Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Barbara Payton(1927-1967)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Lloyd Bridges, John Hoyt, and Barbara Payton in Trapped (1949)
Trailer for Bride of the Gorilla
Play trailer1:57
Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
2 Videos
39 Photos
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. 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 was overshadowed by her brassiness and looks, her slightly lurid appeal seemed to be enough to carry her through. Caught up in the glitz and glamour, 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 (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. 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 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. Somehow through all this misery she managed a tell-all book ironically entitled "I Am Not Ashamed" (1963).
BornNovember 16, 1927
DiedMay 8, 1967(39)
BornNovember 16, 1927
DiedMay 8, 1967(39)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank

Photos39

Gregory Peck and Barbara Payton in Only the Valiant (1951)
Barbara Payton in Run for the Hills (1953)
Lon Chaney Jr., Tom Conway, and Barbara Payton in Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
Paul Langton and Barbara Payton in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
Paul Langton and Barbara Payton in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
Paul Langton and Barbara Payton in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
Paul Langton and Barbara Payton in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
Barbara Payton in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
Paul Langton and Barbara Payton in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
Barbara Payton in Only the Valiant (1951)
Lloyd Bridges and Barbara Payton in Trapped (1949)
Ann Blyth, Robert Montgomery, and Barbara Payton in Once More, My Darling (1949)

Known for

Barbara Payton in Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
Bride of the Gorilla
4.4
  • Dina Van Gelder
  • 1951
Wallace Ford, Tom Neal, Willard Parker, and Barbara Payton in The Great Jesse James Raid (1953)
The Great Jesse James Raid
4.7
  • Kate
  • 1953
James Hayter, Stephen Murray, Barbara Payton, and John Van Eyssen in Four Sided Triangle (1953)
Four Sided Triangle
5.8
  • Lena
  • Helen
  • 1953
Gary Cooper and Ruth Roman in Dallas (1950)
Dallas
6.2
  • Flo
  • 1950

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Frank Sinatra, Ursula Andress, Anita Ekberg, and Dean Martin in 4 for Texas (1963)
    4 for Texas
    • (uncredited)
  • Paul Langton, Barbara Payton, and Tracey Roberts in Murder Is My Beat (1955)
    Murder Is My Beat
  • Wallace Ford, Tom Neal, Willard Parker, and Barbara Payton in The Great Jesse James Raid (1953)
    The Great Jesse James Raid
  • Run for the Hills (1953)
    Run for the Hills
  • James Hayter, Stephen Murray, Barbara Payton, and John Van Eyssen in Four Sided Triangle (1953)
    Four Sided Triangle
  • Bad Blonde (1953)
    Bad Blonde
  • Barbara Payton in Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
    Bride of the Gorilla
  • James Craig, Guy Madison, and Barbara Payton in Drums in the Deep South (1951)
    Drums in the Deep South
  • Only the Valiant (1951)
    Only the Valiant
  • Gary Cooper and Ruth Roman in Dallas (1950)
    Dallas
  • James Cagney in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
    Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
  • The Pecos Pistol
  • Lloyd Bridges and Barbara Payton in Trapped (1949)
    Trapped
  • Ann Blyth and Robert Montgomery in Once More, My Darling (1949)
    Once More, My Darling
    • (uncredited)
  • Silver Butte

Soundtrack

  • Wallace Ford, Tom Neal, Willard Parker, and Barbara Payton in The Great Jesse James Raid (1953)
    The Great Jesse James Raid

Videos2

Trailer
Trailer 2:27
Trailer
Bride of the Gorilla
Trailer 1:57
Bride of the Gorilla

Personal details

Edit
    • Ofiicial website - maintained by her son and authorized biographer
    • November 16, 1927
    • Cloquet, Minnesota, USA
    • May 8, 1967
    • San Diego, California, USA(heart failure/liver failure)
    • February 10, 1962 - May 8, 1967 (her death)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared in US tour of "The Postman Always Rings Twice". Also in cast: Tom Neal.
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Print Biographies
    • 5 Articles
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Had a six-month affair with Bob Hope in 1949 in which he paid for her to live in a luxurious apartment. The affair ended when she began making demands for more money.
  • Quotes
    [poem] "Love is a memory. Time cannot kill the cherished tune, gay and absurd, and the music unheard."
    • Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
      (1950)
      $5,000 / week

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.