A few of my favorite film mothers
by chuckofish
who are guaranteed to inspire a sense of well-being or possibly tears on Mother’s Day (in no particular order).
1. Lillian Gish as the stalwart mother of Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, and Doug McClure in The Unforgiven. Her dying speech manages to be sad and comforting at the same time.
2. The wonderfully dotty Josephine Hull as Veta Louise Simmons, mother of Myrtle Mae and sister of Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewart), in Harvey. Did we not tease our mother about a certain likeness to her?
3. Myrna Loy as a supportive and loving wife and mother in The Best Years of our Lives. She and Frederick March are a lovely couple, but then, Myra is always wonderful.
4. Jo Van Fleet as Paul Newman’s mother in Cool Hand Luke. She and Paul Newman make a perfect doomed mother/son pair. Her sad, chain-smoking, self-aware portrayal is spot on.
5. And of course, one of my role models, Morticia Addams, played to serene perfection by Angelica Houston.
Who would you add to the list?
dual personalities 
A great post with WONderful choices! I love them ALL. Lillian Gish is great and her character is the best. I don’t remember if she says this in the movie, but in the book she tells her children not to be afraid of dying because, just as she was waiting for them when they were born, she would be waiting for them when they die. Just great. It is a great comfort to think so.
Greer Garson is a stalwart mother in “Mrs. Miniver”. And I love Sara Allgood in “How Green Was My Valley”. I have a feeling we have forgotten someone big but no one comes to mind…
[…] here’s a good list of films featuring wonderful mothers. Personally, I think it might be time to watch How Green Was […]