Louis Payne

William Louis Payne (January 13, 1873 – August 14, 1953) was an American actor born in Pennsylvania who built a career spanning legitimate theater, silent film, and sound film. His stage work began around 1900 and extended through the first decade of the twentieth century, after which he transitioned to a lengthy career in Hollywood.

Payne's Broadway appearances ran from 1900 to 1906 and included productions such as Her Majesty, the Girl Queen of Nordenmark, which played at the Manhattan Theatre in 1900, as well as The Redemption of David Corson, Mrs. Leffingwell's Boots, Bird Center, and Eben Holden. In 1903 he took on the role of Nathaniel Winkle in Mr. Pickwick, which was staged at the Herald Square Theatre and later the Grand Opera House.

In 1906, Payne married stage actress Mrs. Leslie Carter, who was fifteen years his senior. Carter was a protégé of playwright David Belasco, who had written the stage play DuBarry in which she had starred on Broadway. When a film adaptation of DuBarry was produced in 1915, Payne made his screen debut in it alongside Carter. The marriage lasted until Carter's death in 1937. Three years later, in 1940, Warner Bros. released a biographical film about Carter's life titled Lady with Red Hair, for which Payne served as a technical advisor.

Over the course of a 35-year Hollywood career, Payne appeared in more than 40 films while also continuing to perform in stage productions. His final screen appearance came in the 1951 epic Quo Vadis, starring Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr, in which he portrayed one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Payne died on August 14, 1953, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, and was buried alongside his wife at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio.