John Payne

John Howard Payne (May 23, 1912 – December 6, 1989) was an American actor born in Roanoke, Virginia, whose career spanned Broadway, Hollywood film, and television. His mother, Ida Hope Payne, was a singer who had graduated from the Virginia Seminary in Roanoke, and the family resided at Fort Lewis, an antebellum mansion that was later destroyed by fire in the late 1940s. Payne attended Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, before enrolling at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He subsequently transferred to Columbia University in New York City in the fall of 1930, where he studied drama, and also pursued vocal training at the Juilliard School. To cover his expenses during this period, he took on unconventional work, including wrestling under the name "Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes" and boxing as "Tiger Jack Payne."

In 1934, a Shubert theater talent scout offered Payne work as a stock player at forty dollars a week, and he appeared in road company productions of Rose-Marie and The Student Prince. He also sang regularly on New York City radio programs during this time. His Broadway career began in 1935 with the revue At Home Abroad, in which he appeared alongside Ethel Waters, Eleanor Powell, and Beatrice Lillie. He understudied Reginald Gardiner and took over the role for one performance, which brought him to the attention of Fred Kohlmar of Sam Goldwyn's company. He returned to Broadway during his Warner Bros. years to appear in Abe Lincoln in Illinois, which ran from 1938 to 1939. Decades later, in 1974, he starred alongside Alice Faye in a revival of the musical Good News, and he also appeared in Here's Love during his Broadway career, which extended from 1935 to 1974.

Payne departed for Hollywood in 1936 following the offer of a movie contract from Goldwyn's company. His first film role was in Dodsworth, playing Harry McKee, the son-in-law of Walter Huston's title character. After early appearances at Fox and Paramount, he signed with Warner Bros., where he played Don Vincent in Garden of the Moon (1938) and appeared in Kid Nightingale, Wings of the Navy, and Indianapolis Speedway, all in 1939. Dissatisfied with the roles he was receiving at Warner Bros., he requested and obtained a release from the studio.

He then moved to 20th Century Fox, where Darryl F. Zanuck offered him a long-term contract during the filming of Star Dust (1940). At Fox he appeared in a range of productions, including the musicals Tin Pan Alley, Week-End in Havana, and Sun Valley Serenade, as well as dramatic films such as Remember the Day and To the Shores of Tripoli. After serving as a flight instructor in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, he returned to Fox and appeared in The Dolly Sisters (1945), playing Harry Fox, one of his most commercially successful films. He starred opposite Maureen O'Hara in Sentimental Journey (1946) and appeared in The Razor's Edge that same year. His final film for Fox, and arguably his most recognized role, was that of attorney Fred Gailey in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), alongside Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara, and Edmund Gwenn. Despite the film's box office success, Payne had been on suspension prior to the production for refusing a studio assignment. He spent eight months requesting his release from Fox before obtaining it in October 1947, forgoing a contract that had four years remaining and would have paid him $670,000. Film historian Jeanine Basinger later observed that Fox regarded Payne as a secondary Tyrone Power and did not know how to use him effectively.

Following his departure from Fox, Payne shifted toward tough-guy roles in film noir. He appeared in Larceny and The Saxon Charm at Universal in 1948, and took the lead in The Crooked Way for United Artists in 1949. He subsequently entered into a productive relationship with Pine-Thomas Productions, a unit operating out of Paramount Studios, beginning with the Western El Paso (1949). His Pine-Thomas films included Captain China, Tripoli, The Eagle and the Hawk, Passage West, Crosswinds, Caribbean Gold, The Blazing Forest, and The Vanquished. Payne negotiated to have these films shot in color and arranged for the rights to revert to him after a set number of years, a decision that proved financially advantageous when he later licensed them to television. He also starred in Kansas City Confidential (1952), a noir directed by Phil Karlson, in which he held a twenty-five percent ownership stake, and reunited with Karlson for 99 River Street (1953). In 1955, he paid a thousand dollars a month for nine months on an option for the Ian Fleming novel Moonraker, ultimately relinquishing it when he determined he could not secure rights to the entire Bond series.

Payne's television career included the starring role of Vint Bonner in The Restless Gun, a half-hour Western that aired on NBC Monday evenings from September 23, 1957 to September 14, 1959. The series, in which he played a gunfighter who sought nonviolent resolutions when possible, was derived from a radio program originally starring James Stewart called The Six Shooter. He also guest-starred on The Ford Show on October 31, 1957, and appeared in a 1970 episode of Gunsmoke titled "Gentry's Law." He directed one of his final films, They Ran for Their Lives (1968), and his last screen credit came in 1975 with a co-starring role alongside Peter Falk and Janet Leigh in the Columbo episode "Forgotten Lady." Later in life, Payne accumulated considerable wealth through real estate investments in southern California.

In his personal life, Payne was married to actress Anne Shirley from 1937 to 1942; they had a daughter, Julie Anne Payne. He subsequently married actress Gloria DeHaven in 1944, and the couple had two children, Kathleen and Thomas, before divorcing in 1950. Payne died on December 6, 1989.