Sarah Padden
Born
October 15, 1881
Died
December 4, 1967 (86 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Sunderland, England, UK
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

Girl with an Itch
Cookie
1958

Screaming Mimi
Landlady
1958

The Kettles in the Ozarks
Mrs. Tinware
1956

Prince of Players
Mary Todd Lincoln (uncredited)
1955

Public Defender
Eula Mae Carter · (1 episode)
1954

Letter to Loretta
Frau Lang · (1 episode)
1953

The Life Of Riley
Martha Riley · (2 episodes)
1953

The Life Of Riley
Ma Riley · (1 episode)
1953

The Abbott and Costello Show
Old Lady on Street · (1 episode)
1952

Adventures of Superman
Mrs. Carmody · (1 episode)
1952

Big Jim McLain
Mrs. Lexiter
1952

Dragnet
(1 episode)
1951

Utah Wagon Train
Sarah Wendover
1951

The Missourians
Mother Kovacs
1950

Again Pioneers
Ma Ashby
1950

The Cisco Kid
Mrs. Smiley · (1 episode)
1950

The Cisco Kid
Sara · (1 episode)
1950

A Life of Her Own
Betsy Ross Hotel Overseer (uncredited)
1950

Gunslingers
Rawhide Rosie Rawlins
1950

House by the River
Mrs. Beach - Stephen's elderly cook
1950

The Lone Ranger
Grandma Williams · (1 episode)
1949

Range Justice
Ma Curtis
1949

Homicide
Mrs. Webb
1949

Frontier Revenge
Widow Owens
1948

The Dude Goes West
Mrs. Hallihan
1948

The Return of the Whistler
Mrs. Hulskamp
1948

Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad
Mom Palooka
1948

Joe Palooka in the Knockout
Mom Palooka
1947

Love and Learn
Mrs. Grant (uncredited)
1947

Ramrod
Mrs. Parks
1947

That Brennan Girl
Mrs. Graves, the Nice Landlady
1946

Wild West
Carrie Bannister
1946

My Dog Shep
Carrie Hodgkins
1946

Gentleman Joe Palooka
Mom Palooka
1946

Angel on My Shoulder
Agatha (uncredited)
1946

Joe Palooka, Champ
Mom Palooka
1946

So Goes My Love
Bridget
1946
Idea Girl
Old Lady
1946

Dakota
Mrs. Plummer
1945

Riders of the Dawn
Melinda Pringle
1945

Song of Old Wyoming
Ma Conway
1945

Marshal of Laredo
Mrs. Randall
1945

Apology for Murder
Maggie
1945

Wildfire
Aunt Agatha
1945

The Master Key
Aggie
1945

Identity Unknown
Mrs. Anderson
1945

Ghost Guns
Aunt Sally
1944

Girl Rush
Mrs. Emma Mason
1944

San Diego I Love You
Mrs. Gulliver (uncredited)
1944

Casanova Brown
Mrs. Smith
1944

Trail to Gunsight
Grandma Wagner
1944

Summer Storm
Beggar Woman (uncredited)
1944

Range Law
Boots Annie
1944

The Navy Way
Mrs. Margaret Gimble (uncredited)
1944

The Navy Way
Mrs. Margaret Gimble
1944

So This Is Washington
Aunt Charity Speers
1943

Hangmen Also Die!
Mrs. Georgia Dvorak
1943

Family Troubles
Mrs. Jones
1943

Assignment in Brittany
Albertine
1943

Riders of the West
Ma Turner
1942

Law and Order
Mary Todd
1942

The Pride of the Yankees
Mrs. Roberts (uncredited)
1942

Lady in a Jam
Miner’s Wife (uncredited)
1942

The Mad Monster
Grandmother
1942

This Gun for Hire
Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
1942

Heart of the Rio Grande
'Skipper' Forbes
1942

Wild Bill Hickok Rides
Mrs. Kimball
1942

Private Snuffy Smith
Lowizie Smith
1942

The Power of God
Esther Worne
1942

The Corsican Brothers
Nurse
1941

Reg'lar Fellers
Hetty Carter
1941

Murder by Invitation
Cassandra Hildegard Denham
1941

A Woman's Face
Police Matron
1941

City of Missing Girls
Mrs. Randolph
1941

The Man Who Lost Himself
Maid
1941

In Old Colorado
Ma Harriet Woods
1941

Chad Hanna
Mrs. Todd
1940

Lone Star Raiders
Lydia 'Granny' Phelps
1940

Son of the Navy
Mrs. Baker - Landlady
1940

Forgotten Girls
Miss Donaldson
1940

I Stole a Million
Lady in Post Office (uncredited)
1939

Should a Girl Marry?
Mrs. Wilson
1939

The Zero Hour
Sister Theodosia
1939

Let Freedom Ring
'Ma' Logan
1939

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Woman Wanting Needle Threaded (uncredited)
1939

Off the Record
Mrs. Fallon (uncredited)
1939
Little Orphan Annie
Mrs. Nora Moriarty
1938

Little Tough Guys in Society
Victim
1938

Rich Man, Poor Girl
Ma
1938

Woman Against Woman
Dora
1938

Romance of the Limberlost
Sarah
1938

Women in Prison
Martha Wilson
1938
Exiled to Shanghai
Aunt Jane
1937

Youth on Parole
Mrs. Blair
1937

Anna Karenina
Governess
1935

Mad Love
Crippled Girl's Mother (Uncredited)
1935

Stranded
Workman's Wife (uncredited)
1935

The Hoosier Schoolmaster
Sarah
1935

A Dog of Flanders
Frau Keller
1935

The Defense Rests
Mrs. Evans
1934

He Was Her Man
Mrs. Gardella
1934

David Harum
Widow
1934

As the Earth Turns
Mrs. Janowski
1934

Man of Two Worlds
Olago
1934

The Sin of Nora Moran
Mrs. Watts
1933

The Power and the Glory
Henry's Wife
1933

Ann Vickers
Lil
1933

Doctor Bull
Mary the Canning Cook
1933

The Important Witness
Deaf Woman
1933

Pilgrimage
1933

Face in the Sky
Ma Brown
1933

Rasputin and the Empress
Duna the Landlady (uncredited)
1932

Tess of the Storm Country
Old Martha
1932

Women Won't Tell
Aggie Specks
1932

Wild Girl
Lize
1932

Kongo
Nun (uncredited)
1932

Blondie of the Follies
Ma McClune
1932

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Mrs Cobb
1932

Red-Headed Woman
Mary, Legendre Maid (uncredited)
1932

Grand Hotel
Chambermaid in Room 174 (uncredited)
1932

The Midnight Lady
Nita St. George
1932

Young America
Mrs. Mary Taylor
1932

Cross-Examination
Mary Stevens
1932

Mata Hari
Sister Teresa (uncredited)
1931

The Yellow Ticket
Mother Kalish
1931

Sob Sister
Ma Stevens
1931

Bad Girl
Mrs. Gardner
1931

The Great Meadow
Mistress Molly Hall
1931

Today
Emma Warner
1930

Billy the Kid
Homesteader Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
1930

Hide-Out
Mrs. Dorgan
1930

Trifles
Mrs. Wright
1930

The Sophomore
Mrs. Collins
1929

Wonder of Women
Anna
1929

Companionate Marriage
Mrs. Williams
1928

The Bugle Call
Luke's Wife
1927

The Woman Who Did Not Care
Mrs. Carroll
1927

Obey the Law
The Mother
1926