Acting
Sarah Padden
EN cinema · 132 credits
Born
15 October 1881
Died
4 December 1967 (aged 86)
Birthplace
Sunderland, England, UK
Also known as Sarah Ann Padden · Sara Padden
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.
Known for
Filmography
Screaming Mimi
as Landlady
Girl with an Itch
as Cookie
The Kettles in the Ozarks
as Mrs. Tinware
Prince of Players
as Mary Todd Lincoln (uncredited)
Big Jim McLain
as Mrs. Lexiter
Utah Wagon Train
as Sarah Wendover
House by the River
as Mrs. Beach - Stephen's elderly cook
Gunslingers
as Rawhide Rosie Rawlins
The Missourians
as Mother Kovacs
Again Pioneers
as Ma Ashby
A Life of Her Own
as Betsy Ross Hotel Overseer (uncredited)
Range Justice
as Ma Curtis
Homicide
as Mrs. Webb
The Return of the Whistler
as Mrs. Hulskamp
The Dude Goes West
as Mrs. Hallihan
Frontier Revenge
as Widow Owens
Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad
as Mom Palooka
Love and Learn
as Mrs. Grant (uncredited)
Ramrod
as Mrs. Parks
Joe Palooka in the Knockout
as Mom Palooka
Possessed
as Mrs. Norris, the Caretaker’s Wife (uncredited)
Trail Street
as Mrs. Ferguson (uncredited)
So Goes My Love
as Bridget
That Brennan Girl
as Mrs. Graves, the Nice Landlady
Idea Girl
as Old Lady
Wild West
as Carrie Bannister
My Dog Shep
as Carrie Hodgkins
Joe Palooka, Champ
as Mom Palooka
Angel on My Shoulder
as Agatha (uncredited)
Gentleman Joe Palooka
as Mom Palooka
Apology for Murder
as Maggie
Riders of the Dawn
as Melinda Pringle
The Master Key
as Aggie
Wildfire
as Aunt Agatha
Dakota
as Mrs. Plummer
Marshal of Laredo
as Mrs. Randall
Song of Old Wyoming
as Ma Conway
Identity Unknown
as Mrs. Anderson
The Navy Way
as Mrs. Margaret Gimble (uncredited), as Mrs. Margaret Gimble
Girl Rush
as Mrs. Emma Mason
Casanova Brown
as Mrs. Smith
Summer Storm
as Beggar Woman (uncredited)
San Diego I Love You
as Mrs. Gulliver (uncredited)
Ghost Guns
as Aunt Sally
Range Law
as Boots Annie
Trail to Gunsight
as Grandma Wagner
This Is the Life
as Sarah (uncredited)
Hangmen Also Die!
as Mrs. Georgia Dvorak
Family Troubles
as Mrs. Jones
Assignment in Brittany
as Albertine
So This Is Washington
as Aunt Charity Speers
The Mad Monster
as Grandmother
Heart of the Rio Grande
as 'Skipper' Forbes
Riders of the West
as Ma Turner
The Pride of the Yankees
as Mrs. Roberts (uncredited)
Private Snuffy Smith
as Lowizie Smith
This Gun for Hire
as Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
Law and Order
as Mary Todd
Wild Bill Hickok Rides
as Mrs. Kimball
The Power of God
as Esther Worne
Lady in a Jam
as Miner’s Wife (uncredited)
A Woman's Face
as Police Matron
City of Missing Girls
as Mrs. Randolph
Reg'lar Fellers
as Hetty Carter
Murder by Invitation
as Cassandra Hildegard Denham
In Old Colorado
as Ma Harriet Woods
Chad Hanna
as Mrs. Todd
Lone Star Raiders
as Lydia 'Granny' Phelps
Son of the Navy
as Mrs. Baker - Landlady
Forgotten Girls
as Miss Donaldson
The Zero Hour
as Sister Theodosia
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Woman Wanting Needle Threaded (uncredited)
Let Freedom Ring
as 'Ma' Logan
Should a Girl Marry?
as Mrs. Wilson
I Stole a Million
as Lady in Post Office (uncredited)
Off the Record
as Mrs. Fallon (uncredited)
Women in Prison
as Martha Wilson
Little Orphan Annie
1938
Little Orphan Annie
as Mrs. Nora Moriarty
Youth on Parole
as Mrs. Blair
Exiled to Shanghai
as Aunt Jane
A Dog of Flanders
as Frau Keller
Anna Karenina
as Governess
Stranded
as Workman's Wife (uncredited)
Mad Love
as Crippled Girl's Mother (Uncredited)
He Was Her Man
as Mrs. Gardella
David Harum
as Widow
The Defense Rests
as Mrs. Evans
As the Earth Turns
as Mrs. Janowski
Man of Two Worlds
as Olago
When Strangers Meet
as Lucy Tarman
The Sin of Nora Moran
as Mrs. Watts
Ann Vickers
as Lil
The Power and the Glory
as Henry's Wife
Face in the Sky
as Ma Brown
The Important Witness
as Deaf Woman
Doctor Bull
as Mary the Canning Cook
Blondie of the Follies
as Ma McClune
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
as Mrs Cobb
Cross-Examination
as Mary Stevens
Wild Girl
as Lize
The Midnight Lady
as Nita St. George
Women Won't Tell
as Aggie Specks
Tess of the Storm Country
as Old Martha
Young America
as Mrs. Mary Taylor
Kongo
as Nun (uncredited)
Red-Headed Woman
as Mary, Legendre Maid (uncredited)
Grand Hotel
as Chambermaid in Room 174 (uncredited)
Rasputin and the Empress
as Duna the Landlady (uncredited)
The Great Meadow
as Mistress Molly Hall
The Yellow Ticket
as Mother Kalish
Bad Girl
as Mrs. Gardner
Mata Hari
as Sister Teresa (uncredited)
Sob Sister
as Ma Stevens
Hide-Out
as Mrs. Dorgan
Billy the Kid
as Homesteader Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
Today
as Emma Warner
Trifles
as Mrs. Wright
The Sophomore
as Mrs. Collins
Wonder of Women
as Anna
Companionate Marriage
as Mrs. Williams
The Woman Who Did Not Care
as Mrs. Carroll
The Bugle Call
as Luke's Wife
Obey the Law
as The Mother