Graham Payn

b. 25 Apr 1918, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, d. 4 November 2005, Les Avants, Switzerland. Educated in South Africa and, from 1929, in Britain, Payn appeared in the stage within a London Palladium creation of Peter Skillet at age 13. He is at the West Result in Seated Pretty (1939), Up And Doing (1940), Great And Dandy (1942), Magic Floor covering (1943, which isn’t linked to the 1930 likewise titled Broadway present), and in 1944 is at The Lilac Domino and Alice In Wonderland. Although he performed multiple jobs in the last mentioned, Payn usually acquired little parts or is at the chorus. He demonstrated small ambition for stardom, also after getting befriended by Noël Coward, whose close partner he ultimately became. Coward composed ‘Matelot’ specifically for him to sing in Sigh FORGET ABOUT (1945) but Payn decided to go with never to build upon this chance. Even though Coward solid him in additional productions, such as for example Pacific 1860 (1946), Payn chosen professional obscurity, selecting seldom to go up beyond character functions. However, he do tour the united states in 1948 playing the business lead in Coward’s Tonight At 8.30 opposite Gertrude Lawrence. In the 50s Payn performed mainly in London revues but do come in Coward’s Ace Of Night clubs and FOLLOWING THE Ball, the second option a musical edition of Oscar Wilde’s Woman Windermere’s Lover. Payn made an appearance in additional musical shows and in addition in right dramas through the later area of the 10 years; the former included Like Is Information, the second option Subway In The Sky and Brouhaha. He was also in All of a sudden It’s Springtime (1959), with Margaret Lockwood and Yolande Donlan, and Coward’s SITTING ON THE SIDELINES (1960). In the middle-60s, Payn was helper director of Great Spirits, a musical edition of Coward’s Blithe Heart that performed both in the Western world End and on Broadway, and he performed within a revival of Present Laughter. In the past due 30s, Payn produced some performances on British tv during its first days, and in addition produced some film performances (sometimes credited along with his surname spelled Payne), including Guys In Dark brown, The Astonished Center (both 1949) as well as the Italian Work (1969). Pursuing Coward’s loss of life in 1973, he was co-author, with Sheridan Morley and Cole Lesley, of Noël Coward And His Close friends (1979) and co-editor with Morley from the Noël Coward Diaries (1982). He afterwards managed Coward’s property in Switzerland and in 1994 released his autobiography.