<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Actress </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 1913--1964 </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 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 . Darwell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . </P> <P> 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 . </P>

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