Sarah Padden

Biography

Sarah Padden (England, 1881 - Los Angeles, 1967) was a character actress born in England who built her career in the United States, working on both the stage and the screen. She became a familiar face in films of the 1930s and 1940s, usually playing mothers, landladies and working-class women.

She was brought to America as a child and grew up in Chicago, where she attended a Catholic school. Her parents hoped she would join a convent, but a priest encouraged her to pursue acting. Before moving into films she performed in stage productions of the early twentieth century, and her best-known single-act role on stage was in The Clod.

From 1926 she worked mainly in film, with credits in around 178 films and television productions over the following decades. She worked under directors such as Reinhold Schünzel and Phil Rosen and appeared in studio pictures of many kinds. Her legacy rests on dependable supporting work rather than leading roles. Away from the studios, she was also a serious amateur golfer.

Key films

• Grand Hotel (1932): a chambermaid in an ensemble cast.
• Bad Girl (1931): a supporting role in a drama of the early sound era.
• Anna Karenina (1935): the governess in the adaptation of Tolstoy's novel.
• The Pride of the Yankees (1942): Mrs. Roberts, in the biopic of Lou Gehrig.
• Murder by Invitation (1941): Aunt Cassandra Denham, in a closed-room murder comedy.
• Hangmen Also Die! (1943): Mrs. Dvorak, in Fritz Lang's anti-Nazi thriller.