Back in the 40's and 50's there was an actress. B list probably. I am probably being generous with that ranking. The thing is though, she was always on the arm of actors much higher on the list so it brought her up higher than her career would probably deserve. When she was 15 and 16 she was pimped out by her mom. To escape that she got married for a few months before heading out to Los Angeles.
By my count she had affairs with about 25 married men. Hey, and she was married during a lot of those too. At least two of the men were A+ listers and are still considered A+ list decades after their deaths. She lost out on a part to Marilyn Monroe. It came down to Marilyn and herself. If she had landed that role, maybe her life would have turned out differently. She co-starred opposite several permanent A+ listers.
Her movie career kind of stopped when she became a full-time mistress. One of the permanent A+ listers had to endure a magazine expose on the affair because she felt he was being cheap with her. She would have sex with a married man and the next day sell the story to a tabloid if he didn't pay.
Anyway, she fell in love with a fellow actor. She was engaged to an A lister who was an Academy Award winner/nominee so the couple agreed to keep their affair quiet. Then one day, she decided not to keep it a secret because she needed some money for drugs and his wife trashed him in public and the A lister used his considerable influence to have the actor blackballed so he never landed anything other than a bit part again.
Our blackballed actor never forgave the actress. A decade past this, the actress was working as a hustler and working the streets 15 minutes at a time. Our actor picked her up for a paid date. He poisoned her and within a week she was dead at her parent's house.
By my count she had affairs with about 25 married men. Hey, and she was married during a lot of those too. At least two of the men were A+ listers and are still considered A+ list decades after their deaths. She lost out on a part to Marilyn Monroe. It came down to Marilyn and herself. If she had landed that role, maybe her life would have turned out differently. She co-starred opposite several permanent A+ listers.
Her movie career kind of stopped when she became a full-time mistress. One of the permanent A+ listers had to endure a magazine expose on the affair because she felt he was being cheap with her. She would have sex with a married man and the next day sell the story to a tabloid if he didn't pay.
Anyway, she fell in love with a fellow actor. She was engaged to an A lister who was an Academy Award winner/nominee so the couple agreed to keep their affair quiet. Then one day, she decided not to keep it a secret because she needed some money for drugs and his wife trashed him in public and the A lister used his considerable influence to have the actor blackballed so he never landed anything other than a bit part again.
Our blackballed actor never forgave the actress. A decade past this, the actress was working as a hustler and working the streets 15 minutes at a time. Our actor picked her up for a paid date. He poisoned her and within a week she was dead at her parent's house.
This is obviously about Barbara Payton, but some of the details are inaccurate. She was never pimped out by her mother, and she was never up for the same parts as Marilyn Monroe. She did die at her parents house of heart failure, but this is just as likely to be from years of drug and alcohol abuse as poison. The man in question could be Franchot Tone or Bob Hope, but I believe this blind is pulling bits and pieces from each of their history to make this Frankenblind. Payton's life story is tragic and sordid enough without any embellishment.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing somebody else Margaret Sullavan, married to Henry Fonda and William Wyler and died of a drug overdose.
ReplyDeleteA lot of this can be found on her Wiki.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Payton
She was also a staple on Confidential magazine covers.
Barbara Payton/Franchot Tone/Tom Neal but a totally false blind. Payton died in 1967 while Neal was in prison from 1965-1971 for manslaughter of his wife.
ReplyDeleteThey say that her "15 years of hard, ruinous living had destroyed her liver, her heart and her brain"
ReplyDeleteHowever arsenic is slow acting poison that causes death from liver and kidney failure as well, so she really might have been killed.
I'm intrigued.
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ReplyDeleteArsenic kills slowly so it could be true.
ReplyDeleteThe timeline might not work out, but Carole Landis was married/engaged multiple times, and was dating the married Rex Harrison in 1948 when she supposedly committed suicide. Nobody knew what ever really happened. She was beautiful and only 29 at the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the Old Hollywood blinds, does anyone else enjoy the "You Must Remember This" podcast?
ReplyDeleteBarbara Payton was a subject of an episode in relation to her connection to Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone.
Amazonblue, I tried to get into You Must Remember This but I find the podcaster's voice so offputting.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Payton was definitely up for the same roles as Marilyn Monroe, I don't know what that other person was talking about. She lost out to Marilyn Monroe for The Asphalt Jungle. She might have not been pimped out but she did come from an abusive home (Her parents were alcoholics, her mother pretty much didn't care that she dropped out of high school, and she got married super young, like around 16). When she went back home, she would continue drinking with her folks. That was a big reason why she had a drinking problem.
ReplyDeleteYes! I was just thinking of Barbara Payton (in fact, was about to change my AVI to the cover of her autobiography). BP had waay more than a mere booze problem, though. Have you read I Am Not Ashamed?
ReplyDeleteAmazonblue, I love You Must Remember This. I never realized how much tragedy there was with old Hollywood until I started listening that podcast. It helped me think of Barbara Payton as soon as I read this blind.
ReplyDelete