The Old Maid (1939) – Bette Davis plays the title role of this woman who’d had a baby out of wedlock (in the days when such a thing was more scandalous and less accepted) around the time of the Civil War. She’d had an affair while comforting the discarded fiance (George Brent) of her cousin, played by Miriam Hopkins. When Brent’s character is killed in action, she decides to start an orphanage to hide her (indiscretion and her) child among other innocent victims of the war. Out of financial need, however, she has to ask her cousin to adopt her illegitimate offspring and the situation works until the daughter grows up. Jane Bryan plays the unawares girl who resents her old maid aunt’s unsolicited input once she reaches dating age.

The Catered Affair (1956) – an appropriate bookend to the drama above, actress Davis now old enough to play a mother who’d never had a big wedding of her own that tries to live vicariously through her daughter (Debbie Reynolds) by planning the elaborately expensive titled event much to the chagrin of her working class husband (Ernest Borgnine) and her daughter’s wealthier fiance (Rod Taylor), who’d just as soon elope to skip the "spare no expense" affair.

Bachelor Mother (1939) – an hilarious essential romantic comedy that received an Academy Award nomination for its original story (later remade with Reynolds and new husband Eddie Fisher as Bundle of Joy (1956)) in that crowded golden year of classics, 1939. Ginger Rogers plays a department store employee who's mistaken for the mother of an abandoned baby that she finds crying on the steps of a foundling agency. Through a confluence of events, bachelorette Rogers accepts responsibility for raising the baby in order to keep her job at the store, which is run by Charles Coburn’s character and his son, played by David Niven. Naturally, Reynolds and Niven fall in love, and his father comes to believe that the illegitimate baby is the grandchild he’s always wanted such that [Coburn] proclaims memorably "I don't care who the father is, I'm the grandfather!".

Lady for a Day (1933) – the fourth of more than a dozen collaborations between director Frank Capra and writer Robert Riskin, this classic comedy based on a Damon Runyon story features May Robson as Apple Annie (later played by Davis in the inferior Pocketful of Miracles (1961)), a street vendor who’s wares have become good luck charms for gentleman gangster (Warren William). For years, Annie has been sending money overseas to pay for the education of her daughter, who believes that her mother is a high society lady because her correspondence has come from a fancy New York hotel. When the daughter decides to come "home" with her rich suitor and his family in tow, Annie uses her influence with the gangster to gain his assistance to keep up the charade during the visit. She hopes to secure her daughter’s future by allaying any concerns the wealthy would-be in-laws might have about the background of their son’s fiancee.

Mildred Pierce (1945) – Joan Crawford won her Best Actress Oscar playing the title role in this exceptional drama about a mother that will do anything for her selfish daughter Veda, played by Ann Blyth. Working class and not respected by her daughter, Mildred goes into business to earn more money and becomes a successful restauranteur, but Veda is still ungrateful despite her newfound opportunities in society. When Veda gets involved in a tragic love triangle, with her mother and another man, the trouble she finds deepens her mother’s sacrifice. As a friend (and employee) of Mildred’s, Eve Arden’s character gets to say "Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young."

A Raisin in the Sun (1961) – Tony nominated actress Claudia McNeil got to reprise her stage role as the strong, loving, self-sacrificing mother Lena onscreen with Sidney Poitier, playing her struggling-to-find-himself son. If you didn’t get a chance to see this drama’s TCM premiere last month, don’t miss it this time.

I Remember Mama (1948) – Kathryn Forbes’s autobiographical account of growing up in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, the daughter of Swedish immigrant parents, was made into one of the best family dramas you’ll ever see. It features Irene Dunne in the title role; Philip Dorn plays Papa. Four of the acting performances were recognized by the Academy, including Dunne’s last nomination and the only ones received by Barbara Bel Geddes (as Kathryn aka Katrin), Ellen Corby (as Aunt Trina), and Oscar Homolka, as Uncle Chris.

The Mating Season (1951) – perhaps Thelma Ritter’s best performance, she was nominated in the Supporting Actress category (even though it’s really a leading role) and inexplicably lost to Kim Hunter for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). She plays a working class widow that travels to live with her son, whom she and her husband managed to put through college, and finds that he’s just about to marry a woman who’s been waited on hand and foot her entire life while living in embassies around the world. Too embarrassed to attend the out-of-her-class wedding, Ritter’s character is later mistaken by her new daughter-in-law (Gene Tierney) as the housekeeper-cook she’d asked her husband (John Lund) to hire. Despite her son’s protestations, Ritter decides to keep her identity a secret and accept the situation to help (and get to know) the domestically incapable Tierney. This ironic comedy gets even funnier when the other mother-in-law, played like only Miriam Hopkins could, comes to live with them in the two bedroom apartment.

Stella Dallas (1937) – the self-sacrificing mother movie that started it all? It’s actually a remake of the 1925 silent starring Ronald Colman (among others). Mother and daughter received acting nominations in this Samuel Goldwyn production directed by King Vidor, which features Barbara Stanwyck in the title role and Anne Shirley as her daughter 'Lollie'. Stanwyck plays a poor, loud woman who’s determined to make a better life for her daughter. She thinks that money alone will give her class but, of course, it doesn't. When Stella finally becomes self aware enough to see that she’s embarrassing her daughter, her love for her offspring leads to a great sacrifice in order that her daughter might herself marry well. Before the drama’s tearful conclusion, it’s clear that Stella too has grown up, her strength of character developed.