Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 â€" August 13,
1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With
appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century,
Darwell is perhaps best-remembered for her poignant 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. She has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.Born to William Robert Woodard, president of
the Louisville Southern Railroad, and Ellen Booth Woodard in Palmyra,
Missouri, Darwell originally intended to become a circus rider, then
later an opera singer. Her father, however, objected to those career
plans, so she compromised by becoming an actress, changing 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.
1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With
appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century,
Darwell is perhaps best-remembered for her poignant 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. She has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.Born to William Robert Woodard, president of
the Louisville Southern Railroad, and Ellen Booth Woodard in Palmyra,
Missouri, Darwell originally intended to become a circus rider, then
later an opera singer. Her father, however, objected to those career
plans, so she compromised by becoming an actress, changing 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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