Actor - *Air Hostess* (1933), as Ma Kearny - *Women Won't Tell* (1932), as Mrs. Walter Robinson - *Hot Saturday* (1932), as Mrs. Brock - *Washington Merry-Go-Round* (1932), as Alice's Aunt - *Back Street* (1932), as Mrs. Adolph Schmidt - *Young America* (1932), as School Teacher (Uncredited) - *Ladies of the Big House* (1931), as Mrs. Turner - *Huckleberry Finn* (1931), as Widow Douglas - *Tom Sawyer* (1930), as Widow Douglas - *Little Church Around the Corner* (1923), as Anxious Woman at Mine Disaster (uncredited) - *The Restless Sex* (1920), as Housekeeper (uncredited) - *The Rug Maker's Daughter* (1915), as Mrs. Van Buren - *After Five* (1915), as Mrs. Russell - Aunt Diddy - *The Goose Girl* (1915), as Irma - *Hypocrites* (1915), as Madam (uncredited) - *The Rose of the Rancho* (1914), as Señora Castro Kenton, Juanita's Mother - *Ready Money* (1914), as Mrs. Tyler - *The Only Son* (1914), as Mrs. Brainerd - *The Master Mind* (1914), as Milwaukee Sadie - *Brewster's Millions* (1914), as Mrs. Dan De Mille ## Gallery - ![Publicity photo of actress Jane Darwell, who was appearing in the play A Doll's House when the photo was taken. (1945)](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-394523b8493e.jpg) Publicity photo of actress Jane Darwell, who was appearing in the play A Doll's House when the photo was taken. (1945) — Photographer: John E. Reed, Hollywood, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Jane_Darwell_1945.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Jane Darwell](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-b00b08431ec4.jpg) Jane Darwell — Photographer: John E. Reed, Hollywood, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Jane_Darwell_1945_%28cropped%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Jane Darwell, stage actress Subjects (LCTGM): actresses (1926)](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-f046b83f28e5.jpg) Jane Darwell, stage actress Subjects (LCTGM): actresses (1926) — Mushet Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Jane_Darwell%2C_stage_actress_%28SAYRE_23678%29.jpg/1280px-Jane_Darwell%2C_stage_actress_%28SAYRE_23678%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Jane Darwell, stage actress Subjects: actresses (1920)](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-c77ab54e0b59.jpg) Jane Darwell, stage actress Subjects: actresses (1920) — James and Merrihew, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Jane_Darwell%2C_stage_actress_%28SAYRE_23140%29.jpg/1280px-Jane_Darwell%2C_stage_actress_%28SAYRE_23140%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Jane Darwell](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-4e9b7d45b9a2.jpg) Jane Darwell — Image via TMDB - ![Jane Darwell 1937](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-87ed9814ac8c.jpg) Jane Darwell 1937 — 20th Century Fox / Photographer not credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Jane_Darwell_1937.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Jane Darwell and Ferris Taylor in The Zero Hour - cropped screenshot (1939)](https://film.one/media/person/447512/gallery-79ebd24ad174.jpg) Jane Darwell and Ferris Taylor in The Zero Hour - cropped screenshot (1939) — Film screenshot (Republic Pictures), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Jane_Darwell_and_Ferris_Taylor_in_The_Zero_Hour_%281939%29.jpg/1280px-Jane_Darwell_and_Ferris_Taylor_in_The_Zero_Hour_%281939%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won - 1941: Best Supporting Actress (won), for *The Grapes of Wrath* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jane-darwell