Barbara Payton

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Barbara Payton

Born Barbara Lee Redfield
November 16, 1927(1927-11-16)
Cloquet, Minnesota, United States
Died May 8, 1967 (aged 39)
San Diego, California, United States
Years active 1949-1955

Barbara Payton (born Barbara Lee Redfield, November 16, 1927 – May 8, 1967) was an American film actress.

Contents

[edit] Life

[edit] Early life and career

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Born Barbara Lee Redfield in Cloquet, Minnesota, she was the daughter of restaurateurs, and raised in Odessa, Texas. In 1945, at age seventeen, she headed for Hollywood in search of a career in movies and was eventually placed under contract by Universal Studios where she began appearing in bit parts. After being discovered by James Cagney and his producer brother William, Payton starred in Cagney’s Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in 1950. She signed a contract with Cagney’s production company.

From 1955 to 1963, there were several skirmishes with the law - passing bad checks, public drunkenness, mental illness, drug abuse, and, ultimately, prostitution.[1] She was paid $1,000 for the ghost-written autobiography I Am Not Ashamed in 1963. Payton admitted to being forced to sleep on bus benches and was often beaten as a prostitute.

[edit] Personal life

In 1951, while engaged to movie actor Franchot Tone, Payton proposed marriage to b-movie actor Tom Neal. She went back and forth publicly from being engaged to Neal to being engaged to Tone. Eventually, Neal, a former college boxer, fought with Tone, giving him a smashed cheekbone, a broken nose and a concussion, and leaving him in a coma in hospital for 18 hours. After being married to Tone for 53 days, she walked out on him and returned to Neal. Their relationship lasted for four years. During that time, the couple capitalized on the press coverage of their steamy affair by touring in plays, such as "The Postman Always Rings Twice."

In addition to numerous love affairs (including ones with Texas oilman Bob Neal and actor Guy Madison, and, reportedly, James Cagney and Bob Hope),[2][page # needed], she was married four times:

  1. William Hodge (m. 1943, annulled)
  2. John Lee Payton, an Air Force pilot (m. 10-Feb-1945, div. 1950, one child, John Lee Payton Jr., born 1947)
  3. Franchot Tone, actor (m. 1951, div. 1952)
  4. George A. Provas (a.k.a. Tony Provas, m. 1957, div. Aug. 1958)

[edit] Death

In 1967, after failed efforts to curb her drinking, she moved in with her parents in San Diego in an attempt to dry out. On May 8, 1967, the 39-year-old died at her parents' home; the cause of death was heart and liver failure. Payton was cremated and is interred in a niche at Cypress View Mausoleum and Crematory in San Diego, California.

[edit] Filmography

  • Silver Butte (1949)
  • Once More, My Darling (Uncredited, 1949)
  • Trapped (1949)
  • The Pecos Pistol (1949)
  • Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
  • Dallas (1950)
  • Drums in the Deep South (1951)
  • Only the Valiant (1951)
  • Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
  • Run for the Hills (1953)
  • The Flanagan Boy (1953)
  • Four Sided Triangle (1953)
  • The Great Jesse James Raid (1953)
  • Murder Is My Beat (1955)

[edit] Further reading

  • O'Dowd, John. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story. (Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2007) ISBN 1-59393-063-1

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Big Chat: John O'Dowd Interview May 20, 2003
  2. ^ Arthur Marx, The Secret Life of Bob Hope

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Payton, Barbara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Redfield, Barbara Lee
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actress
DATE OF BIRTH 1927-11-16
PLACE OF BIRTH Cloquet, Minnesota, United States
DATE OF DEATH 1967-05-08
PLACE OF DEATH San Diego, California, United States
Languages