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John Payne was an actor from the 1930s to the 1970s. He became an actor in 1936, but had only small success until he was signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1940, and he quickly became one of their top stars, and his most successful movie was the last one he made at Fox, "Miracle on 34th Street". He moved to RKO and reinvented himself as a tough film noir star, and he had a successful career over the next few decades (despite a car accident in 1961 which almost ended his life and sidelined him for two years while recovering). He was married to Anne Shirley from 1937 to 1943 (but she left him in January of 1942), Gloria DeHaven from 1944 to 1951, and Alexandra Crowell Curtis from 1951 to his death in 1989. Some of his other movies include: Kansas City Confidential, Tin Pan Alley, and Sun Valley Serenade. He passed away in 1989 at the age of 77.

Important Added Info: Note that this still has been personally autographed (signed) by John Payne! Note that this autographed 8x10 is one of 91 that were consigned to us by a former theater owner. He owned two different major theaters in Louisiana from the 1940s through the 1970s, and he sometimes had premieres of movies at his theaters, at which time some of the celebrities connected to the movies would appear in person (this was often done in the 1950s and 1960s). When celebrities came to his theater, he would have them autograph 8x10 stills for him in person, and that got him started collecting signed stills, so at some point in the 1950s, he began requesting the studios to have them send him stills signed by the stars of movies he had recently shown at his theater when he was holding a special event or having the anniversary of his theater's opening! Over the next decade, he collected 91 signed stills that were sent to him by the studios through the mail, as well as several dozen that he obtained in person. We auctioned those "in person" signed stills in our previous auctions, and now we are auctioning the 91 stills where he obtained the signatures through the mail from the studios.

We know for certain that he received these stills directly from the studios, but we can't say for certain if the stills were signed by the stars or if they were signed by secretaries. But since he owned a major theater, and since many of the stills were personalized to him (or to his theater), we would think it likely that most, if not all, of these 91 stills have genuine signatures that are NOT secretarial signatures. But we suggest that anyone bidding on these stills compare their signatures to other examples of that star's signature, so they can best determine if the signature is from that star.

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