Sally Payne

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Sally Payne September 5 1912 May 8 1999 was an American actress She featured in several BWesterns 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 MetroGoldwynMayer 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 supportingrole character to that of firstbilled actress Paynes characters were usually the tomboy type often helping men rather than being dependent on them She frequently wore mens 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 Paynes 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 childrens 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