Sarah Padden

Born: 1881-10-15 in Sunderland, England, UK

Died: 1967-12-04

Known For: Acting

Biography

Sarah Padden was a character actress in theater and vaudeville from Chicago, Illinois. She performed on stage in the early 20th century. She is noted for her expressive voice and for her psychological studies of the characters she portrayed. Her finest single-act performance was in The Clod, a stage production in which she played an uneducated woman who lived on a farm during the American Civil War. Padden was a featured player on the Orpheum Circuit, Inc.. She had a role in His Grace de Grammont, a romantic comedy by Clyde Fitch which came to the Park Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts in September 1905. The production starred Skinner and was based on the life of a chevalier in the court of Charles II. Padden appeared again with Skinner in a four-act play produced by Charles Frohman, The Honor of the Family, by Emile Fabre, which was presented in New Rochelle, New York in September 1907. Another of her theatrical parts was in Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Hatcher Hughes. It was performed at the Wilkes Orange Grove Theater (Majestic Theater), 845 South Broadway (Los Angeles), in November 1925. She was also an active screen actress from 1926 to 1958, appearing in 178 films and TV shows. In 1938, she played Ma Thayer in MGM's Rich Man Poor Girl, directed by Reinhold Schunzel and starring Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, and Lana Turner. Bill Harrison (Robert Young) a wealthy young businessman moves in with secretary girlfriend Joan Thayer's (Ruth Hussey) eccentric family to convince her they can make their marriage work. In 1941, she played wealthy spinster Aunt Cassandra ("Cassie") Hildegarde Denham in Murder by Invitation, directed by Phil Rosen and starring Wallace Ford and Marian Marsh. In this "closed room" murder comedy, after they unsuccessfully attempt to have her declared legally insane to gain control of her fortune, her nephews and nieces are invited to a week's visit at her mansion where they are murdered one by one.

Filmography

1958

Girl with an Itch as Cookie
Screaming Mimi as Landlady

1956

The Kettles in the Ozarks as Mrs. Tinware

1955

Prince of Players as Mary Todd Lincoln (uncredited)

1954

Public Defender as Eula Mae Carter

1953

The Life Of Riley as Martha Riley
Letter to Loretta as Frau Lang

1952

Adventures of Superman as Mrs. Carmody
The Abbott and Costello Show as Old Lady on Street
Big Jim McLain as Mrs. Lexiter

1951

Dragnet
Utah Wagon Train as Sarah Wendover

1950

The Cisco Kid as Mrs. Smiley
House by the River as Mrs. Beach - Stephen's elderly cook
A Life of Her Own as Betsy Ross Hotel Overseer (uncredited)
Gunslingers as Rawhide Rosie Rawlins
The Missourians as Mother Kovacs
Again Pioneers as Ma Ashby

1949

The Lone Ranger as Grandma Williams
Homicide as Mrs. Webb
Range Justice as Ma Curtis

1948

The Dude Goes West as Mrs. Hallihan
The Return of the Whistler as Mrs. Hulskamp
Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad as Mom Palooka
Frontier Revenge as Widow Owens

1947

Ramrod as Mrs. Parks
Trail Street as Mrs. Ferguson (uncredited)
Possessed as Mrs. Norris, the Caretaker’s Wife (uncredited)
Joe Palooka in the Knockout as Mom Palooka
Love and Learn as Mrs. Grant (uncredited)

1946

Angel on My Shoulder as Agatha (uncredited)
So Goes My Love as Bridget
My Dog Shep as Carrie Hodgkins
That Brennan Girl as Mrs. Graves, the Nice Landlady
Joe Palooka, Champ as Mom Palooka
Wild West as Carrie Bannister
Gentleman Joe Palooka as Mom Palooka
Idea Girl as Old Lady

1945

Dakota as Mrs. Plummer
Song of Old Wyoming as Ma Conway
Riders of the Dawn as Melinda Pringle
Identity Unknown as Mrs. Anderson
Apology for Murder as Maggie
The Master Key as Aggie
Marshal of Laredo as Mrs. Randall
Wildfire as Aunt Agatha

1944

Casanova Brown as Mrs. Smith
Summer Storm as Beggar Woman (uncredited)
This Is the Life as Sarah (uncredited)
Range Law as Boots Annie
San Diego I Love You as Mrs. Gulliver (uncredited)
Girl Rush as Mrs. Emma Mason
The Navy Way as Mrs. Margaret Gimble (uncredited)
Trail to Gunsight as Grandma Wagner
Ghost Guns as Aunt Sally

1943

Hangmen Also Die! as Mrs. Georgia Dvorak
So This Is Washington as Aunt Charity Speers
Assignment in Brittany as Albertine
Family Troubles as Mrs. Jones

1942

This Gun for Hire as Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
The Pride of the Yankees as Mrs. Roberts (uncredited)
Lady in a Jam as Miner’s Wife (uncredited)
The Corsican Brothers as Nurse
Wild Bill Hickok Rides as Mrs. Kimball
The Mad Monster as Grandmother
Heart of the Rio Grande as 'Skipper' Forbes
Riders of the West as Ma Turner
The Power of God as Esther Worne
Law and Order as Mary Todd
Private Snuffy Smith as Lowizie Smith

1941

A Woman's Face as Police Matron
The Man Who Lost Himself as Maid
City of Missing Girls as Mrs. Randolph
Murder by Invitation as Cassandra Hildegard Denham
In Old Colorado as Ma Harriet Woods
Reg'lar Fellers as Hetty Carter

1940

Forgotten Girls as Miss Donaldson
Son of the Navy as Mrs. Baker - Landlady
Chad Hanna as Mrs. Todd
Lone Star Raiders as Lydia 'Granny' Phelps

1939

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Woman Wanting Needle Threaded (uncredited)
I Stole a Million as Lady in Post Office (uncredited)
The Zero Hour as Sister Theodosia
Let Freedom Ring as 'Ma' Logan
Should a Girl Marry? as Mrs. Wilson
Off the Record as Mrs. Fallon (uncredited)

1938

Rich Man, Poor Girl as Ma
Little Tough Guys in Society as Victim
Romance of the Limberlost as Sarah
Woman Against Woman as Dora
Women in Prison as Martha Wilson
Little Orphan Annie as Mrs. Nora Moriarty

1937

Youth on Parole as Mrs. Blair
Exiled to Shanghai as Aunt Jane

1935

Anna Karenina as Governess
Mad Love as Crippled Girl's Mother (Uncredited)
A Dog of Flanders as Frau Keller
Stranded as Workman's Wife (uncredited)
The Hoosier Schoolmaster as Sarah

1934

Man of Two Worlds as Olago
He Was Her Man as Mrs. Gardella
The Defense Rests as Mrs. Evans
As the Earth Turns as Mrs. Janowski
David Harum as Widow
When Strangers Meet as Lucy Tarman
Tomorrow's Children

1933

The Sin of Nora Moran as Mrs. Watts
The Power and the Glory as Henry's Wife
Pilgrimage
Face in the Sky as Ma Brown
Ann Vickers as Lil
Doctor Bull as Mary the Canning Cook
The Important Witness as Deaf Woman

1932

Grand Hotel as Chambermaid in Room 174 (uncredited)
Wild Girl as Lize
Rasputin and the Empress as Duna the Landlady (uncredited)
Red-Headed Woman as Mary, Legendre Maid (uncredited)
Blondie of the Follies as Ma McClune
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as Mrs Cobb
Young America as Mrs. Mary Taylor
Tess of the Storm Country as Old Martha
Women Won't Tell as Aggie Specks
Kongo as Nun (uncredited)
The Midnight Lady as Nita St. George
Cross-Examination as Mary Stevens

1931

Mata Hari as Sister Teresa (uncredited)
Bad Girl as Mrs. Gardner
The Yellow Ticket as Mother Kalish
Sob Sister as Ma Stevens
The Great Meadow as Mistress Molly Hall

1930

Billy the Kid as Homesteader Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
Today as Emma Warner
Hide-Out as Mrs. Dorgan
Trifles as Mrs. Wright

1929

Wonder of Women as Anna
The Sophomore as Mrs. Collins

1928

Companionate Marriage as Mrs. Williams

1927

The Woman Who Did Not Care as Mrs. Carroll
The Bugle Call as Luke's Wife

1926

Obey the Law as The Mother