John Howard Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia, on May 23, 1912. His father, George Washington Payne, was a gentleman farmer who could trace his roots back to the colonial days, and his mother, Ida Hope Schaeffer, an opera singer. Payne attended Roanoke College, Columbia University, where he studied acting, and Julliard, where he studied singing. Having competed in Greco-Roman wrestling as a student, he would support himself in his early days as a professional wrestler and appeared in summer stock and on the radio, with his own program on WNEW in New York. It was while appearing as an understudy in the Bea Lillie revue All Aboard that he was spotted by a talent scout in 1935 and taken to Hollywood.

Payne was given a screen test that resulted in his being cast in a supporting role in Samuel Goldwyn's prestige picture Dodsworth (1936) with Walter Huston, in which he was billed as "John Howard Payne". The film attracted attention and after a few minor roles without attaining star status, he was signed to a contract at 20th Century-Fox, where he would make his best known films. The news of Payne's signing astonished gossip columnist Jimmie Fidler, who wrote, "The news intrigues me. John, who is a very charming young man (and lucky enough to be married to Anne Shirley), has already been under contract to Paramount and Warner Brothers, in that order. He was released by both companies. So something is wrong: either the studios are crazy, or I am. What can be in the back of Fox officials' mind in signing Payne? Do they think they are more clever than Paramount and Warners - able to do things with John where others failed? Don't get me wrong - I don't say Payne lacks possibilities. He may be another Robert Taylor in disguise. But twice he started off with great fanfare - and each time nothing happened. Either the studios lost interest or else John failed to exhibit what it takes on the screen. If he does a turn-about and clicks big for Fox, won't that make suckers out of Paramount and Warners? On the contrary, if he again fails to make good, doesn't Fox assume the sucker role? It's a cinch someone is the goat when an actor released by two other studios is signed by a third. Only time will tell who that someone is." If there was a goat, it wasn't Fox. He may not have become what is now termed an "A" list star, but John Payne was kept very busy at the studio in his seven years there.

Tall, dark and handsome with an athlete's body and a good baritone singing voice, John Payne made many musicals co-starring with Betty Grable, Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda and Sonia Henie and often teamed with comedian Jack Oakie. These musical films (Tin Pan Alley (1940), The Great American Broadcast (1941), Sun Valley Serenade (1941), Hello Frisco, Hello (1943) and The Dolly Sisters (1945) among others), introduced several songs which would become standards such as "You'll Never Know," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," "I Know Why (and So Do You)," "I Had the Craziest Dream," "It Happened in Sun Valley," and "I Can't Begin to Tell You." With wartime audiences hungry for escapist entertainment, Fox gave it to them in heavy doses of musicals with Payne often as the male lead. And then they allowed him to branch out into the occasional dramatic role - most notably in war dramas such as Remember the Day (1941), opposite Claudette Colbert, and To the Shores of Tripoli (1942), in which he played against type as a young marine who butts heads with veteran Randolph Scott. It was the first 20th Century-Fox film to net over a million dollars in the U.S. The final box office total was $2,300,000.

When World War II broke out, Payne, like many others in the film industry, was drafted into the military and made propaganda and training films. One of these was about the new B-29 Super Fortress planes and was directed by Richard Bare (who would later work on the Green Acres television show). "We took off for Denver, Colorado, and I was introduced to the man who was going to star in the film, playing the flight engineer of the B-29. At the war's beginning, John Payne was at the height of his career, and had been drafted into the army, which was not to his liking one bit. The day we met on the tarmac alongside the giant aircraft that had been assigned to us for filming, he saluted, then he picked me up like some kind of stuffed doll. 'Hello, Lieutenant, you gonna be my director?' I was taken aback by this infraction of military procedure and for the moment was speechless. Lieutenant Barker came running up and said, 'C'mon, John, let him down. He's a good guy.' Payne slowly let me slide down to the ground. I regained my military bearing and told Payne what he was to do in the scene and he sauntered off mumbling something to the effect of, 'Okay, let's get this shit in the can.' Despite the inauspicious start, John and I became good friends and we spent many nights probing the bars of Denver."

After his release from the service, Payne was put into the melodrama Sentimental Journey (1946) as a producer who is left to raise his adopted child when his wife (played by Maureen O'Hara) dies. By 1947, his days as a leading man were fading as were his boyish good looks. Fox gave him one last great role - the film for which he is probably best known, Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Payne read Valentine Davies' magazine story and took it to the attention of Fox executives as a starring vehicle. They bought the rights and Payne was cast as an attorney defending a man who claims to be Santa Claus. His costars were Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn and a very young Natalie Wood.

Payne obtained a release from his Fox contract in October, 1947, even though they still owed him $130,000 for the remainder of the term. He told Bob Thomas, "It was worth it. I can make more money free-lancing and I'm much happier away from the complete disagreements that marred my stay at the studio. Despite the fact that over 60 percent of producers and directors are former actors, they don't give an actor credit for knowing anything about scripts. More aggravating is the practice of letting an actor warm up for a part, and then telling him someone else will do it and he will start another role the next day. The studio bosses tell you they made up a star and you should be loyal and obedient. They say, 'You help us out and do this role and you can have your pick next time.' Next time never seems to come. I'm tired of studio reneging and broken promises."

He went to Universal Studios, where he appeared in Larceny (1948) and to United Artists for The Crooked Way (1949), a film which has Payne released from the army with shrapnel in his head and suffering from amnesia. Like Mickey Rourke forty years later in Angel Heart (1987), Payne slowly discovers that he is not the man he thinks he is. He's a racketeer. It was a definite departure from his Fox days and a concerted effort to change his image.

Payne returned to Paramount, where he worked with the Pine-Thomas unit, transitioning into action roles in films like Captain China, The Eagle and the Hawk, Tripoli (all 1950), and Crosswinds (1951). He would later collaborate with director Phil Karlson on several films such as Kansas City Confidential (1952) where, according to Karlson, Payne contributed to the script, 99 River Street (1953), and Hell's Island (1955). These were hard-boiled films, with The Boss (1956), in which he played a corrupt politician, being one of his best post-Fox films and firmly established him in the noir genre.

In the late 1950s, like many of his contemporaries, he found roles harder to get as he aged and the public turned to younger stars. Payne, also like his contemporaries, went into the new medium of television, appearing in teleplays and eventually getting his 1957-59 series The Restless Gun. Payne produced the show himself and owned 50% of the rights, but he ended up taking the Western program off the air, even though it was successful. "I took it off myself. There were several reasons. One was that I couldn't fight the network (NBC) any longer. I was trying to do a show with good stories and character development. They kept telling me to put more violence into it. Another reason was that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I was physically exhausted. The other reason had to do with business. We were riding the crest of the popularity of Westerns, but I knew it couldn't last. If we were to get the benefits of re-runs, we would have to do it before Westerns flooded the field. And we did. Only one other Western was dropped the year we went on re-runs. The following year, Westerns were a drug on the market." Payne made a nearly a million dollars profit on the program.

Tragedy struck in 1961. While crossing Madison Avenue in New York, he was hit by a car and nearly killed. According to The Kentucky New Era, Payne "landed face down on the windshield, then was battered for 80 feet. He lost three-fifths of his blood, his face was slashed, his eyes filled with glass, his skull dented, and his left leg was broken in five places. By all logic, his life - or at least his acting career - should have been over." Miraculously, he was left with only faint scars and later said, "I feel great. Oh, I may get a twinge in my bones in rainy weather. But otherwise I seem to be in as good shape as before."

Payne continued to act on the stage and television on occasion and in 1974, he reunited with his 20th Century-Fox co-star Alice Faye for a revival of the play Good News. He was very realistic about acting, which he described as "[V]ery hard work and I was never addicted to it. I could never quite take it seriously. It was all kind of fun. It was a remunerative profession. I certainly couldn't have earned that much money any other way that I can think of." Payne used his money wisely, having invested in Southern California real estate and a ranch in Billing, Montana; it allowed him to retire a very wealthy man.

John Payne died from a heart condition on December 6, 1989, surrounded by his children (he had previously been married to actresses Anne Shirley and Gloria de Haven) and his third wife, Alexandra. As his longtime friend and former publicity man Robert Palmer told a journalist, Miracle on 34th Street was on television as the family kept vigil. "In fact, the night before he died - he was unconscious in bed - a television in the corner was playing that film. It was strange looking at him in bed like that."

by Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:
Bare, Richard, and Roberts, Jerry Confessions of a Hollywood Director
Fiedler, Jimmie "Hollywood Shots", Reading Eagle 4 Feb 40
Flint, Peter B. "John Payne, 77, Actor, Is Dead; Lawyer in 'Miracle on 34th Street'", New York Times 8 Dec 89
Garrett, Eddie I Saw Stars in the 40s and 50s
Green, Stanley and Schmidt, Elaine Hollywood Musicals Year by Year
Mayer, Geoff and McDonnell, Brian The Encyclopedia of Film Noir
Monush, Barry Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors from the Silent Era to 1965
Reid, John Memorable Films of the Forties
"Miracle on 34th Actor Dies at 77" The Bulletin 7 Dec 89
"Actor John Payne is on Critical List" The Dispatch 2 Mar 61
Thomas, Bob "Actors Revealed as Complainers", The Evening Independent 28 Feb 48
Thomas, Bob "Actor Payne Says TV is Not His Dish", Lawrence Journal-World 5 Aug 61
Thomas, Bob "John Payne Happy to Return", Kentucky New Era 17 Aug 64