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
Ma McClune
Blondie of the Follies
Bridget
So Goes My Love
Mrs. Beach - Stephen's elderly cook
House by the River
Mrs. Margaret Gimble (uncredited)
The Navy Way
Mrs. Georgia Dvorak
Hangmen Also Die!
Landlady
Screaming Mimi
Mrs. Hulskamp
The Return of the Whistler
Maggie
Apology for Murder
Police Matron
A Woman's Face
Mrs. Watts
The Sin of Nora Moran
Lil
Ann Vickers
Sarah
The Hoosier Schoolmaster
Mrs Cobb
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Mrs. Jones
Family Troubles
Mrs. Carroll
The Woman Who Did Not Care
Henry's Wife
The Power and the Glory
Martha Wilson
Women in Prison
Mrs. Dorgan
Hide-Out
Grandmother
The Mad Monster
'Skipper' Forbes
Heart of the Rio Grande
Mary Stevens
Cross-Examination
The Mother
Obey the Law
Ma Turner
Riders of the West
Lize
Wild Girl
Homesteader Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
Billy the Kid
Cookie
Girl with an Itch
Mrs. Gardella
He Was Her Man
Mrs. Roberts (uncredited)
The Pride of the Yankees
Nita St. George
The Midnight Lady
Ma
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Melinda Pringle
Riders of the Dawn
Albertine
Assignment in Brittany
Mrs. Randolph
City of Missing Girls
Mrs. Blair
Youth on Parole
Mrs. Emma Mason
Girl Rush
Mrs. Graves, the Nice Landlady
That Brennan Girl
Aggie
The Master Key
Aunt Jane
Exiled to Shanghai
Mistress Molly Hall
The Great Meadow
Widow
David Harum
Aggie Specks
Women Won't Tell
Lowizie Smith
Private Snuffy Smith
Old Martha
Tess of the Storm Country
Ma Brown
Face in the Sky
Mrs. Evans
The Defense Rests
Mrs. Smith
Casanova Brown
Deaf Woman
The Important Witness
Sarah
Romance of the Limberlost
Mrs. Mary Taylor
Young America
Mrs. Janowski
As the Earth Turns
Mrs. Hallihan
The Dude Goes West
Mrs. Todd
Chad Hanna
Emma Warner
Today
Aunt Agatha
Wildfire
Sister Theodosia
The Zero Hour
Frau Keller
A Dog of Flanders
Mrs. Collins
The Sophomore
Dora
Woman Against Woman
Aunt Charity Speers
So This Is Washington
Woman Wanting Needle Threaded (uncredited)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
'Ma' Logan
Let Freedom Ring
Beggar Woman (uncredited)
Summer Storm
Nun (uncredited)
Kongo
Old Lady
Idea Girl
Mother Kalish
The Yellow Ticket
Widow Owens
Frontier Revenge
Mrs. Wilson
Should a Girl Marry?
Olago
Man of Two Worlds
Hetty Carter
Reg'lar Fellers
Mrs. Plummer
Dakota
Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
This Gun for Hire
Lydia 'Granny' Phelps
Lone Star Raiders
Cassandra Hildegard Denham
Murder by Invitation
Mary Todd
Law and Order
Ma Harriet Woods
In Old Colorado
Victim
Little Tough Guys in Society
Mary, Legendre Maid (uncredited)
Red-Headed Woman
Mrs. Baker - Landlady
Son of the Navy
Mrs. Gulliver (uncredited)
San Diego I Love You
Pilgrimage
Mrs. Gardner
Bad Girl
Rawhide Rosie Rawlins
Gunslingers
Mother Kovacs
The Missourians
Sarah Wendover
Utah Wagon Train
Mrs. Randall
Marshal of Laredo
Mary the Canning Cook
Doctor Bull
Mrs. Wright
Trifles
Mrs. Lexiter
Big Jim McLain
Aunt Sally
Ghost Guns
Mrs. Grant (uncredited)
Love and Learn
Boots Annie
Range Law
Grandma Wagner
Trail to Gunsight
Ma Conway
Song of Old Wyoming
Carrie Bannister
Wild West
Ma Ashby
Again Pioneers
Mrs. Parks
Ramrod
Ma Curtis
Range Justice
Mrs. Kimball
Wild Bill Hickok Rides
Mary Todd Lincoln (uncredited)
Prince of Players
Maid
The Man Who Lost Himself
Carrie Hodgkins
My Dog Shep
Chambermaid in Room 174 (uncredited)
Grand Hotel
Nurse
The Corsican Brothers
Sister Teresa (uncredited)
Mata Hari
Duna the Landlady (uncredited)
Rasputin and the Empress
Mrs. Nora Moriarty
Little Orphan Annie
Lady in Post Office (uncredited)
I Stole a Million
Esther Worne
The Power of God
Mrs. Fallon (uncredited)
Off the Record
Governess
Anna Karenina
Luke's Wife
The Bugle Call
Workman's Wife (uncredited)
Stranded
Anna
Wonder of Women
Mrs. Margaret Gimble
The Navy Way
Mom Palooka
Joe Palooka, Champ
Mom Palooka
Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad
Betsy Ross Hotel Overseer (uncredited)
A Life of Her Own
Mrs. Webb
Homicide
Agatha (uncredited)
Angel on My Shoulder
Mrs. Tinware
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Mrs. Anderson
Identity Unknown
Miss Donaldson
Forgotten Girls
Mom Palooka
Joe Palooka in the Knockout
Mom Palooka
Gentleman Joe Palooka
Crippled Girl's Mother (Uncredited)
Mad Love
Ma Stevens
Sob Sister
Miner’s Wife (uncredited)
Lady in a Jam
Mrs. Williams
Companionate Marriage
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
128
Gender
Female
Birthday
1881-10-15
Place of Birth
Sunderland, England, UK
Also Known As
Sarah Ann Padden