Sarah Padden

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.

Known For

Dragnet

The Lone Ranger

Adventures of Superman

The Abbott and Costello Show

The Life Of Riley

Public Defender

Letter to Loretta

Grand Hotel

All Movies (132)

• Girl with an Itch1958 · as Cookie
• Screaming Mimi1958 · as Landlady
• The Kettles in the Ozarks1956 · as Mrs. Tinware
• Prince of Players1955 · as Mary Todd Lincoln (uncredited)
• Big Jim McLain1952 · as Mrs. Lexiter
• Utah Wagon Train1951 · as Sarah Wendover
• The Missourians1950 · as Mother Kovacs
• Again Pioneers1950 · as Ma Ashby
• A Life of Her Own1950 · as Betsy Ross Hotel Overseer (uncredited)
• Gunslingers1950 · as Rawhide Rosie Rawlins
• House by the River1950 · as Mrs. Beach - Stephen's elderly cook
• Range Justice1949 · as Ma Curtis
• Homicide1949 · as Mrs. Webb
• Frontier Revenge1948 · as Widow Owens
• The Dude Goes West1948 · as Mrs. Hallihan
• The Return of the Whistler1948 · as Mrs. Hulskamp
• Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad1948 · as Mom Palooka
• Joe Palooka in the Knockout1947 · as Mom Palooka
• Possessed1947 · as Mrs. Norris, the Caretaker’s Wife (uncredited)
• Love and Learn1947 · as Mrs. Grant (uncredited)
• Ramrod1947 · as Mrs. Parks
• Trail Street1947 · as Mrs. Ferguson (uncredited)
• That Brennan Girl1946 · as Mrs. Graves, the Nice Landlady
• Wild West1946 · as Carrie Bannister
• My Dog Shep1946 · as Carrie Hodgkins
• Gentleman Joe Palooka1946 · as Mom Palooka
• Angel on My Shoulder1946 · as Agatha (uncredited)
• Joe Palooka, Champ1946 · as Mom Palooka
• So Goes My Love1946 · as Bridget
• Idea Girl1946 · as Old Lady
• Dakota1945 · as Mrs. Plummer
• Riders of the Dawn1945 · as Melinda Pringle
• Song of Old Wyoming1945 · as Ma Conway
• Marshal of Laredo1945 · as Mrs. Randall
• Apology for Murder1945 · as Maggie
• Wildfire1945 · as Aunt Agatha
• The Master Key1945 · as Aggie
• Identity Unknown1945 · as Mrs. Anderson
• Ghost Guns1944 · as Aunt Sally
• Girl Rush1944 · as Mrs. Emma Mason
• San Diego I Love You1944 · as Mrs. Gulliver (uncredited)
• Casanova Brown1944 · as Mrs. Smith
• Trail to Gunsight1944 · as Grandma Wagner
• Summer Storm1944 · as Beggar Woman (uncredited)
• Range Law1944 · as Boots Annie
• The Navy Way1944 · as Mrs. Margaret Gimble (uncredited)
• The Navy Way1944 · as Mrs. Margaret Gimble
• So This Is Washington1943 · as Aunt Charity Speers
• Family Troubles1943 · as Mrs. Jones
• Hangmen Also Die!1943 · as Mrs. Georgia Dvorak
• Assignment in Brittany1943 · as Albertine
• Riders of the West1942 · as Ma Turner
• Law and Order1942 · as Mary Todd
• The Pride of the Yankees1942 · as Mrs. Roberts (uncredited)
• Lady in a Jam1942 · as Miner’s Wife (uncredited)
• The Mad Monster1942 · as Grandmother
• This Gun for Hire1942 · as Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
• Heart of the Rio Grande1942 · as 'Skipper' Forbes
• Wild Bill Hickok Rides1942 · as Mrs. Kimball
• Private Snuffy Smith1942 · as Lowizie Smith
• The Power of God1942 · as Esther Worne
• The Corsican Brothers1941 · as Nurse
• Reg'lar Fellers1941 · as Hetty Carter
• Murder by Invitation1941 · as Cassandra Hildegard Denham
• A Woman's Face1941 · as Police Matron
• City of Missing Girls1941 · as Mrs. Randolph
• The Man Who Lost Himself1941 · as Maid
• In Old Colorado1941 · as Ma Harriet Woods
• Chad Hanna1940 · as Mrs. Todd
• Lone Star Raiders1940 · as Lydia 'Granny' Phelps
• Son of the Navy1940 · as Mrs. Baker - Landlady
• Forgotten Girls1940 · as Miss Donaldson
• I Stole a Million1939 · as Lady in Post Office (uncredited)
• Should a Girl Marry?1939 · as Mrs. Wilson
• The Zero Hour1939 · as Sister Theodosia
• Let Freedom Ring1939 · as 'Ma' Logan
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn1939 · as Woman Wanting Needle Threaded (uncredited)
• Off the Record1939 · as Mrs. Fallon (uncredited)
• Little Orphan Annie1938 · as Mrs. Nora Moriarty
• Little Tough Guys in Society1938 · as Victim
• Rich Man, Poor Girl1938 · as Ma
• Woman Against Woman1938 · as Dora
• Romance of the Limberlost1938 · as Sarah
• Women in Prison1938 · as Martha Wilson
• Exiled to Shanghai1937 · as Aunt Jane
• Youth on Parole1937 · as Mrs. Blair
• Anna Karenina1935 · as Governess
• Mad Love1935 · as Crippled Girl's Mother (Uncredited)
• Stranded1935 · as Workman's Wife (uncredited)
• The Hoosier Schoolmaster1935 · as Sarah
• A Dog of Flanders1935 · as Frau Keller
• When Strangers Meet1934 · as Lucy Tarman
• The Defense Rests1934 · as Mrs. Evans
• Tomorrow's Children1934
• He Was Her Man1934 · as Mrs. Gardella
• David Harum1934 · as Widow
• As the Earth Turns1934 · as Mrs. Janowski
• Man of Two Worlds1934 · as Olago
• The Sin of Nora Moran1933 · as Mrs. Watts
• The Power and the Glory1933 · as Henry's Wife
• Ann Vickers1933 · as Lil
• Doctor Bull1933 · as Mary the Canning Cook
• The Important Witness1933 · as Deaf Woman
• Pilgrimage1933
• Face in the Sky1933 · as Ma Brown
• Rasputin and the Empress1932 · as Duna the Landlady (uncredited)
• Tess of the Storm Country1932 · as Old Martha
• Women Won't Tell1932 · as Aggie Specks
• Wild Girl1932 · as Lize
• Kongo1932 · as Nun (uncredited)
• Grand Hotel1932 · as Chambermaid in Room 174 (uncredited)
• Blondie of the Follies1932 · as Ma McClune
• Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm1932 · as Mrs Cobb
• Red-Headed Woman1932 · as Mary, Legendre Maid (uncredited)
• The Midnight Lady1932 · as Nita St. George
• Young America1932 · as Mrs. Mary Taylor
• Cross-Examination1932 · as Mary Stevens
• Mata Hari1931 · as Sister Teresa (uncredited)
• The Yellow Ticket1931 · as Mother Kalish
• Sob Sister1931 · as Ma Stevens
• Bad Girl1931 · as Mrs. Gardner
• The Great Meadow1931 · as Mistress Molly Hall
• Today1930 · as Emma Warner
• Billy the Kid1930 · as Homesteader Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
• Hide-Out1930 · as Mrs. Dorgan
• Trifles1930 · as Mrs. Wright
• The Sophomore1929 · as Mrs. Collins
• Wonder of Women1929 · as Anna
• Companionate Marriage1928 · as Mrs. Williams
• The Bugle Call1927 · as Luke's Wife
• The Woman Who Did Not Care1927 · as Mrs. Carroll
• Obey the Law1926 · as The Mother

All TV Shows (9)

• Public Defender1954 · as Eula Mae Carter
• Letter to Loretta1953 · as Frau Lang
• The Life Of Riley1953 · as Martha Riley
• The Abbott and Costello Show1952 · as Old Lady on Street
• Adventures of Superman1952 · as Mrs. Carmody
• Dragnet1951
• The Cisco Kid1950 · as Mrs. Smiley
• The Cisco Kid1950 · as Sara
• The Lone Ranger1949 · as Grandma Williams