Sally Payne

Sally Payne (September 5, 1912 – May 8, 1999) was an American

Career

Payne worked as a model for artists before making her first film, Hollywood Hobbies (1935), where she appeared in the bit part of a tourist. She became a leading actress in B films, usually westerns. She also played in comedy shorts for

Payne's characters were usually the tomboy type, often helping men rather than being dependent on them. She frequently wore men's clothing, carried a weapon, drove stagecoaches and rode horses. Her male associates identified strongly with her ability to survive a rough environment like the Old West frontier, but she was never the object of male fantasies.^[2] Rarely did Payne's characters become physically intimate with her masculine counterparts; thus if she were called on to display affection of any sort, the relationships never went beyond the strictly platonic. Thus, her persona was that of a female sidekick, but never a lover.

At one point in her career, when a studio told Payne to undergo a

After Payne left acting, she ran her own book store[4] and worked as an artist, creating oil paintings for her family and her friends and illustrating a series of children's books.^[5]

Personal life

Payne retired from films in 1942 after her marriage to Arthur F. Kelly, an executive for Western Airlines.^[6] She had previously been married to William Telaak, a marriage that ended in divorce in 1941.^[5]

Death

On May 8, 1999, Payne died in Los Angeles^[7] of a stroke at the age of 86.

Partial filmography

References