Barbara Payton Biography

Brassy blonde leading lady Barbara Payton appeared in films from 1949 on. Payton hit the big time when she was personally selected by James Cagney (who was reportedly impressed by her offscreen fondness for profanity) to co-star in Cagney's Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). She earned nationwide notoriety shortly afterward, when actors Franchot Tone and Tom Neal engaged in public fisticuffs over her affections. After 1955, Payton's star plummeted, and despite the popularity of her 1963 tell-all biography, I Am Not Ashamed, Barbara Payton's career never recovered. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi