John Howard Payne (May 23, 1912 â€" 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. 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. 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 to his home frequently for
visits. In 1942, while visiting his family in Roanoke, Virginia, he
agreed to take a small role in a community theatre production of "The
Man Who Came to Dinner", at the Academy of Music on Salem Avenue. His
character uttered only four words of dialogue, and was greeted by a
burst of applause.
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. 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. 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 to his home frequently for
visits. In 1942, while visiting his family in Roanoke, Virginia, he
agreed to take a small role in a community theatre production of "The
Man Who Came to Dinner", at the Academy of Music on Salem Avenue. His
character uttered only four words of dialogue, and was greeted by a
burst of applause.
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