Jane Darwell - wikipedia Jane Darwell Jane Darwell In The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ) Patti Woodard ( 1879 - 10 - 15 ) October 15, 1879 Palmyra, Marion County Missouri, U.S. August 13, 1967 ( 1967 - 08 - 13 ) ( aged 87 ) Woodland Hills, California, U.S. Cause of death Myocardial infarction Resting place Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California Occupation Actress Years active 1913 -- 1964 Jane Darwell ( born Patti Woodard, 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 has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Contents 1 Early life 1.1 `` Woodard '' or `` Woodward '' ? 2 Career 3 Death 4 Partial filmography 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Early life Born 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. `` Woodard '' or `` Woodward '' ? 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. Career Darwell in the play A Doll 's House, 1945. She took up voice culture and the piano followed by a course in dramatics. At one point, she decided to enter a convent but instead changed her mind and became an actress. Darwell began acting 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. After a 15 - year absence from films, she resumed her film career in 1930 with a role in Tom Sawyer, and her career as a Hollywood character actress began. Short, stout, and plain, she was quickly cast in a succession of films usually as the mother of one of the major characters. She also appeared in five Shirley Temple films, usually as the housekeeper or grandmother. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as `` Ma Joad '' in The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ), a role she was given at the insistence of the film 's star, Henry Fonda. A contract player with 20th Century Fox, Darwell was memorably cast in The Ox - Bow Incident, and occasionally starred in `` B '' movies and played featured parts in scores of major films. Darwell had noted appearances on the stage as well ; in 1944, she was popular in the stage comedy Suds in Your Eye, in which she played an Irishwoman who had inherited a junkyard. By the end of her career she had appeared in more than 170 films, including Huckleberry Finn ( 1931 ), Jesse James ( 1939 ), Gone with the Wind ( 1939 ), The Devil and Daniel Webster ( 1941 ), The Ox - Bow Incident ( 1943 ), and My Darling Clementine ( 1946 ). Darwell was among the guest stars on an episode of Faye Emerson 's Wonderful Town, a variety television series which aired on CBS from 1951 to 1952 in which hostess Faye Emerson visits a different city each week to accent the local music. In 1954, Darwell appeared with Andy Clyde in the episode `` Santa 's Old Suit '' of the series, The Pepsi - Cola Playhouse. This same episode was re-run the following Christmas 1955 on Studio 57. In 1959, she appeared with child actor Roger Mobley in the episode `` Mr. Rush 's Secretary '' on the NBC western series, Buckskin, starring Tom Nolan and Sally Brophy. She guest starred on John Bromfield 's crime drama in a modern western setting, Sheriff of Cochise. On July 27, 1961, Darwell appeared as `` Grandmother McCoy '' in an episode of the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys. In the story line, the series characters played by Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan return to fictitious Smokey Corners, West Virginia for Grandmother McCoy 's 100th birthday gathering. Darwell was fifteen years older than `` son '', Walter Brennan. Pat Buttram and Henry Jones appeared in this episode as Cousin Carl and Jed McCoy, respectively. Darwell 's final role as the old woman feeding the birds in Mary Poppins ( 1964 ) was personally assigned to her by Walt Disney. On February 8, 1960, Darwell received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the motion - picture industry ; it is located at 6735 Hollywood Boulevard. Death In her last years, Darwell 's health was poor. It took personal persuasion from Walt Disney for her to appear in Disney 's Mary Poppins as she was, by then, tired, frail and in her middle eighties. Darwell died August 13, 1967, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, from a myocardial infarction at the age of 87. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Partial filmography Brewster 's Millions ( 1914 ) as Mrs. Dan De Mille The Master Mind ( 1914 ) as Milwaukee Sadie The Only Son ( 1914 ) as Mrs. Brainerd The Man on the Box ( 1914 ) as Mrs. Chadwick Ready Money ( 1914 ) as Mrs. Tyler Rose of the Rancho ( 1914 ) as Senora Castro Kenton / Juanita 's Mother The Goose Girl ( 1915 ) After Five ( 1915 ) Tom Sawyer ( 1930 ) Huckleberry Finn ( 1931 ) Back Street ( 1932 ) Hot Saturday ( 1932 ) Women Wo n't Tell ( 1932 ) Child of Manhattan ( 1933 ) Air Hostess ( 1933 ) Design for Living ( 1933 ) as Curtis ' Housekeeper Bondage ( 1933 ) Heat Lightning ( 1934 ) Once to Every Woman ( 1934 ) Let 's Talk It Over ( 1934 ) Change of Heart ( 1934 ) The White Parade ( 1934 ) Bright Eyes ( 1934 ) Tomorrow 's Youth ( 1935 ) One More Spring ( 1935 ) Life Begins at 40 ( 1935 ) Curly Top ( 1935 ) Navy Wife ( 1935 ) Captain January ( 1936 ) The Poor Little Rich Girl ( 1936 ) Craig 's Wife ( 1936 ) Ramona ( 1936 ) Private Number ( 1936 ) Slave Ship ( 1937 ) Nancy Steele Is Missing ! ( 1937 ) The Great Hospital Mystery ( 1937 ) The Singing Marine ( 1937 ) Wife, Doctor and Nurse ( 1937 ) The Jury 's Secret ( 1938 ) Three Blind Mice ( 1938 ) Little Miss Broadway ( 1938 ) Up the River ( 1938 ) The Zero Hour ( 1939 ) The Rains Came ( 1939 ) Jesse James ( 1939 ) Gone with the Wind ( 1939 ) as Mrs. Merriwether The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ) as Ma Joad Youth Will Be Served ( 1940 ) as Supervisor Stormer Untamed ( 1940 ) Private Nurse ( 1941 ) The Devil and Daniel Webster ( 1941 ) Thieves Fall Out ( 1941 ) as Grandma Allen All Through the Night ( 1942 ) as Mrs. ' Ma ' Donahue The Great Gildersleeve ( 1942 ) Highways by Night ( 1942 ) as Grandma Fogarty The Ox - Bow Incident ( 1943 ) Tender Comrade ( 1943 ) as Mrs. Henderson Reckless Age ( 1944 ) as Mrs. Connors The Impatient Years ( 1944 ) as Minister 's Wife Music in Manhattan ( 1944 ) as Mrs. Pearson She 's a Sweetheart ( 1944 ) as Mom Sunday Dinner for a Soldier ( 1944 ) as Mrs. Helen Dobson I Live in Grosvenor Square ( 1945 ) as Mrs. Patterson Captain Tugboat Annie ( 1945 ) as Tugboat Annie The Dark Horse ( 1946 ) as Aunt Hattie Three Wise Fools ( 1946 ) as Sister Mary Brigid My Darling Clementine ( 1946 ) as Kate Nelson Keeper of the Bees ( 1947 ) as Mrs. Ferris The Red Stallion ( 1947 ) as Mrs. Aggie Curtis Train to Alcatraz ( 1948 ) as Aunt Ella 3 Godfathers ( 1948 ) as Miss Florie Red Canyon ( 1949 ) as Aunt Jane The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady ( 1950 ) as Mrs. Murphy Wagon Master ( 1950 ) as Sister Ledyard Caged ( 1950 ) as Isolation Matron Surrender ( 1950 ) as Molly Hale Redwood Forest Trail ( 1950 ) as Hattie Hickory Three Husbands ( 1950 ) as Mrs. Wurdeman The Second Face ( 1950 ) as Mrs. Lockridge Father 's Wild Game ( 1950 ) as Minverva Bobbin The Lemon Drop Kid ( 1951 ) as Nellie Thursday Excuse My Dust ( 1951 ) as Mrs. Belden Journey Into Light ( 1951 ) as Mack We 're Not Married ! ( 1952 ) as Mrs. Bush The Sun Shines Bright ( 1953 ) as Mrs. Aurora Ratchitt It Happens Every Thursday ( 1953 ) as Mrs. Eva Spatch Affair With a Stranger ( 1953 ) as Ma Stanton The Bigamist ( 1953 ) as Mrs. Connelley Hit the Deck ( 1955 ) as Jenny There 's Always Tomorrow ( 1955 ) as Mrs. Rogers A Life at Stake ( 1955 ) as Landlady Girls in Prison ( 1956 ) as Matron Jamieson The Last Hurrah ( 1958 ) as Delia Boylan Hound - Dog Man ( 1959 ) as Granndma Wilson Mary Poppins ( 1964 ) as The Bird Woman See also List of actors with Academy Award nominations Biography portal Missouri portal California portal Theatre portal Film portal Television portal References Jump up ^ Obituary Variety, August 16, 1967. ^ Jump up to : Associated Press ( 1967 - 08 - 15 ). `` Jane Darwell, 87, Actress, Is Dead '' ( PDF, fee required ). The New York Times. Retrieved 2008 - 05 - 14. Jump up ^ National Park Service ( 2010 - 07 - 09 ). `` National Register Information System ''. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Jump up ^ Morgan, Barbara. `` Darwell, Jane ( 1879 -- 1967 ) ''. Encyclopedia.com. Gale Research, Inc. Retrieved 12 February 2017. Jump up ^ Monush, Barry ( 2003 ). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors : From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 174 -- 175. ISBN 9781557835512. Retrieved 12 February 2017. Jump up ^ Onofrio, Jan ( 2001 ). Missouri Biographical Dictionary. Somerset Publishers, Inc. p. 197. ISBN 9780403095988. Retrieved 12 February 2017. Jump up ^ Willis, John ( 1968 ). Screen World 1968. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. p. 230. ISBN 9780819603098. Retrieved 12 February 2017. Jump up ^ Thomson, David ( 2014 ). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. ALFRED A KNOPF. p. 251. ISBN 9780375711848. Retrieved 12 February 2017. Jump up ^ Christensen, Lawrence O. ; Foley, William E. ; Kremer, Gary ( 1999 ). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. University of Missouri Press. p. 230. ISBN 9780826260161. Retrieved 12 February 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` MovieActors.com ''. Jump up ^ `` '' Back to West Virginny ``, The Real McCoys, July 27, 1961 ''. Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved January 11, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Jane Darwell Hollywood Walk of Fame ''. www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 19. Jump up ^ `` Jane Darwell ''. latimes.com. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 19. Jump up ^ `` Jane Darwell ( 1879 - 1967 ) - Find A Grave Memorial ''. www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016 - 02 - 28. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jane Darwell. Jane Darwell on IMDb Jane Darwell at the Internet Broadway Database Jane Darwell at Find a Grave Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1936 -- 1950 Gale Sondergaard ( 1936 ) Alice Brady ( 1937 ) Fay Bainter ( 1938 ) Hattie McDaniel ( 1939 ) Jane Darwell ( 1940 ) Mary Astor ( 1941 ) Teresa Wright ( 1942 ) Katina Paxinou ( 1943 ) Ethel Barrymore ( 1944 ) Anne Revere ( 1945 ) Anne Baxter ( 1946 ) Celeste Holm ( 1947 ) Claire Trevor ( 1948 ) Mercedes McCambridge ( 1949 ) Josephine Hull ( 1950 ) 1951 -- 1975 Kim Hunter ( 1951 ) Gloria Grahame ( 1952 ) Donna Reed ( 1953 ) Eva Marie Saint ( 1954 ) Jo Van Fleet ( 1955 ) Dorothy Malone ( 1956 ) Miyoshi Umeki ( 1957 ) Wendy Hiller ( 1958 ) Shelley Winters ( 1959 ) Shirley Jones ( 1960 ) Rita Moreno ( 1961 ) Patty Duke ( 1962 ) Margaret Rutherford ( 1963 ) Lila Kedrova ( 1964 ) Shelley Winters ( 1965 ) Sandy Dennis ( 1966 ) Estelle Parsons ( 1967 ) Ruth Gordon ( 1968 ) Goldie Hawn ( 1969 ) Helen Hayes ( 1970 ) Cloris Leachman ( 1971 ) Eileen Heckart ( 1972 ) Tatum O'Neal ( 1973 ) Ingrid Bergman ( 1974 ) Lee Grant ( 1975 ) 1976 -- 2000 Beatrice Straight ( 1976 ) Vanessa Redgrave ( 1977 ) Maggie Smith ( 1978 ) Meryl Streep ( 1979 ) Mary Steenburgen ( 1980 ) Maureen Stapleton ( 1981 ) Jessica Lange ( 1982 ) Linda Hunt ( 1983 ) Peggy Ashcroft ( 1984 ) Anjelica Huston ( 1985 ) Dianne Wiest ( 1986 ) Olympia Dukakis ( 1987 ) Geena Davis ( 1988 ) Brenda Fricker ( 1989 ) Whoopi Goldberg ( 1990 ) Mercedes Ruehl ( 1991 ) Marisa Tomei ( 1992 ) Anna Paquin ( 1993 ) Dianne Wiest ( 1994 ) Mira Sorvino ( 1995 ) Juliette Binoche ( 1996 ) Kim Basinger ( 1997 ) Judi Dench ( 1998 ) Angelina Jolie ( 1999 ) Marcia Gay Harden ( 2000 ) 2001 -- present Jennifer Connelly ( 2001 ) Catherine Zeta - Jones ( 2002 ) Renée Zellweger ( 2003 ) Cate Blanchett ( 2004 ) Rachel Weisz ( 2005 ) Jennifer Hudson ( 2006 ) Tilda Swinton ( 2007 ) Penélope Cruz ( 2008 ) Mo'Nique ( 2009 ) Melissa Leo ( 2010 ) Octavia Spencer ( 2011 ) Anne Hathaway ( 2012 ) Lupita Nyong'o ( 2013 ) Patricia Arquette ( 2014 ) Alicia Vikander ( 2015 ) Viola Davis ( 2016 ) VIAF : 5635149919442606650003 LCCN : n85378408 ISNI : 0000 0000 5886 3555 GND : 137810768 SUDOC : 090300696 BNF : cb13940366q ( data ) IATH : w69b17h2 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jane_Darwell&oldid=805883866 '' Categories : 1879 births 1967 deaths Actresses from Missouri American film actresses American stage actresses Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners People from Marion County, Missouri Actresses from Los Angeles Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park ( Glendale ) 20th - century American actresses 20th Century Fox contract players Hidden categories : Articles with hCards Articles with IBDb links Find a Grave template with ID same as Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Aragonés Asturianu Català Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Italiano עברית Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Yorùbá 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 18 October 2017, at 07 : 15. 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Question: who played the bird lady in mary poppins
Answer: Jane Darwell