Sarah Padden
Acting • Born 1881-10-15 – Died 1967-12-04
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
142 credits
Blondie of the Follies
Movie • 1932
Ma McClune
So Goes My Love
Movie • 1946
Bridget
House by the River
Movie • 1950
Mrs. Beach - Stephen's elderly cook
The Navy Way
Movie • 1944
Mrs. Margaret Gimble (uncredited)
Hangmen Also Die!
Movie • 1943
Mrs. Georgia Dvorak
Screaming Mimi
Movie • 1958
Landlady
The Return of the Whistler
Movie • 1948
Mrs. Hulskamp
Apology for Murder
Movie • 1945
Maggie
A Woman's Face
Movie • 1941
Police Matron
The Sin of Nora Moran
Movie • 1933
Mrs. Watts
Ann Vickers
Movie • 1933
Lil
The Hoosier Schoolmaster
Movie • 1935
Sarah
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Movie • 1932
Mrs Cobb
Family Troubles
Movie • 1943
Mrs. Jones
The Woman Who Did Not Care
Movie • 1927
Mrs. Carroll
The Power and the Glory
Movie • 1933
Henry's Wife
Women in Prison
Movie • 1938
Martha Wilson
Hide-Out
Movie • 1930
Mrs. Dorgan
The Mad Monster
Movie • 1942
Grandmother
Heart of the Rio Grande
Movie • 1942
'Skipper' Forbes
Cross-Examination
Movie • 1932
Mary Stevens
Obey the Law
Movie • 1926
The Mother
Riders of the West
Movie • 1942
Ma Turner
Wild Girl
Movie • 1932
Lize
Billy the Kid
Movie • 1930
Homesteader Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
Girl with an Itch
Movie • 1958
Cookie
He Was Her Man
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Gardella
The Pride of the Yankees
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Roberts (uncredited)
The Midnight Lady
Movie • 1932
Nita St. George
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Movie • 1938
Ma
Riders of the Dawn
Movie • 1945
Melinda Pringle
Assignment in Brittany
Movie • 1943
Albertine
City of Missing Girls
Movie • 1941
Mrs. Randolph
Youth on Parole
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Blair
Girl Rush
Movie • 1944
Mrs. Emma Mason
That Brennan Girl
Movie • 1946
Mrs. Graves, the Nice Landlady
The Master Key
Movie • 1945
Aggie
Exiled to Shanghai
Movie • 1937
Aunt Jane
The Great Meadow
Movie • 1931
Mistress Molly Hall
David Harum
Movie • 1934
Widow
Women Won't Tell
Movie • 1932
Aggie Specks
Private Snuffy Smith
Movie • 1942
Lowizie Smith
Tess of the Storm Country
Movie • 1932
Old Martha
Face in the Sky
Movie • 1933
Ma Brown
The Defense Rests
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Evans
Casanova Brown
Movie • 1944
Mrs. Smith
The Important Witness
Movie • 1933
Deaf Woman
Romance of the Limberlost
Movie • 1938
Sarah
Young America
Movie • 1932
Mrs. Mary Taylor
The Dude Goes West
Movie • 1948
Mrs. Hallihan
As the Earth Turns
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Janowski
Chad Hanna
Movie • 1940
Mrs. Todd
Today
Movie • 1930
Emma Warner
Wildfire
Movie • 1945
Aunt Agatha
The Zero Hour
Movie • 1939
Sister Theodosia
A Dog of Flanders
Movie • 1935
Frau Keller
The Sophomore
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Collins
Woman Against Woman
Movie • 1938
Dora
So This Is Washington
Movie • 1943
Aunt Charity Speers
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Movie • 1939
Woman Wanting Needle Threaded (uncredited)
Let Freedom Ring
Movie • 1939
'Ma' Logan
Summer Storm
Movie • 1944
Beggar Woman (uncredited)
Kongo
Movie • 1932
Nun (uncredited)
Idea Girl
Movie • 1946
Old Lady
The Yellow Ticket
Movie • 1931
Mother Kalish
Frontier Revenge
Movie • 1948
Widow Owens
Should a Girl Marry?
Movie • 1939
Mrs. Wilson
Man of Two Worlds
Movie • 1934
Olago
Reg'lar Fellers
Movie • 1941
Hetty Carter
Dakota
Movie • 1945
Mrs. Plummer
This Gun for Hire
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
Lone Star Raiders
Movie • 1940
Lydia 'Granny' Phelps
Murder by Invitation
Movie • 1941
Cassandra Hildegard Denham
Law and Order
Movie • 1942
Mary Todd
In Old Colorado
Movie • 1941
Ma Harriet Woods
Little Tough Guys in Society
Movie • 1938
Victim
Red-Headed Woman
Movie • 1932
Mary, Legendre Maid (uncredited)
Son of the Navy
Movie • 1940
Mrs. Baker - Landlady
San Diego I Love You
Movie • 1944
Mrs. Gulliver (uncredited)
Pilgrimage
Movie • 1933
Bad Girl
Movie • 1931
Mrs. Gardner
Gunslingers
Movie • 1950
Rawhide Rosie Rawlins
The Missourians
Movie • 1950
Mother Kovacs
Utah Wagon Train
Movie • 1951
Sarah Wendover
Marshal of Laredo
Movie • 1945
Mrs. Randall
Doctor Bull
Movie • 1933
Mary the Canning Cook
Trifles
Movie • 1930
Mrs. Wright
Big Jim McLain
Movie • 1952
Mrs. Lexiter
Ghost Guns
Movie • 1944
Aunt Sally
Love and Learn
Movie • 1947
Mrs. Grant (uncredited)
Range Law
Movie • 1944
Boots Annie
Song of Old Wyoming
Movie • 1945
Ma Conway
Trail to Gunsight
Movie • 1944
Grandma Wagner
Wild West
Movie • 1946
Carrie Bannister
Again Pioneers
Movie • 1950
Ma Ashby
Ramrod
Movie • 1947
Mrs. Parks
Range Justice
Movie • 1949
Ma Curtis
Wild Bill Hickok Rides
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Kimball
Prince of Players
Movie • 1955
Mary Todd Lincoln (uncredited)
The Man Who Lost Himself
Movie • 1941
Maid
My Dog Shep
Movie • 1946
Carrie Hodgkins
Grand Hotel
Movie • 1932
Chambermaid in Room 174 (uncredited)
The Corsican Brothers
Movie • 1941
Nurse
Mata Hari
Movie • 1931
Sister Teresa (uncredited)
Rasputin and the Empress
Movie • 1932
Duna the Landlady (uncredited)
Little Orphan Annie
Movie • 1938
Mrs. Nora Moriarty
I Stole a Million
Movie • 1939
Lady in Post Office (uncredited)
The Power of God
Movie • 1942
Esther Worne
Off the Record
Movie • 1939
Mrs. Fallon (uncredited)
Anna Karenina
Movie • 1935
Governess
The Bugle Call
Movie • 1927
Luke's Wife
Stranded
Movie • 1935
Workman's Wife (uncredited)
Wonder of Women
Movie • 1929
Anna
The Navy Way
Movie • 1944
Mrs. Margaret Gimble
Joe Palooka, Champ
Movie • 1946
Mom Palooka
Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad
Movie • 1948
Mom Palooka
A Life of Her Own
Movie • 1950
Betsy Ross Hotel Overseer (uncredited)
Homicide
Movie • 1949
Mrs. Webb
Angel on My Shoulder
Movie • 1946
Agatha (uncredited)
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Movie • 1956
Mrs. Tinware
Identity Unknown
Movie • 1945
Mrs. Anderson
Forgotten Girls
Movie • 1940
Miss Donaldson
Joe Palooka in the Knockout
Movie • 1947
Mom Palooka
Gentleman Joe Palooka
Movie • 1946
Mom Palooka
Mad Love
Movie • 1935
Crippled Girl's Mother (Uncredited)
Sob Sister
Movie • 1931
Ma Stevens
Lady in a Jam
Movie • 1942
Miner’s Wife (uncredited)
Companionate Marriage
Movie • 1928
Mrs. Williams
Possessed
Movie • 1947
Mrs. Norris, the Caretaker’s Wife (uncredited)
Trail Street
Movie • 1947
Mrs. Ferguson (uncredited)
Tomorrow's Children
Movie • 1934
When Strangers Meet
Movie • 1934
Lucy Tarman
The Cisco Kid
TV • 1950
Mrs. Smiley
Adventures of Superman
TV • 1952
Mrs. Carmody
The Lone Ranger
TV • 1949
Grandma Williams
The Life Of Riley
TV • 1953
Martha Riley
Public Defender
TV • 1954
Eula Mae Carter
The Life Of Riley
TV • 1953
Ma Riley
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Frau Lang
The Cisco Kid
TV • 1950
Sara
The Abbott and Costello Show
TV • 1952
Old Lady on Street
Dragnet
TV • 1951