Tobacco Road is a 1941 American comedy-drama film directed by John Ford and starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney and William Tracy. It was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell and the 1933 Broadway play that Jack Kirkland adapted from the novel. The plot was rewritten for the film by Nunnally Johnson, who had worked with Ford on The Grapes of Wrath the previous year; the plot was altered to fit Production Code demands for a lighter tone while retaining plot elements.
Theatrical release poster
Charles Ellsworth Grapewin was an American vaudeville and circus performer, a writer, and a stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably portraying Uncle Henry in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's The Wizard of Oz (1939), "Grandpa" William James Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Jeeter Lester in Tobacco Road (1941), Uncle Salters in Captains Courageous (1937), Gramp Maple in The Petrified Forest (1936), Wang's Father in The Good Earth (1937), and California Joe in They Died With Their Boots On (1941).
Grapewin with Emma Dunn in Hell's House 1932
Grapewin in the trailer for The Good Earth ,(1937)