Jane Darwell
| Jane Darwell | |
|---|---|
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In The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
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| Born |
Patti Woodard October 15, 1879 Palmyra, Marion County Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | August 13, 1967 (aged 87) Woodland Hills, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1913–1964 |
Jane Darwell (October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than one hundred major motion pictures spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best-remembered for her portrayal of the matriarch and leader of the Joad family in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and her role as the Bird Woman in Disney's musical family film, Mary Poppins. Darwell also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which places her in a select group of fewer than a hundred female actors in Hollywood history to receive both an Academy Award and a Walk of Fame star.
Born Patti Woodard to William Robert Woodard, president of the Louisville Southern Railroad, and Ellen Booth in Palmyra in Marion County in northeastern Missouri, she originally intended to become a circus rider, then later an opera singer. Her father objected, however, and she compromised by becoming an actress but changed her name to Darwell to avoid sullying the family name.
The Jane Darwell Birthplace was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Some sources give Darwell's birth name as Patti Woodward. They include Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia,Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965,Missouri Biographical Dictionary,Screen World 1968,The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, and Dictionary of Missouri Biography.
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