Sara Haden Filmography

Perry Mason: The Case of the Romantic Rogue

Synopsis: Having planned to marry heiress Helen Harvey (played by future Happy Days costar Marion Ross) only for her money, Stacey Chandler (John Bryant) has fallen genuinely in love with her. Thus, Stacey is none too happy when his ex-girlfriend Irene (Jean Willes), a crooked private detective, shows up to Read More

Andy Hardy Comes Home

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Patricia Breslin, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Sara Haden, Frank Ferguson

Synopsis: With Andy Hardy Comes Home, Mickey Rooney hoped to revive the character -- and the movie series -- that had brought him fame and fortune back in the 1930s and 1940s. Returning to his home town of Carvel after several years absence, lawyer Andy Hardy (Rooney) brings his wife Jane (Patricia Breslin) Read More

Betrayed Women

Actors: Carole Mathews, Beverly Michaels, Peggy Knudsen, Tom Drake, Sara Haden, Esther Dale

Synopsis: Despite its lurid title, Betrayed Women is more subdued than the usual "babes behind bars" melodrama. The scene is a Southern women's prison, where the inmates are subjected to all manner of sadism and brutality. State's attorney Jeff (Tom Drake) arrives to investigate prison conditions, whereupon Read More

The Outlaw's Daughter

Actors: Bill Williams, Jim Davis, Kelly Ryan, Elisha Cook, Jr., George Cleveland

Synopsis: Newcomer Kelly Ryan plays Kate, The Outlaw's Daughter, in this medium-scale western. Led astray by outlaw leader Jess (Bill Williams), Kate joins Jess' gang and follows in her dad's footsteps. Town marshal Dan (Jim Davis) tries his best to reform the girl, but this proves difficult inasmuch as Read More

A Lion Is in the Streets

Actors: James Cagney, Barbara Hale, Anne Francis, Warner Anderson, John McIntire

Synopsis: In 1945, James Cagney, through his independent production company, bought the rights to a lurid novel by Adria Locke Langley, concerning the rise of a Southern demagogue, loosely based on the political career of Huey Long. By the time the film finally went into production and was released in 1953 Read More

Rodeo

Actors: Jane Nigh, John Archer, Wallace Ford, Gary Gray, Frances Rafferty

Synopsis: Hard-working leading lady Jane Nigh attains top billing in 1952's Rodeo. It's all about rough-and-ready gal Nancy Cartwright (Nigh) who takes over a travelling rodeo after the manager skips town with the payroll. Under her guidance, the show becomes a money-making proposition. Unfortunately, in Read More

Wagons West

Actors: Rod Cameron, Noah Beery, Jr., Peggie Castle, Michael Chapin, Henry Brandon

Synopsis: Rod Cameron's western vehicles for Monogram were always worth watching, even when Cameron was better than the scripts. In Wagons West, the star plays wagonmaster Jeff Curtis, who guides a group of Easterners to California in the 1870s. Trouble looms in the form of a Cheyenne tribe who is being Read More

The Great Rupert

Actors: Jimmy Durante, Terry Moore, Tom Drake, Frank Orth, Sara Haden

Synopsis: Jimmy Durante plays the patriarch of a down-on-their-luck family of acrobats, who suddenly finds a great deal of money hidden in his house amid the depths of the Great Depression. The authorities suspect Durante of being a thief, but in fact the culprit is a benevolent little squirrel named Read More

A Life of Her Own

Actors: Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell, Louis Calhern, Ann Dvorak, Jean Hagen

Synopsis: Lana Turner stars as an ambitious model who seeks her fortune in New York City. She is befriended by over-the-hill cover-girl Ann Dvorak, whose performance carries the story until she commits suicide twenty minutes into the film. Turner promises herself that she won't end up burned out like Read More

Roughshod

Actors: Robert Sterling, Gloria Grahame, Claude Jarman, Jr., John Ireland, Jeff Donnell

Synopsis: Hovering somewhere between an "A" and "B" production, RKO's Roughshod is an expert blend of western and film noir. Robert Sterling and Claude Jarman Jr. star as young cattleman Clay Phillips and his kid brother Steve. Stalked across the Sonora Pass by an ex-con who has vowed to kill Clay, the Read More

The Big Cat

Actors: Lon McCallister, Peggy Ann Garner, Preston S. Foster, Forrest Tucker

Synopsis: A frequent cable-TV attraction since lapsing into public domain in 1976, The Big Cat is an excellent outdoor drama, beautifully lensed in Technicolor (though most current prints are printed in a washed-out 2-color process). Set in Utah in the darkest days of the Depression, the film stars Lon McCallister Read More

Rachel and the Stranger

Actors: Loretta Young, William Holden, Robert Mitchum, Gary Gray, Tom Tully

Synopsis: This late-40s western features Robert Mitchum as an Indian scout who happens upon an unlikely family cabined up in the Great Northwest. They're unlikely because the widower settler (William Holden) has "purchased" a wife (Loretta Young as wife Rachel) to help raise his son and do the female chores Read More

The Bishop's Wife

Actors: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Monty Woolley, James Gleason, Gladys Cooper

Synopsis: When Episcopalian bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) prays for divine guidance in his efforts to raise the necessary funds for a new cathedral, his prayers are answered in the form of a handsome, personable guardian angel named Dudley (Cary Grant). Establishing himself as a Yuletide guest in the Read More

Bad Bascomb

Actors: Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien, Marjorie Main, J. Carrol Naish, Frances Rafferty

Synopsis: Bad Bascomb is an expensive MGM western, tailor-made for the blubbery talents of Wallace Beery. Beery plays the badman of the title, whose heart is softened by a sweet little child (Margaret O'Brien at her most cloying). Just about to make a clean getaway, Beery realizes that the child is in Read More

Mister Ace

Love Laughs at Andy Hardy

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Bonita Granville, Sara Haden, Fay Holden, Lina Romay

Synopsis: For his first post-WWII starring film, 26-year-old Mickey Rooney returned to familiar territory in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy. In true Art-Imitates-Life fashion, Rooney plays returning GI Andy Hardy, who arrives in his home town of Carvel to the open arms of his family: Father Judge Hardy (Lewis Read More

Mr. Ace

Actors: George Raft, Sylvia Sidney, Stanley Ridges, Sara Haden, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: His movie career on a roll since the surprise success of 1946's Johnny Angel, George Raft was starred in the Benedict Bogeaus production Mister Ace. Raft plays Eddie Ace, the head man of a crooked political machine who intends to scuttle the gubernatorial campaign of female senator Margaret Read More

So Goes My Love

Actors: Myrna Loy, Don Ameche, Rhys Williams, Bobby Driscoll, Richard Gaines

Synopsis: Don Ameche stars in this semi-screwball comedy as a handsome, eccentric 19th century inventor. Myrna Loy is his golddigging fiancee, who foolishly believes Ameche will make her financially secure. Love triumphs over greed, and Loy happily marries the inventor, who'll offer little in the way of Read More

She-Wolf of London

Actors: Don Porter, June Lockhart, Sara Haden, Jan Wiley, Dennis Hoey

Synopsis: This thriller is set in early 20th-century London where a series of nasty murders have recently occurred. An aunt then tells an innocent young girl that the blood of the werewolf flows through her veins and that she is responsible for the deaths. The distraught lass immediately breaks off her Read More

Our Hearts Were Growing Up

Actors: Gail Russell, Diana Lynn, Brian Donlevy, James Brown, Bill Edwards

Synopsis: Our Hearts Were Growing Up is the sequel to Paramount's surprise 1944 hit Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. The first film was based on the memoirs of actress Cornelia Otis Skinner; the sequel was inspired by the fevered imaginations of the screenwriters. Gail Russell plays Ms. Skinner, while Diana Lynn Read More

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, James Craig, Frances Gifford, Agnes Moorehead, Morris Carnovsky

Synopsis: An earnest rural melodrama set among Norwegian immigrants in Wisconsin, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes is a slightly updated version of George Victor Martin's 1940 novel. Edward G. Robinson stars as Martinius Jacobson, a farmer devoted to his wife Bruna (Agnes Moorehead) and precocious Read More

She Wouldn't Say Yes

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell plays yet another independent career woman in She Wouldn't Say Yes. This time she's a psychiatrist who sees no need for a man in her life. Her resolve weakens a bit when she meets Lee Bowman, a dashing combat sketch artist suffering from wartime emotional problems. Bowman falls in Read More

Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden, Sara Haden, Herbert Marshall

Synopsis: College boy Andy continues his studies in this comedy. Well, at least he should be studying. Unfortunately, he seems to be more interested in the pretty co-eds, especially the rambunctious Wilde twins. They cause poor Andy so much trouble that he begins plotting to drop out of school. Fortunately Read More

Bathing Beauty

Actors: Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone, Bill Goodwin, Ethel Smith

Synopsis: If you've never seen a '40s singing, swimming musical this may be the one to catch. Featuring a mammoth cast, including such notables as Xavier Cugat, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams, this is a swimming spectacular. The plot's quite thin: Skelton plays a lovesick songwriter who Read More

Lost Angel

Actors: Margaret O'Brien, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Philip Merivale, Keenan Wynn, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: Margaret O'Brien, MGM's newest child sensation, was given her first starring vehicle with Lost Angel. O'Brien plays Alpha, who has been groomed to be a genius by a trio of well-meaning but misguided professors (Philip Merivale, Henry O'Neill and Donald Meek). Taking pity on the reluctant prodigy Read More

Above Suspicion

Actors: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: If you believe all-American Fred MacMurray as an Oxford don, you'll probably swallow the rest of Above Suspicion. Newly married to Joan Crawford, MacMurray goes on a honeymoon in prewar Germany. Actually it's more business than pleasure: they are secret agents for the British, attempting to Read More

Pilot No. 5

Actors: Franchot Tone, Marsha Hunt, Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Alan Baxter

Synopsis: Pilot No. 5 is an oddly liberal-minded film to come from conservative old MGM. Franchot Tone plays an army pilot stationed in Java who volunteers for a suicide mission. He is chosen from five possible Allied candidates, hence the title. We learn via flashback just why Tone holds his life at so low Read More

The Youngest Profession

Actors: Virginia Weidler, Edward Arnold, John Carroll, Ann Ayars, Marta Linden

Synopsis: In this charming episodic comedy, a giddy group of adolescent girls form a movie-star fan club. Their favorite pastime is collecting the autographs of major stars. Led by their determined president, the gals stalk the streets and train stations of New York in search of big-name stars. Their Read More

Thousands Cheer

Actors: Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Mary Astor, Red Skelton, John Boles, Eleanor Powell, José Iturbi, Ann Sothern

Synopsis: Storywise, Thousands Cheer is thin stuff indeed. Insouciant PFC Eddy Marsh (Gene Kelly) wants to put on a Big Show for his fellow serviceman. Along the way, Eddy falls in love with Kathryn Jones (Kathryn Grayson), the daughter of Colonel William Jones (John Boles). End of story. The principal Read More

Best Foot Forward

Actors: Lucille Ball, Tommy Dix, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven

Synopsis: Five original cast members of the hit Broadway musical Best Foot Forward appear in this Technicolor MGM screen adaptation. Set at a small town military prep school, the story gets under way when movie star Lucille Ball (played by movie star Lucille Ball) pays a visit to the campus for publicity Read More

The Affairs of Martha

Actors: Marsha Hunt, Richard Carlson, Marjorie Main, Virginia Weidler, Spring Byington

Synopsis: Once Upon a Thursday was the original released title of The Affairs of Martha, a 1942 Marsha Hunt vehicle from the MGM B-picutre mills. The delightful Hunt plays Martha Lindstrom, a humble maid for the Sommerfield family. Falling in love with young Jeff Sommerfield (Richard Carlson), she marries Read More

Somewhere I'll Find You

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling, Patricia Dane, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: Unable to convince their isolationist New York editor (Charles Dingle) that America must be alerted to the threat of encroaching Nazism, pugnacious war correspondents Johnny and Kirk Davis (Clark Gable and Robert Sterling) are relieved of their European assignments. Back in the USA, Johnny Read More

The Courtship of Andy Hardy

Actors: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Donna Reed, Fay Holden, William Lundigan, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: MGM's "Andy Hardy" series continued to rake in the bucks with its 12th entry, The Courtship of Andy Hardy. The story takes off when Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) tackles an unpleasant divorce case. Feeling that the root of the estranged couple's problem is the debilitating shyness of their daughter Read More

Andy Hardy's Double Life

Actors: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: Incredible as it may seem, rambunctious 18-year-old Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) finally makes it to college in Andy Hardy's Double Life. Just as he did at Carvel High School, Andy majors in "girls" at college, at one point finding himself engaged simultaneously to two different coeds. On a more Read More

Woman of the Year

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen, William Bendix

Synopsis: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn costarred for the first time in the delectable romantic comedy Woman of the Year. Tracy plays New York sportswriter Sam Craig, who becomes incensed at comments about the uselessness of sports made by foreign correspondent Tess Harding (Hepburn). Sam and Tess Read More

Keeping Company

Actors: Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford, John Shelton, Irene Rich, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: In addition to his supporting-player duties at MGM, Frank Morgan could always be counted upon to star in the studio's B-picture product. In Keeping Company, Morgan plays real estate broker Harry C. Thomas, blessed (or saddled) with three growing daughters. Mary (Ann Rutherford), oldest of the Read More

H.M. Pulham, Esq.

Actors: Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, Charles Coburn, Van Heflin

Synopsis: MGM was doing so well in 1941 that it could afford the occasional "prestige" film with little box-office appeal. Based on the novel by J.P. Marquand, H.M. Pulham, Esq., stars Robert Young as a successful but stuffy Boston businessman. The glimmer of sadness in Young's eyes indicates that his Read More

Washington Melodrama

Actors: Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford, Kent Taylor, Dan Dailey, Lee Bowman

Synopsis: With a little extra effort, Washington Melodrama might have passed muster as an A picture. Frank Morgan stars as millionaire philanthropist Calvin Claymore, who comes to Washington in hopes of promoting a Senate bill on behalf of European war relief. Away from his wife (Fay Holden) and daughter Read More

Love Crazy

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gail Patrick, Jack Carson, Florence Bates

Synopsis: William Powell and Myrna Loy re-team for this (literally) crazy screwball comedy about a happily married couple who, thanks to a visit from mother, find their marriage on the rocks and the husband committed to a mental institution. Poised to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary, Steven (William Powell Read More

The Trial of Mary Dugan

Actors: Laraine Day, Robert Young, Tom Conway, Frieda Inescort, John Litel

Synopsis: MGM's The Trial of Mary Dugan was based on the popular stage play by Bayard Vellier, previously filmed as a Norma Shearer vehicle in 1929. This time, Laraine Day is cast as Mary Dugan, a young stenographer who is falsely accused of murdering her philandering employer Edgar Wayne (Tom Conway). In Read More

Andy Hardy's Private Secretary

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford, Sara Haden, Kathryn Grayson

Synopsis: Andy is ready to graduate from high school, and, trying to be a big man, he hires a pretty woman to be his social secretary. When he fails his finals, he gets help from a kindly faculty member. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Life Begins for Andy Hardy

Actors: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: Number ten in MGM's heart-warming (and immensely profitable) "Andy Hardy" series was the 1941 entry Life Begins for Andy Hardy. Upon his graduation from high school, Andy (Mickey Rooney) decides to seek his fortune in New York City without benefit of a college education, much to the consternation Read More

Barnacle Bill

Actors: Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, Leo Carrillo, Virginia Weidler, Donald Meek

Synopsis: MGM tried to recapture the magic of the Wallace Beery/Marie Dressler films of the 1930s with Barnacle Bill. Beery is teamed with Marjorie Main, a Dressler "type" who had a roughneck style all her own. In the film, grumbly old fisherman Beery spends most of his screen time avoiding Main, who Read More

Boom Town

Actors: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Frank Morgan

Synopsis: Clark Gable is "Big John" and Spencer Tracy is "Square John"; both "Johns" seek their fortunes in the Texas oil fields. They simultaneously fall in love with Claudette Colbert, but it's "Big John" who wins out. When both Johns grow rich on oil, "Big John" lets money go to his head, and he begins Read More

Hullabaloo

Actors: Frank Morgan, Virginia Grey, Dan Dailey, Billie Burke, Nydia Westman

Synopsis: It is perhaps unnecessary to point out that the MGM programmer Hullabaloo bears no relation to the 1960s rock-and-roll series of the same name. Frank Morgan plays Frank Merriweather, an old-time actor who tries to revive his fading career on radio (just as John Barrymore was then doing in real Read More

The Shop Around the Corner

Actors: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden

Synopsis: The Shop Around the Corner is adapted from the Hungarian play by Nikolaus (Miklos) Laszlo. Budapest gift-shop clerk Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and newly hired shopgirl Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) hate each other almost at first sight. Kralik would prefer the company of the woman with whom Read More

Andy Hardy Meets Debutante

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Judy Garland

Synopsis: The debutante whom Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) meets-after falling in love with her photograph -- is blonde Diana Lewis (the real-life wife of William Powell). It all comes about when Andy accompanies his dad Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) to New York. Plunging into the Manhattan social whirl, Andy is Read More

Judge Hardy and Son

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: If Judge Hardy and Son had been filmed in the 1990s, it would have been titled Andy Hardy VII. In this latest edition of MGM's "Hardy Family" series, the kindly Judge (Lewis Stone) wrestles with two problems. He must rescue an elderly couple from eviction, and he must cope with his wife's (Fay Holden Read More

Tell No Tales

Actors: Melvyn Douglas, Louise Platt, Gene Lockhart, Douglas Dumbrille, Florence George

Synopsis: A model of precision and economy, the MGM "B" thriller Tell No Tales represented the feature-film directorial debut of former actor Leslie Fenton. Reportedly an expansion of a "Crime Does Not Pay" 2-reeler, the story follows editor Michael Cassidy (Melvyn Douglas) as he tries to save his newspaper Read More

The Secret of Dr. Kildare

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Lionel Atwill, Helen Gilbert, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: In this third installment of MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, Dr. James Kildare (Lew Ayres) comes to the rescue when his supervisor/mentor Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) nearly collapses from overwork. Gillespie is seeking a permanent cure for pneumonia, and must ask Kildare for assistance when the Read More

Remember?

Actors: Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Lew Ayres, Billie Burke, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: In this off-beat love story, wealthy socialite Linda Bronson (Greer Garson) is about to marry Sky Ames (Lou Ayres) but then falls in love with handsome Jeff Holland (Robert Taylor). They become engaged. Unfortunately, Jeff is obsessed with work and has no time for an elaborate wedding. Instead Read More

The Hardys Ride High

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: The fifth of MGM's "Andy Hardy" series, The Hardys Ride High finds the Hardy family outside their usual small-town environs. The complacently middle-class family (middle class by Hollywood standards, that is!) inherits a large estate, compelling them to move in different social circles. Judge Read More

Come Back, Miss Pipps

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Mickey Gubitosi, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Billy "Froggy" Laughlin, Darla Hood

Synopsis: The gang's beloved teacher Miss Pipps (Sara Haden) is fired by crabby old school board chairman Mr. Pratt (Clarence Wilson), who believes that the teacher is too "nice" for her job. With the help of friendly school custodian Mr. Swenson (Christian Rub), the kids stage a play for the local PTA Read More

Four Girls in White

Actors: Florence Rice, Una Merkel, Ann Rutherford, Mary Howard, Alan Marshal

Synopsis: This hospital drama chronicles the exploits of four nursing students enrolled in a three-year training course. One of them decides that she will have a brilliant young doctor, but then she changes her mind and begins pursuing a wealthy playboy. Unfortunately, the playboy loves another nurse. A Read More

Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: This sixth installment in MGM's "Andy Hardy" series is among the best, thanks in great part to the breezy direction of "Woody" Van Dyke. In this outing, teenaged Andy (Mickey Rooney) develops a crush on his high-school drama teacher Rose Meredith (Helen Gilbert). Andy's dad Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone Read More

Land of Liberty

Synopsis: Originally designed for exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair, Land of Liberty is a 137-minute compendium of filmclips from past American historical epics. The project was sponsored by the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc. and supervised by Cecil B. DeMille, who also edited Read More

Out West with the Hardys

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: The title tells the story in this fourth of MGM's