Sally Payne
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Sally Payne (September 5, 1912 – May 8, 1999) was an American actress. She featured in several B-Westerns in the 1940s.
Payne made her first film in 1935, appearing in a bit part. She became a leading actress in B films, usually westerns. She also played in comedy shorts for RKO Radio Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She is most remembered for her performance as Calamity Jane in the Roy Rogers western Young Bill Hickok (1940), as well as acting the role of Belle Starr in Robin Hood of the Pecos (1941), where her performing style echoed that of a contemporary, Una Merkel. Just before her association with Rogers ended, her status had enlarged from a supporting-role character to that of first-billed actress.
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. 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.
After Payne left acting, she ran her own book store and worked as an artist, creating oil paintings for her family and her friends and illustrating a series of children's books.
Payne retired from films in 1942 after her marriage to Arthur F. Kelly, an executive for Western Airlines.
On May 8, 1999, she died in Los Angeles of a stroke at the age of 86.
Acted in
Ain't It Aggravatin'
1954
as Frugal Man's Wife (uncredited)
Cash Stashers
1953
as The Wife (uncredited)
The Adventures of Kit Carson
1951
Bargain Madness
1951
as Sally (uncredited)
Inferior Decorator
1943
as Mrs. Kennedy
Mountain Rhythm
1943
as Fanniebelle Weaver
Cooks and Crooks
1942
as Sally Kennedy
Romance on the Range
1942
as Sally
Soaring Stars
1942
as Autograph Seeker
Man from Cheyenne
1942
as Sally Evans
A Quiet Fourth
1941
as Sally Kennedy
Red River Valley
1941
as Sally Whittaker
Tuxedo Junction
1941
as Pansy Weaver
Jesse James at Bay
1941
as Polly Morgan
I'll Fix It
1941
as Sally
Westward Ho-Hum
1941
as Sally
Bad Man of Deadwood
1941
as 'Princess' Sally Blackstone
Nevada City
1941
as Jo Morrison
Sheriff of Tombstone
1941
as Queenie Whittaker, aka Queenie LaTour
The Lady from Cheyenne
1941
as Chorus Girl
In Old Cheyenne
1941
as 'Squeak' Brown
Robin Hood of the Pecos
1941
as Belle Starr
No, No, Nanette
1940
as Maid
One Night in the Tropics
1940
as Woman with Second Man Polled by Jim (uncredited)
Wedding Bills
1940
as Bride-to-be (uncredited)
Rodeo Dough
1940
as Sally
Young Bill Hickok
1940
as Miss 'Calamity' Jane Canary
City for Conquest
1940
as Singer (uncredited)
When the Daltons Rode
1940
as Annabella
Money and the Woman
1940
as Mrs. Jones (uncredited)
I Love You Again
1940
as Salesgirl (uncredited)
Bested by a Beard
1940
as Maisie
La Conga Nights
1940
as Lucy Endover
The Domineering Male
1940
as Gertrude 'Gertie' (uncredited)
The Amazing Mr. Williams
1939
as Jean - Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Blondie Brings Up Baby
1939
as Young Woman (uncredited)
Let's Talk Turkey
1939
as Abner's Wife
Set 'em Up
1939
as Girl Bowler
Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood La Conga
1939
as Sally
Culinary Carving
1939
as Mrs. Formaldehyde
My Wife's Relatives
1939
as Lizzie
Hollywood Hobbies
1939
as Tourist
Blondie Meets the Boss
1939
as Mrs. Williams (uncredited)
Man from Music Mountain
1938
as Patsy
The Higgins Family
1938
as Lizzie
Exiled to Shanghai
1937
as Mabel
The Big Show
1936
as Toodles Brown