Barbara Payton

One of the saddest tales ever to come out of Hollywood has to be that of Barbara Payton. A blue-eyed, peroxide blonde sexpot who had a lot going for her, her life eventually disintegrated, mostly by her own doing. Things started out well enough for Barbara Lee Redfield, born on November 26, 1927, in Cloquet, Minnesota. From a modest, blue-collar background, she grew up to be a drop-dead gorgeous young woman and, following a quickie marriage at age 19, decided to leave home for good to try to capitalize on her good looks in Tinseltown.

She headed for Hollywood in 1948 and, within a short time, was placed under contract by Universal, where she began the typical starlet route of bit parts.

In September 1949 her boyfriend Don Cougar, a movie extra and drug dealer, beat up her elderly landlady in the middle of the night in a dispute over the amount Barbara owed for rent. In 1950 Barbara and Cougar were called before a Federal Grand Jury to testify in the perjury trial of Stanley Adams. Adams was a drug dealer already serving time for the murder of Abe Davidian, an informant. Barbara and Cougar supplied Adams with an alibi, but it was weak, and Adams was found guilty of perjury.

She reached her peak with routine but promising co-star work opposite James Cagney in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), Gary Cooper in Dallas (1950) and Gregory Peck in Only the Valiant (1951). Although her talent (5) was overshadowed by her brassiness (10) and looks (10), her slightly lurid appeal seemed to be enough to carry her through. Caught up in the glitz and glamor, however, her career started taking second place to a reckless life full of capricious romances involving a number of top stars and producers, many of them married. One of her more famous trysts ended up making headlines for her, and none of them favorable. She was juggling two boyfriends at the same time, classy "A" actor Franchot Tone and muscular "B" actor Tom Neal, and they fought almost to the death for Barbara's affections.

On September 13, 1951, the men engaged in a deadly brawl and when it was over, Tone was in the hospital with broken bones and a brain concussion. Barbara ended up with both a black eye and a tarnished reputation. She married Tone after he recovered, but left him after only seven weeks and returned to the violence-prone Neal. That abusive relationship lasted four years, though they never married.

During that time Barbara's career had plummeted to the point where she was making such dismal features as Bride of the Gorilla - Raymond Burr & Lon Chaney In A Schlock Classic (1951). She went to England to try to rejuvenate her career, but no dice; it was over and her life was skidding out of control. Her once beautiful face now blotchy and her once spectacular figure now bloated, Barbara sank deeper into the bottle.

In May 1954, when her finances were low, it was alleged that she gave two fur coats, valued at thousands of dollars, to the owner of a bar so that he would tear up her $200 bar tab.

From 1955 to 1963 there were various brushes with the law - among them passing bad checks, public drunkenness and, ultimately, prostitution. She was forced to sleep on bus benches, was beaten and bruised by her tricks, and lost teeth in the process.

In 1956 her ex-husband Payton accused her of neglecting their son, who had been living with Barbara since he was about four. A custody battle followed, with her ex-husband accusing her of exposing their son to "profane language, immoral conduct, notoriety, unwholesome activities, and no moral education." The judge ruled in favor of the boy's father and labeled Barbara as " . . . an unfit mother, not to mention a thoroughly confused and misguided young woman.".

She was stabbed in 1962 by a drunk and received 38 stitches to heal the wound.

In 1964 she was arrested for shoplifting an outfit of clothing.

In 1965 she was arrested and charged with possession of heroin and a hypodermic syringe. The charges were dismissed, due to "insufficient evidence.".

In 1967, after failed efforts to curb her drinking, she finally moved in with her parents in San Diego to try to dry out. It was too late.

On May 8, 1967, the 39-year-old former starlet was found on the bathroom floor - dead of heart and liver failure.

Jessica Lange read Payton's autobiography "I Am Not Ashamed" while filming The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), figuring that the character of hard luck roadhouse waitress Cora perhaps drifted to Hollywood to become an actress. Coincidentally, both Lange and Payton were born in Cloquet, MN, and Payton starred in a stage version of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" in 1953.