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