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Jane Darwell: Ma Joad
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John Ford won the Best Director Oscar(r) and actress Jane Darwell won Best Actress for her portrayal of Ma Joad, the matriarch of the struggling migrant farmer family. Following a prison term he served for manslaughter, Tom Joad returns to find his family homestead overwhelmed by weather and the greed of the banking industry. With little work potential on the horizon of the Oklahoma dust bowls, the entire family packs up and heads for the promised land
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The fifth member of GONE WITH THE WIND's cast to win an Academy Award, Jane Darwell once said she orignally wanted to be a circus fat lady. But, Patti Woodward (born in Palmyra, Missouri, the daughter of a railroad president), was discouraged by her father from pursuing that unusual occupation. Instead, she studied music and dramatics and made her stage debut in Chicago, in 1906. As Jane Darwell, the actress began a 50-year screen career in 1914 in ROSE OF THE RANCHO, played in many silent films, and successfully overcame the "sound barrier" in 1930.
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The 1940 Academy Award®-winning drama "The Grapes of Wrath" starred Russell Simpson (left), Jane Darwell (center) and Henry Fonda as the Joad family. Darwell won an Oscar® for her supporting performance in the film, while Fonda received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role. "The Grapes of Wrath" will screen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills on Monday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the organization's series "Great To Be Nominated, Part Two," the continuation of the successful 2004 series showcasing films that accumulated the most Academy Award nominations in all categories in a particular year but did not ultimately win the Oscar for Best Picture.
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Born Patti Woodard in Palmyra, Missouri , Darwell originally intended to become a circus performer... her family objected and she compromised by becoming an actress. She began her acting career in theater productions in Chicago and made her first film appearance in 1913. She appeared in almost twenty films over the next two years before returning to the stage.
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The internment of Miss Darwell took place in the church burial ground on Thursday afternoon, amid many manifestations of sincere sorrow and regret. In the village and in the lane leading to the church there was a large concourse of people, who reverently stood by as the hearse, followed by the mourners, including the dead girl's father and mother, proceeded to the church, which was filled with people. Here a short and simple service was conducted by the Rector, the Rev H Brownrigg, and there was a formal and impressive committal service at the graveside, where the residents of the village and a large number of people from outside districts paid their last tribute of respect. There was a large number of beautiful floral tributes from the parents and relatives of the dead girl, and from those who had been associated with her. After the funeral service the crowd, which was exceedingly reverent, quietly dispersed.
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"Fonda gives a compassionate performance; good work is ... done by Darwell, Davenport, Hurst [?], and Conroy. Quinn only has a small role as one of the victims, but he is terrific as the indignant lynch candidate who is about to be hanged, not for past crimes, but for something he did not do. Wellman's direction of this superb cast is nothing less than awesome; he coaxes subtle performances from some of his players, properly bombastic renderings from others. In keeping with its somber subject matter, the whole film has a gritty, worn-out look, right down to the threadbare costumes on the actors. Much of the credit for the film's tone is due to [Arthur] Miller's outstanding photography, supported by a downbeat score from [Cyril J.] Mockridge. Although scenes at the beginning and end of the film offer realistic-looking western exteriors, Wellman insisted that the bulk of the film be shot on a set with painted backdrops, mostly since the bulk of the story occurs at night.
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Ma Joad