John Payne (actor)

John Howard Payne (May 23, 1912 – December 6, 1989) was an American film actor who is mainly remembered from film noir crime stories and 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC Western television series The Restless Gun.

Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia.

His mother, Ida Hope (née Schaeffer), a singer, graduated from the Virginia Seminary in Roanoke and married George Washington Payne, a developer in Roanoke.

He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City in the fall of 1930.

He studied drama at Columbia and voice at the Juilliard School.

To support himself, he took on a variety of odd jobs, including wrestling as "Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes" and boxing as "Tiger Jack Payne".

He returned frequently to visit his family in Roanoke, Virginia.

In 1934, a talent scout for the Shubert theaters spotted Payne and gave him a job as a stock player.

He appeared in road company productions of Rose-Marie and The Student Prince at $40 a week.

Payne toured with several Shubert Brothers shows, and frequently sang on New York City-based radio programs.

On Broadway he appeared in the revue At Home Abroad (1935–36) alongside Ethel Waters, Eleanor Powell and Beatrice Lillie.

He understudied for Reginald Gardiner and took over one night.

He was seen by Fred Kohlmar of Sam Goldwyn's company and was offered a movie contract.

In 1936, he left New York for Hollywood.

His first role was in Goldwyn's Dodsworth, playing Harry McKee, the son-in-law of Walter Huston's titular character.

He had the male lead as Jimmy Maxwell in Hats Off (1936), an independent film.

Payne was third billed in Fair Warning (1937), at Fox, and was the lead in Love on Toast (1937).

He had a small role in Paramount's College Swing (1938).

Payne signed a contract with Warner Bros. and played Don Vincent in Garden of the Moon (1938).

During this time he returned to Broadway to appear in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938–39).

Payne was unhappy with his Warner Bros. roles, and asked for a release.

He was in Kid Nightingale (1939) and Wings of the Navy (1939).

Payne supported Ann Sheridan in Indianapolis Speedway (1939).

They lived at Fort Lewis, an antebellum mansion that became a state historic property, but was destroyed by fire in the late 1940s.

Payne attended prep school at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and then went to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.

Payne went to 20th Century Fox where he appeared in Star Dust (1940).

During filming, Darryl F. Zanuck offered him a long-term contract.

He had supporting roles in Maryland (1940) and The Great Profile (1940).

Payne had roles in the comedy The Great American Broadcast (1940), and was in the musicals Tin Pan Alley (1940), Week-End in Havana (1941) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

Fox gave him the chance to do drama in Remember the Day (1941) and To the Shores of Tripoli (1942).

After serving in the military during World War II Payne returned to Fox, and was in The Dolly Sisters (1945), playing Harry Fox.

It was one of Payne's most successful films.

Payne starred with Maureen O'Hara in Sentimental Journey (1946), and was in The Razor's Edge (1946).

Payne's most familiar role may be his final film for Fox, that of attorney Fred Gailey in the classic holiday favorite Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara and Edmund Gwenn.

It was another box office success.

However, in October 1947 he got his release from the studio, despite the contract having another four years to run, which would have brought him $670,000.

Payne claimed he was dissatisfied with the roles being offered him.

Payne later said he had asked for his release every week for eight months before he got it.

Film historian Jeanine Basinger later wrote that "Fox thought of [Payne] as a secondary Tyrone Power. They didn't know how to use him."

He was meant to make another with O'Hara, Sitting Pretty (1948).