John Payne
Birthday: 1912-05-28 Place of Birth: Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Synopsis
John Payne was an American stage, screen, and television actor. He is best remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films and for his roles in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and the television series The Restless Gun (1957-1959).
Acting
Hidden Fear
A U.S. lawman busts Copenhagen counterfeiters to help his sister, falsely accused of murder.
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is an American western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict wherever possible. He is gregarious, intelligent, and public-spirited. The half-hour black-and-white program aired seventy-eight episodes. Jeanne Bates appeared in varying roles with Payne in five episodes of The Restless Gun.
The Restless Gun theme song begins: "I ride with the wind, my eyes on the sun, and my hand on my restless gun..." The song composer is probably Paul Dunlap, credited as the primary series composer, but could have been contributed to by either of the two other series composers, Dave Kahn and Stanley Wilson, also. Two versions are currently posted on YouTube, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.
Hold Back The Night
A Marine officer (John Payne) goes through Korea with the bottle of Scotch that his wife (Mona Freeman) gave him in the last war.
Slightly Scarlet
Kleptomaniac Dorothy Lyons is paroled from prison into the custody of her sister June, secretary to "reform" politician Frank Jansen. Ben Grace, associate of crime boss Sol "Solly" Caspar, sees this as a way to smear Jansen's campaign. Seductive Dorothy will do anything to get what she wants, which includes having a good time with Ben-- whom June is now in love with.
Rebel in Town
Ex-Confederate Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into a small Western town with robbery in mind. Hearing a suspicious "click," Wes Mason whirls and shoots dead a boy playing with a cap pistol. The Mason clan then flees but Gray Mason, feeling remorse, decides to return to the town. He winds up at the home of John and Nora Willoughby who, unknown to him, are parents of the dead boy. Nora recognizes him as one of the Confederates but keeps quiet, wishing to avoid more violence. However, when John learns of Gray's true identity, he determines to avenge his son's death
The Boss
A crusading politician falls prey to the temptations of power.
Santa Fe Passage
A disgraced Indian scout and his partner are hired to escort a wagonload of guns through Indian territory.
Hell's Island
Down-on-his-luck Mike Cormack is hired to fly to a Caribbean island to retrieve a missing ruby. On the island, possibly involved with the ruby's disappearance, is his ex-girlfriend.
Tennessee's Partner
A tough, womanizing high-stakes gambler known only as Tennessee has an uneasy relationship with Duchess, madam of a thinly-disguised bordello, and no other friends at all. But he's saved from murder by a lonesome cowpoke ('My friends call me Cowpoke'), in town to meet his fiancée Goldie on the steamboat. When she arrives, there's a mysterious undercurrent between Goldie and Tennessee, whose newfound friendship with Cowpoke is destined to be severely tried...
Silver Lode
Dan Ballard, a respected citizen in the western town of Silver Lode, has his wedding interrupted by four men led by Ned McCarty, an old acquaintance who, as a US Marshal, arrests Ballard for the murder of his brother and the theft of $20,000. Ballard seeks to stall McCarty while tracking down evidence that will prove his innocence.
Rails Into Laramie
A federal agent arrives in Laramie to try to find out who is behind the efforts to stop the construction of a new railroad track.
Raiders of the Seven Seas
After staging a mutiny and commandeering his own ship, famed pirate Barbarossa (John Payne) takes hostage a spirited Spanish noblewoman named Alida (Donna Reed), intending to trade her to her fiancé, Capt. Jose Salcedo (Gerald Mohr), for a handsome ransom. But Barbarossa falls in love with Alida, who meanwhile discovers that the roguish swashbuckler is more honorable than her erstwhile betrothed.
99 River Street
A former boxer turned taxi driver earns the scorn of his nagging wife and gets mixed up with jewel thieves.
The Vanquished
A man returns to his home -- a post Civil-War village -- and finds the law is in the hands of a few scrupulous people.
Caribbean
Francis Barclay, a former member of the British Admiralty, who was captured in the early 1700s, and sold into slavery, by Andrew McAllister, and forced into piracy, enlists the aid of Dick Lindsay, to help him invade MacAllister's fortified island. The latter falls in love with MacAllister's daughter,Christine.
Kansas City Confidential
An ex-convict sets out to uncover who framed him for an armored car robbery.
The Blazing Forest
Estranged brothers (John Payne, Richard Arlen) find themselves on the same lumberjack crew hired by a feisty widow to clear the timber from her Nevada property.
Passage West
In 1863, having escaped from a rock-quarry prison in Salt Lake, six inmates led by convicted murderer Pete Black take over a small wagon train headed by preacher Jacob Karns. Tensions and hardships grow as the travelers continue to trek toward California across dry, desolate country.
Crosswinds
A sailor gets his boat stolen from him after he's set up for a crime.
Tripoli
In 1805, the United States battles the pirates of Tripoli as the Marines fight to raise the American flag.
El Paso
Ex-confederate officer Clay Fletcher jumps at the chance to reunite with his once lady-friend, Susan Jeffers, when his father, Judge Fletcher, sends him on an errand to El Paso, Texas to get the signature of Susan's father, Judge Jeffers, on a legal document. Once there he finds the judge has become a drunk and a laughing stock, doing the bidding of local magnate Bert Donner and his running dog, Sheriff La Farge. Just as Clay starts straightening out the town's problems, events occur which force him to abandon the legal system and instead adopt the murderous tactics of a vigilante.
The Crooked Way
A war veteran suffering from amnesia, returns to Los Angeles from a San Francisco veterans hospital hoping to learn who he is and discovers his criminal past.
Larceny
Rick Mason is the no-good lowdown rat who tries to capitalize on postwar patriotism and grief. He finagles a war widow into giving up her savings for a nonexistent memorial. When Mason falls in love with the widow he has pangs of conscience, but he reckons without his con-artist boss, who tends to bolster his arguments with muscle and bullets.
Miracle on 34th Street
Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2009.
The Razor's Edge
An adventurous young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at nothing to get him back, even though she is already married.
The Dolly Sisters
Two sisters from Hungary become famous entertainers in the early 1900s. Fictionalized biography with lots of songs.
Hello, Frisco, Hello
In turn-of-the-century San Francisco, an ambitious vaudevillian takes his quartet from a honky tonk to the big time, while spurning the love of his troupe's star singer for a selfish heiress.
To the Shores of Tripoli
Chronicle of a spoiled rich boy who joins the Marines with an off-handed attitude and finally becomes a battle-wise soldier.
Remember the Day
Elderly schoolteacher Nora Trinell, waiting to meet presidential nominee Dewey Roberts, recalls him as her student back in 1916 and his relation to Dan Hopkins, the man she married and lost.
Sun Valley Serenade
When Phil Corey's band arrives at the Idaho ski resort its pianist Ted Scott is smitten with a Norwegian refugee he has sponsored, Karen Benson. When soloist Vivian Dawn quits, Karen stages an ice show as a substitute.
