Born in England to an Irish immigrant father, Michael Padden, and an English mother, the family emigrated to the United States on the S/S Ohio from England passing through the Port of Philadelphia in 1889.^{[citation needed]}

The future actress took part in recitations in the Catholic school she attended in Chicago, where her fellow students enjoyed her talent as a mimic. Her parents wanted her to enter a convent, but a liberal-minded priest, Father Dorney, encouraged her ambition to become an actress. He assisted her in obtaining her first stage role, a theatrical featuring Otis Skinner.^[1]

For many years, Padden lived in the vicinity of the Broad River, Gaston, South Carolina. On one occasion she ventured onto a dam, reaching its center just as the noon whistle blew near the power station. Frightened, she lost her balance and fell over, but she managed to cling to a steel eye bolt. She was rescued by an African American manservant of the power company superintendent. Afterwards Padden's parents hired the man and took him to New York City, where he died at age 108.^[4]

Padden was a featured player on the Orpheum Circuit.^[5] She had a role in His Grace de Grammont, a romantic comedy by Clyde Fitch which came to the Park Theatre in Boston in September 1905. The production starred Skinner and was based on the life of a chevalier in the court of Charles II.^[6] Padden appeared again with Skinner in a four-act play produced by Charles Frohman, The Honor of the Family, by Émile Fabre, which was presented in New Rochelle, New York in September 1907.^[7]

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),^[8] in November 1925.^[4]

Padden 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 Schünzel 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.

She was athletic, taking part in skating, tennis, and swimming.^[5] She played 18 to 36 holes of golf daily. In 1919. she was considered one of the best female golfers in the United States.^[9] In Los Angeles, she was fond of playing the municipal links at Griffith Park.^[5]

She died 4 December 1967 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 86. She was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.^{[citation needed]}

• Works by or about Sarah Padden at Internet Archive
• Sarah Padden at IMDb
• Sarah Padden at the Internet Broadway Database