John Payne
In 1930, John Payne left Salem, Virginia, where he had been studying at Roanoke College. He went to New York City to study drama at Columbia University and voice at Juilliard. To pay his way, he worked various jobs, among which was singing in vaudeville. In 1934, a talent scout from the Shubert theaters, which ran some of New York's most important theater venues, noticed him and offered him work as a stock player. He toured with some of their shows and occasionally sang on radio programs. With his star on the rise, Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn offered him a contract, and he relocated to the West Coast. After working for various studios, he signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. With Fox he became a star in movie musicals, often playing the love interest of actresses like Betty Grable and Alice Faye in films like "Tin Pan Alley" (1940) and "Hello Frisco, Hello" (1943). In 1947, he landed in his best known role, starring as Fred Gailey, an attorney trying to prove Santa Claus is real, in the perennial Christmas classic "Miracle on 34th Street." In the 1950s, Payne's gentle image gave way to one of the tough guy, and he started appearing in Westerns and noir movies like "Silver Lode" in 1954 and "Hell's Island" in 1955. He took on a regular role on television from 1957 to 1959, when he starred as Vint Bonner, a gun-fighting cowboy, in the Western "The Restless Gun."
Photos
John Payne
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | They Ran for Their Lives | Bob Martin (Character) | - | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hidden Fear | Mike Brent (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bailout at 43,000 | Major Paul Peterson (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Boss |
Matt Brady (Character), Producer |
- | 1956 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rebel in Town | John Willoughby (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
Slightly Scarlet | Ben Grace (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hold Back the Night | Capt. Sam McKenzie (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tennessee's Partner | Tennessee (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
Hell's Island | Mike Cormack (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Road to Denver | Bill Mayhew (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
Santa Fe Passage | Kirby Randolph (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
Silver Lode | Dan Ballard (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rails Into Laramie | Jefferson Harder (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Raiders of the Seven Seas | Barbarossa (Character) | - | 1953 |
100% |
|
99 River Street | Ernie Driscoll (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Vanquished | Rockwell "Rock" Grayson (Character) | - | 1953 |
80% |
|
Kansas City Confidential |
Joe Rolfe/ |
- | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Blazing Forest | Kelly Hansen (Character) | - | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Caribbean |
Dick Lindsay/ |
- | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Crosswinds | Steve Singleton (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Passage West | Pete Black (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Eagle and the Hawk | Capt. Todd Croyden (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tripoli | Lt. O'Bannion (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Captain China |
Charles S. Chinnough/ |
- | 1949 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Crooked Way |
Eddie Rice/ |
- | 1949 |
No Score Yet |
|
El Paso | Clay Fletcher (Character) | - | 1949 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Saxon Charm | Eric Busch (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet |
|
Larceny | Rick Mason (Character) | - | 1948 |
96% |
|
Miracle on 34th Street | Fred Gailey (Character) | - | 1947 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wake Up and Dream | Jeff Cairn (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Dolly Sisters | Harry Fox (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sentimental Journey | William O. Weatherly (Character) | - | 1946 |
56% |
|
The Razor's Edge | Gray Maturin (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet |
|
Hello, Frisco, Hello | Johnny Cornell (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Footlight Serenade | William J. "Bill" Smith (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
Iceland | Capt. James Murfin (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
Springtime in the Rockies | Dan Christy (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
To the Shores of Tripoli | Chris Winters (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sun Valley Serenade | Ted Scott (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet |
|
Remember the Day | Dan Hopkins (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Great American Broadcast | Rix Martin (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet |
|
Weekend in Havana | Jay Williams (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Maryland | Lee Danfield (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet |
|
Star Dust |
Ambrose Fillmore/ |
- | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Great Profile | Richard Lansing (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tear Gas Squad | Bill Morrissey (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | King of the Lumberjacks | James "Jim" "Slim" Abbott (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tin Pan Alley | Francis Aloysius "Skeets" Harrigan (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet |
|
Wings of the Navy | Jerry Harrington (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Indianapolis Speedway | Eddie Greer (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Royal Rodeo | Bill Stevens (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kid Nightingale | Steve `'Kid Nightingale'` Nelson (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Garden of the Moon | Don Vincente (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fair Warning | Jim Preston (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Love on Toast | Bill Adams (Character) | - | 1937 |
91% |
|
Dodsworth | Harry McKee (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hats Off | Jimmy Maxwell (Character) | - | 1936 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
50% | 65% | Spider-Man Unlimited | Unknown (Voice) | 2001 |
No Score Yet | 80% | Columbo | Ned Diamond (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gunsmoke | Amos Gentry (Guest Star) | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Name of the Game | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | I've Got a Secret | Guest | 1960 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Restless Gun |
Vint Bonner (Character), Writer |
1957-1959 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Zane Grey Theatre | Unknown (Character) | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | What's My Line? | Guest | 1951 |