Barbara Payton

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Barbara Lee Payton (born November 16, 1927 in Cloquet , Minnesota - † May 8, 1967 in San Diego , California ) was an American actress .

Life

Barbara Payton played numerous leading roles in Hollywood films from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. She embodied the blonde femme fatale type in American film noir . She became famous for her role in the crime drama Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) with James Cagney . Her film partners included Gregory Peck , Lloyd Bridges , Gary Cooper and Raymond Burr . From 1950 to 1952 she was married to the actor Franchot Tone . Tone was beaten into a coma by Payton's lover Tom Neal in 1951 , which sparked a major scandal. During her contract with Warner Bros. , she made $ 10,000 a week. Despite her popularity, her career fell short after her last film Murder is My Beat in 1955.

Her life, which was destroyed by alcohol and other drugs , was a topic in the tabloid press and after her death it became the subject of several publications up to the present day. In 1963 she published her memoirs under the title I Am Not Ashamed , which was heralded on the book cover as a "shocking true story" and was reprinted in 2008. The film journalist Kim Morgan draws a line from her to Britney Spears and writes that Payton's relentlessly open confessions are at the same time funny, clever, humble, vain, pathetic and very instructive. Although she was a star in the 1940s and 50s, her insights are current today. Every actress halfway to the top should read this book.

Barbara Payton died of heart and liver failure in 1967 at the age of only 39.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1949: The Pecos Pistol
  • 1949: The Human Trap (Trapped)
  • 1949: Once More, My Darling
  • 1949: Silver Butte
  • 1950: Mortal Enmity (Dallas)
  • 1950: You Won't See Tomorrow (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye)
  • 1951: Bride of the Gorilla
  • 1951: Until the Last Breath (Only the Valiant)
  • 1951: Drums in the Deep South
  • 1953: The Great Jesse James Raid
  • 1953: Run for the Hills
  • 1953: Four Sided Triangle
  • 1953: Devil in Blond (Bad Blonde)
  • 1955: Murder is My Beat

Literature (selection)

  • John O'Dowd: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye - The Barbara Payton Story (2007). Second edition, BearManor Media 2015, ISBN 978-1-59393-443-9
  • Barbara Payton: I Am Not Ashamed (1963). Third edition, Holloway House 2008, ISBN 978-0-87067-108-1

Web links

Commons : Barbara Payton  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maximillien De Lafayette: Hollywood Femmes Fatales and Ladies of Film Noir , Volume 1. 2nd Edition, Times Square Press. New York / Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-1-4583-5221-7 , pp. 322f.
  2. ↑ Kim Morgan: Britney, Meet Barbara: I Am Not Ashamed , The Huffington Post, The Blog, Nov. 14, 2014
  3. ↑ Book Review, blogcritics.org
personal data
SURNAME Payton, Barbara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Payton, Barbara Lee
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Cloquet , Minnesota , United States
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1967
Place of death San Diego , California , United States