Sarah Allgood vs. John Ford

From what little I could extract from Anna Lee's and Joseph McBride's DVD commentary, John Ford and Sarah Allgood weren't necessarily on the best of terms during the filming of this movie. Apparently they butted heads a lot over various scenes and how they interpreted them.

All I'm going to say is that, as a Colombian American, if I were acting in a film and the director told me that I wasn't "slicing bread like a Colombian would," I wouldn't be making very many attempts to form a lasting bond with the guy. But apparently that's what happened with Allgood, except Ford told her she wasn't "slicing bread like an Irishwoman would" (the fact that the Morgans are supposed to be Welsh be damned). That being said, Allgood might have been stubborn to begin with, and so that probably contributed to the problem. Ford apparently triggered Sara's sibling rivalry with her older sister, Marie O'Neal, by accident, by praising her in front of Sara, according to Anna Lee, so that didn't help matters much.

Weird thing is that McBride acknowledges that Ford basically modeled the interpretation of Beth Morgan after his own mother, and McBride even acknowledges that Allgood physically resembled his mother, which makes me wonder if it weirded Ford out that Allgood wouldn't allow him to push her around, maybe he cognitively might have felt like he was pushing his own mother around, although he was frustrated that she wasn't playing "his mother" the way he wanted her to be portrayed.

I guess the other possibility was that he was deliberately aggravating her to get a good performance out of her, as Beth Morgan is supposed to be stern, tough, and maternal.

But if he genuinely disapproved with Allgood (who was apparently the first choice for the role) and her performance, which I get the feeling he did as I believe he complained about her after the film was done, as well (I haven't read McBride's book, yet, trying to get a hold of it) - I do wonder why he didn't use Jane Darwell for Beth Morgan, who not only was Irish, but who had also worked with Ford the previous year in The Grapes of Wrath, filmed at the same studio, and won an Oscar for her performance.

She would continue to work with him in films like My Darling Clementine. In fact, a critic, James Agee, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, actually complained that Darwell's Ma Joad was "too Irish," or something, I'll have to look for the exact quote and source.

I personally prefer Allgood, have a hard time imagining anyone else in the role, and believe she deserved at least an Oscar for her performance (and also believe that O'Hara and Lee deserved to be at least nominated), but I don't have a difficult time imagining Darwell in the part. Not so much for her performance in Grapes, which I actually believe wasn't forceful enough, at least by Steinbeck's standards, but for her work in films like The Oxbow Incident and My Darling Clementine which illustrate her "tough" side, even while not accentuating her maternal side, which we saw to the extreme in Grapes of Wrath

But what do you all think? Also does anyone know if Darwell was approached for the role and, if so, why she didn't take it?