{{Short description|American actress (1898–1981)}} {{Use American English|date=April 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Sara Haden | image = Sara Haden publ.jpg | image_size = | caption = Haden in 1940 | birth_name = Catherine Haden | birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|11|17}} | birth_place = Center Point, Texas or Galveston, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|09|15|1898|11|17}} | death_place = Woodland Hills, California, U.S. | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1920–1964 | spouse = {{marriage|Richard Abbott|1921|1948|end=divorced}} | mother = Charlotte Walker }}
'''Sara Haden''' (born '''Catherine Haden''', November 17, 1898<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~katy/haden/b31702.html|title=Sixth Generation|website=Freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=June 30, 2017}}</ref> – September 15, 1981) was an American actress of the 1930s through the 1950s and in television into the mid-1960s. She may be best remembered for appearing as Aunt Milly Forrest in 14 of the 16 entries in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Andy Hardy film series.
==Early life== Some sources say she was born in 1898 in Center Point, Texas,<ref group=note>Axel Nissen's ''Accustomed to Her Face: Thirty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood'' gives her birthplace as Center Point, Texas.</ref><ref name="ahf">{{cite book|last1=Nissen|first1=Axel|title=Accustomed to Her Face: Thirty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood|date=August 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476626062|pages=76–82|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOPIDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Sara+Haden%22&pg=PA76|accessdate=January 17, 2017}}</ref> while others claim she was born in Galveston, Texas.<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="sal" /><ref name="fwst" /> Her father was John B. Haden, a doctor, and her mother was actress Charlotte Walker. She had a sister. She spent "a considerable portion of her childhood" in Williamstown, Massachusetts. When she was a child, her mother gave her training in acting.<ref name="pph">{{cite news |title=Sara Haden Became Character Actress While Student In College |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-press-herald-sara-haden/196865735/ |access-date=May 4, 2026 |work=Portland Press Herald |date=August 29, 1939 |page=14|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>
==Career== thumb|right|In ''A Family Affair'' Haden first appeared on the stage as a maid in a play that starred her mother and was written by her then-stepfather, Eugene Walter.<ref name="fwst">{{cite news |last1=Stephenson |first1=Bess |title=Texas Girl Making Good as Villainess of Hollywood; Mother Warned Her Not to Wed Actor So She Did! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-sara-haden/196880558/ |access-date=May 4, 2026 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=February 4, 1936 |page=4|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> As early as October 1920, she was appearing with Walter Hampden's acting troupe.<ref>{{cite news|title=Shubert-Garrick|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12204372/the_washington_times/|work=The Washington Times|date=October 21, 1920|location=District of Columbia, Washington|page=12|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 7, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> She performed in stock theater for several years before she began acting on Broadway.<ref name="sal">{{cite news |title=Texas Reunion on Hardy Set |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-antonio-light-sara-haden/196869008/ |access-date=May 4, 2026 |work=The San Antonio Light |date=May 9, 1939 |page=6|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> Her Broadway theatre debut came in ''Trigger'' (1927)<ref>{{cite news|title=Inherits Her Talent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12205158/sara_haden/|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=October 17, 1928|location=New York, Brooklyn|page=34|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=July 7, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> or in ''Macbeth'' (1921). Her other Broadway credits included ''Lawful Larceny'' (1922), ''Out of Step'' (1925), ''The Wrecker'' (1928), ''Girl Trouble'' (1928), ''Hot Water'' (1929), ''First Mortgage'' (1929), and ''The Hill Between Us'' (1938).<ref name="ibdb">{{cite web |title=Sara Haden |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/sara-haden-43631 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=May 4, 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231114835/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/sara-haden-43631 |archive-date=December 31, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
A part in the play ''Sunup'' took Haden to London in the 1920s. It ran for 32 weeks, and the cast gave a command performance for King George and Queen Mary.<ref name="fwst" /> A review in ''The Theatre World and Illustrated Stage Review'' said of Haden's performance, "Without any great help from the playwright or from her own personality, this young actress gives us a performance which for depth and purity of feeling has no parallel in my memory since Marie Lohr played Marguerite in ''Faust'' some seventeen years ago."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 1925 |page=72 |title=Vaudeville, Strand, W.C.2. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0x0Iwjdig4C&newbks=0&dq=%22Sara%20Haden%22%20actress&pg=RA4-PA72#v=onepage&q=%22Sara%20Haden%22%20actress&f=true |magazine=The Theatre World and Illustrated Stage Review |access-date=May 4, 2026 }}</ref>
She made her film debut in 1934 (one year after her mother's retirement) in the Katharine Hepburn vehicle ''Spitfire''.<ref name=gdn/> Haden later became a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the late 1930s and generally appeared in small roles in many of the studio's films, most notably in the Andy Hardy series starring Mickey Rooney, cast as the spinsterish Aunt Milly Forrest.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rowan|first1=Terry|title=Character-Based Film Series Part 1|date=September 16, 2016 |publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=9781365421051|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCZNDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Sara+Haden%22+actress&pg=PA9|accessdate=July 8, 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Haden made her last film, ''Andy Hardy Comes Home'', in 1958,<ref name=nyt/> but was active on television until a 1965 guest spot on ''Dr. Kildare''. She was most notable for her stern, humorless characterisations such as a truant officer in Shirley Temple's ''Captain January'' (1936), but she also played the much-loved teacher Miss Pipps, who is unjustly fired in the Our Gang comedy ''Come Back, Miss Pipps'' (1941). Other films in which she appeared include ''Poor Little Rich Girl'' (1936), ''The Shop Around the Corner'' (1940), ''Woman of the Year'' (1942), and ''The Bishop's Wife'' (1947). Her television appearances include episodes of ''Climax!'', ''Bourbon Street Beat'', and ''Bonanza''. She had a guest appearance on ''Perry Mason'' as Florence Harvey in the 1959 episode, "The Case of the Romantic Rogue".
Haden played Dora Darling in ''My Favorite Martian'', season 2 episode 28, "Once Upon a Martian's Mother's Day" in 1965.
==Personal life== Haden was married to film actor Richard Abbott (born Seamon Vandenberg) from 1921 until their divorce in 1948.{{Citation needed |date=October 2021}} She died on September 15, 1981, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California,<ref name="gdn">{{cite news|title=Isle-born Sara Haden, 'crabby' actress, dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8403172/the_galveston_daily_news|work=The Galveston Daily News|agency=United Press International|date=September 22, 1981|location=Texas, Galveston|page=20|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=January 16, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> at age 82.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=Sara Haden, Actress Played Crabby Roles in Long Film Career|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/22/obituaries/sara-haden-actress-played-crabby-roles-in-long-film-career.html|accessdate=July 8, 2017|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|date=September 22, 1981|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708002117/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/22/obituaries/sara-haden-actress-played-crabby-roles-in-long-film-career.html|archivedate=July 8, 2017}}</ref>
==Selected filmography== {{div col}} * ''The Life of Vergie Winters'' (1934) as Winnie Belle * ''Music in the Air'' (1934) as Martha * ''Anne of Green Gables'' (1934) as Mrs. Barry * ''The White Parade'' (1934) as Miss Harrington * ''The Fountain'' (1934) as Susie * ''Hat, Coat, and Glove'' (1934) as The Secretary * ''Finishing School'' (1934) as Miss Fisher - Teacher * ''Affairs of a Gentleman'' (1934) as Frances Bennett - Grisham's secretary * ''Spitfire'' (1934) as Etta Dawson * ''Black Fury'' (1935) as Sophie Shemanski * ''Magnificent Obsession'' (1935) as Mrs. Nancy Ashford * ''Way Down East'' (1935) as Cordelia Peabody * ''O'Shaughnessy's Boy'' (1935) as Aunt Martha Shields * ''Mad Love'' (1935) as Marie * ''Reunion'' (1936) as Ellie * ''Laughing at Trouble'' (1936) as Mrs. Jennie Nevins * ''Can This Be Dixie?'' (1936) as Miss Beauregard * ''Poor Little Rich Girl'' (1936) as Collins * ''Little Miss Nobody'' (1936) as Teresa Lewis * ''Half Angel'' (1936) as Henrietta Hargraves * ''Captain January'' (1936) as Agatha Morgan * ''Everybody's Old Man'' (1936) as Susan Franklin * ''The Crime of Dr. Forbes'' (1936) as Dr. Anna Burkhart * ''Under Cover of Night'' (1937) as Janet Griswald * ''A Family Affair'' (1937) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''You're Only Young Once'' (1937) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''First Lady'' (1937) as Mrs. Mason * ''The Barrier'' (1937) as Mrs. John "Allunia" Gale * ''The Last of Mrs. Cheyney'' (1937) as Anna * ''Out West with the Hardys'' (1938) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Judge Hardy and Son'' (1939) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Remember?'' (1939) as Miss Wilson * ''The Secret of Dr. Kildare'' (1939) as Nora * ''Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever'' (1939) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Tell No Tales'' (1939) as Miss Bennett * ''The Hardys Ride High'' (1939) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Four Girls in White'' (1939) as Miss Bennett * ''The Shop Around the Corner'' (1940) as Flora Kaczek * ''Boom Town'' (1940) as Miss Barnes * ''Hullabaloo'' (1940) as "Sue" Merriweather * ''Keeping Company'' (1940) as Mrs. Forrest * ''Andy Hardy Meets Debutante'' (1940) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''H. M. Pulham, Esq.'' (1941) as Miss Rollo - Harry's secretary * ''Come Back, Miss Pipps'' (1941 - Our Gang short) as Miss Pipps * ''Life Begins for Andy Hardy'' (1941) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Love Crazy'' (1941) as Cecila Landis * ''Washington Melodrama'' (1941) as Mrs. Harrington * ''Barnacle Bill'' (1941) as Aunt Letty * ''Andy Hardy's Private Secretary'' (1941) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''The Trial of Mary Dugan'' (1941) as Miss Mathews * ''Andy Hardy's Double Life'' (1942) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Somewhere I'll Find You'' (1942) as Miss Coultier * ''The Affairs of Martha'' (1942) as Mrs. Justin I. Peacock * ''The Courtship of Andy Hardy'' (1942) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Woman of the Year'' (1942) as Matron * ''Thousands Cheer'' (1943) as Second Nurse * ''Best Foot Forward'' (1943) as Miss Talbert * ''Pilot No. 5'' (1943) as Landlady * ''Above Suspecion'' (1943) as Aunt Hattie * ''The Youngest Profession'' (1943) as Sister Lassie * ''Lost Angel'' (1943) as Rhoda Kitterick * ''Broadway Rhythm'' (1944) as Miss Wynn * ''Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble'' (1944) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''She Wouldn't Say Yes'' (1945) as Laura Pitts * ''Our Vines Have Tender Grapes'' (1945) as Mrs. Bjorn Bjornson * ''Love Laughs at Andy Hardy'' (1946) as Aunt Milly Forrest * ''Mr. Ace'' (1946) as Alma Rhodes * ''Our Hearts Were Growing Up'' (1946) as Miss Dill * ''Bad Bascomb'' (1946) as Tillie Lovejoy * ''She-Wolf of London'' (1946) as Martha Winthrop * ''The Bishop's Wife'' (1947) as Mildred Cassaway * ''Rachel and the Stranger'' (1948) as Mrs. Jackson * ''Roughshod'' (1949) as Ma Wyatt * ''The Big Cat'' (1949) as Mrs. Mary Cooper * ''A Life of Her Own'' (1950) as Smitty * ''The Great Rupert'' (1950) as Mrs. Katie Dingle * ''Wagons West'' (1952) as Elizabeth Cook * ''Rodeo'' (1952) as Agatha Cartwright * ''A Lion Is in the Streets'' (1953) as Lula May McManamee * ''The Outlaw's Daughter'' (1954) as Mrs. Merril * ''Betrayed Women'' (1955) as Head Guard Darcy * ''Andy Hardy Comes Home'' (1958) as Aunt Milly Forest {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Sara Haden}} *{{IMDb name|id=0352774}} *{{IBDB name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haden, Sara}} Category:1898 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Actresses from Texas Category:American film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Category:Actors from Galveston, Texas Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Broadway theatre people