John Payne (actor)

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John Howard Payne (born May 28, 1912 in Roanoke , Virginia , † December 6, 1989 in Malibu , California ) was an American actor and singer.

Life

John Payne was the son of a well-known soprano , and was related to the famous actor and playwright John Howard Payne on his father's side . He studied at Columbia University since 1930 and, since his family lost their fortune in the Great Depression, had to make ends meet as a wrestler. He made up his mind to sing opera arias like his mother at an early age and took singing lessons while studying. From 1934 he worked as an actor for radio and theater. Just a year later, Payne made the leap to Hollywood , where he signed a contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn . He made his film debut in 1936 in a small role as the son-in-law of Walter Huston in William Wyler's drama Time of Love, Time of Farewell . This was followed primarily by other supporting roles and occasionally larger tasks in B-movies .

Payne finally became a film star from 1940 at 20th Century Fox , where he made a name for himself with appearances in musicals alongside Alice Faye , Betty Grable , Carmen Miranda and Sonja Henie . Payne appeared primarily as the leading man , mostly with a few vocal parts in the film, and was one of the most popular male beefcake models in the 1940s. Mainly used in cheerful works, it played a more serious role in the 1946 literary film adaptation Auf Messers Schneide based on a novel by William Somerset Maugham . Payne made his most famous film in 1947 with the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street , which showed him as a lawyer alongside Maureen O'Hara and the young Natalie Wood . Towards the end of the decade, Payne switched to character, often starring in westerns and gangster films . Well-known films from the period include Slightly Scarlett , which starred Payne, directed by Allan Dwan in a murderous story about two sisters, and Western Tennessee Partner , also directed by Dwan. In the film noir The Fourth Man , he appeared in 1952 as an innocent delivery truck driver who is accused of having been involved in a bank robbery because of his criminal past.

In 1956, Payne founded his own production company, which in addition to some movies also financed the television series The Restless Gun , in which Payne played the leading role in a total of 78 episodes in the late 1950s. Afterwards, film and television offers were rather in short supply for him. At the side of his former film partner Alice Faye, he was seen on Broadway in 1973 with the play Good News . He had his last role in the Columbo episode Fatal Comeback in 1975, where he played a movie star of yesteryear alongside Peter Falk and Janet Leigh .

John Payne was married three times: from 1937 to 1943 to Anne Shirley , from 1944 to 1950 with Gloria DeHaven , and from 1953 to his death with Alexandra Crowell Curtis. In addition to his film career, he also invested in the real estate business. The father of three children died of heart disease in 1989 at the age of 77.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : John Payne  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Payne at Allmovie
  2. ↑ John Payne at Allmovie
  3. ↑ John Payne's obituary in the Los Angeles Times
personal data
SURNAME Payne, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Payne, John Howard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and singer
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Roanoke , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1989
Place of death Malibu , California