Who Is Your Favorite Classic Movie Mom?

[jakeem]

Cicely Tyson as Rebecca Morgan in "Sounder" (1972).

 

[Dargo]

Lea Thompson in "Back to the Future" (1985).

 

 

 

Hmmmm...speaking of your uncomfortable "strange tension" here!!!

[hamradio]

Lea Thompson in "Back to the Future" (1985).

 

 

 

Glad the original BTTF mom she played....

 

 

...turned into...

 

[Ray Faiola]

Definitely Beulah Bondi. Either as a saint (MR. SMITH, WONDERFUL LIFE, OF HUMAN HEARTS etc) or sinner (SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS, STREET SCENE etc) Beulah was the movies' archetypical mother.

 

 

 

 

[TomJH]

Beah Richards in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a beautiful, sensitive portrayal too often left in the shadows of many viewers' memories, I suspect, because of the mega watt star power of Poitier, Hepburn and Tracy.

 

[Wayne]

Best classic movie mother ever.

[jakeem]

 

Glynis Johns in "All Mine to Give" (1957) as a dying widow who hopes to find homes in Wisconsin of the 1850s for her six children before they're orphaned. 

[lydecker]

Beah Richards in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a beautiful, sensitive portrayal too often left in the shadows of many viewers' memories, I suspect, because of the mega watt star power of Poitier, Hepburn and Tracy.

 

 

You are so right.

[jakeem]

In "Travels with My Aunt" (1972), the eccentric Augusta Bertram (Dame Maggie Smith) shows up in the life of a London relative (Alec McCowen) and persuades him to accompany her on an urgent mission to Turkey. 

 

[GordonCole]

Kathleen Howard as the classically nasty mother, Mrs. Bissonette.

[TomJH]

Definitely Beulah Bondi. Either as a saint (MR. SMITH, WONDERFUL LIFE, OF HUMAN HEARTS etc) or sinner (SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS, STREET SCENE etc) Beulah was the movies' archetypical mother.

 

 

 

A mention, too, might be made of Beulah's mother from hell portrayal in Track of the Cat

 

[TomJH]

And for something a little different, how about . . .

 

 

Arthur Lucan as Old Mother Riley, his encounter with "her" being one of the real low points of Bela Lugosi's career

[RoyCronin]

I have always liked and been moved by Dolores Costello in "The Magnificent Ambersons".

[VivLeighFan]

What about Anne Revere in National Velvet & The Song of Bernadette? She stood by her daughter in those films no matter what.

[ChristineHoard]

Ann Revere did play some great Moms.  Gladys Cooper was a mean Mom (but great performance) in NOW, VOYAGER.  Cody's Mom in WHITE HEAT was one tough Mom but she certainly loved her boy.  Angela Lansbury in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - the Mom from

H E L L.

 

But for really great Moms and my favorite Moms I love Barbara in STELLA DALLAS and Irene Dunne in I REMEMBER MAMA.

[Dargo]

I was just thinking here that young Mr. Dean in his short career didn't have much luck in the mother sweepstakes, did he...

 

 

 

[jakeem]

Ellen Burstyn as Lois Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 drama "The Last Picture Show" (with Cybill Shepherd as her daughter Jacy). A classic example of how the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

[jakeem]

I was just thinking here that young Mr. Dean in his short career didn't have much luck in the mother sweepstakes, did he...

 

Ah, but in "Giant," he did have a supportive mother figure in Luz Benedict (Mercedes McCambridge), who left him a nice piece of land in her will.

 

[Dargo]

Ah, but in "Giant," he did have a supportive mother figure in Luz Benedict (Mercedes McCambridge), who left him a nice piece of land in her will.

 

 

Yeah, good point jakeem.

 

(...but then again, going 1 for 3 is only considered good in baseball, ya know)

[jakeem]

Yeah, good point jakeem.

 

(...but then again, going 1 for 3 is only considered good in baseball, ya know)

 

No. You went two for three, so you're batting .666. But maybe that's not so good after all. 

[Dargo]

No. You went two for three, so you're batting .666. But maybe that's not so good after all. 

 

Actually jakeem, I was referring to James Dean's "batting average" with his mothers in his three major films.

 

(...it was he who was batting .333, ya see)

[Sepiatone]

Ann Revere did play some great Moms.  Gladys Cooper was a mean Mom (but great performance) in NOW, VOYAGER.  Cody's Mom in WHITE HEAT was one tough Mom but she certainly loved her boy.  Angela Lansbury in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - the Mom from

H E L L.

 

But for really great Moms and my favorite Moms I love Barbara in STELLA DALLAS and Irene Dunne in I REMEMBER MAMA.

 

As a "movie Mom" I liked Dunne better in LIFE WITH FATHER.

 

MYRNA LOY in CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN works for me.  As does  BEULAH BONDI in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

 

 

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[kaslovesTCM]

call me corny but I loved Donna Reed on the what else "Donna Reed Show" and also loved her in "It's a Wonderful Life"

[Dargo]

... BEULAH BONDI in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

 

 

Sepiatone

 

Yeah, but if she doesn't know you, don't tell her that you know Uncle Billy.

 

(...that seems to set her off a bit)

[Sepiatone]

call me corny but I loved Donna Reed on the what else "Donna Reed Show" and also loved her in "It's a Wonderful Life"

 

Arthur Bremer....is that YOU??? 

 

 

Sepiatone