Barbara Lee Payton[1] (née Redfield; November 16, 1927 – May 8, 1967) was an American film actress best known for her stormy social life and battles with alcohol abuse and drug addiction.

Her life has been the subject of several books, including her autobiography I Am Not Ashamed (1963), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story (2007) by John O'Dowd, L.A.

In school, Payton excelled in history and English, tumbling, and many years of ceramics, purportedly having a talent for "creating beautiful objects from scratch.

Still early in their marriage, Payton, restless and feeling confined by her life as a housewife, expressed a desire to pursue a modeling or acting career.

[10][11][12] In September 1947, the Rita La Roy Agency in Hollywood took her on and brought her work in print advertising, notably in catalogs for Studebaker cars and in clothing ads for magazines such as Charm and Junior Bazaar.

[citation needed] Her notoriety as a luminous, fun-loving party girl in the Hollywood club scene caught the attention of William Goetz, an executive of Universal Studios.

[15] After her divorce from Payton in 1950, she lost custody of their son in March 1956 after her ex-husband charged that she exposed John Lee to "profane language, immoral conduct, notoriety, unwholesome activities" and failed to provide the boy with a "moral education".

In 1950, she was allowed to make a screen test for John Huston's production of the forthcoming MGM crime drama The Asphalt Jungle.

Her portrayal of the hardened, seductive girlfriend, whom Cagney's character ultimately double crosses, was praised in newspaper reviews of the movie.

Her screen appearances opposite Gary Cooper in Dallas (1950) and Gregory Peck in Only the Valiant (1951), both Westerns, were lackluster productions that did little to highlight her skills as an actress.

[24] In England that year, Payton co-starred in two low-budget pictures for Hammer Films: Four Sided Triangle and The Flanagan Boy (or Bad Blonde).

Celebrity bartender and self-proclaimed hustler Scotty Bowers has alleged that for a time, she was regarded as a high-class call girl, much in demand.

[29] From 1955 to 1963, her alcohol dependence and drug addiction led to multiple skirmishes with the law, which included an arrest on Sunset Boulevard for prostitution.

"Her eyebrows didn't match her brassy hair; her face displayed a perpetual sunburn, a map of veins by her nose...[S]he carried an old man's potbelly...[H]er gowns and dresses...[were] creased and spotted.