Russell Simpson made worn-out farmers and frontier elders credible without insisting on their importance. We value the restraint, most clearly in The Grapes of Wrath, though the familiar rustic manner could leave him with little beyond a recognisable type.
Fi1m perspective
In The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Russell Simpson gives Pa Joad the quiet persistence of an exhausted father. The displaced Oklahoma farmer is allowed his dignity without being made grand. We were moved by Simpson’s restraint, because it makes the man’s distress felt without an appeal for pity. It is a substantial part, and Simpson trusts it enough not to overplay it.
That familiar elder was not his only occupation. Simpson entered films with a small part in The Virginian (1914), then played Trampas in the 1923 remake. Silent westerns and dramas gave him leading and substantial supporting parts; sound brought smaller roles and more grizzled rural men. From the late 1930s, John Ford repeatedly found room for him in his ensembles.
Ford gives him a setting that makes such understatement work. Gregg Toland lights The Grapes of Wrath by lamp and headlamp, while Gwen Wakeling dresses the men in overalls worn through at the knee. Beside Jane Darwell, who holds the ensemble together, Simpson helps make the household convincing without matching her force. The road passages, edited by Robert L. Simpson into dissolves and road signs, are rather dutiful; the acting gives us better reason to stay.
Ford’s fondness for broadly drawn elders and chummy rustic humour could also leave Simpson playing a type. His lanky figure and frontier manner establish a plausible inhabitant quickly; after that, we want the writing to give him something particular to do. John Simpson in My Darling Clementine (1946) and Adam Perkins in Wagon Master (1950) belong to that continuing ensemble work, where his contribution is useful without becoming the centre of the film.
The later westerns include The Tin Star (1957), alongside Henry Fonda, and his final film, Ford’s The Horse Soldiers (1959). Dependability is worth noticing, though it does not make every appearance essential. Start with Pa Joad, and watch how much feeling he permits himself without making a display of it.
Biography
Russell Simpson was an American character actor who appeared in numerous films from the silent era through the late 1950s. He is best known for his portrayal of Pa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
Simpson began his career in theatre, appearing on Broadway in the early 1910s, and made his film debut in a bit part in Cecil B. DeMille's The Virginian (1914). He worked in road shows, stock companies and silent films, later becoming a regular in John Ford productions. His other notable credits include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), Wagon Master (1950) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). His final film was Ford's The Horse Soldiers (1959).
He died in Woodland Hills, California, in 1959.
