Barbara Payton - Early Life

Early Life

Payton was born Barbara Lee Redfield in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of Erwin Lee ("Flip") Redfield and Mabel Irene Todahl, who were Norwegian immigrants. A son, Frank Leslie III was born in 1931 and in 1938, the family moved to Odessa, Texas. With financial assistance from his sister, Payton’s father was able to start his own business, a court of tourist cabins, “Antlers Court,” anticipating it would turn out to be a profitable enterprise in a city like Odessa whose population was booming due to the oil business. By various accounts, Payton’s father was a hard-working but difficult man, emotionally closed off, slow to express himself but quick to temper. His interaction with his children was minimal and child-rearing responsibilities were left to his wife, Mabel, who occupied herself with her homemaking duties and keeping problems out of her husband’s field of consciousness. Both of Payton's parents had long-standing problems with alcohol. Payton’s first cousin, Richard Kuitu remembers visits to the home of his uncle and aunt. The Redfields would often start drinking mid-morning and continue long after midnight. He recalls the violent temper Lee Redfield could demonstrate when fueled by drink, which would sometimes result in the physical abuse of his wife.

As Barbara was growing into maturity her good looks were also blossoming which garnered her attention. This type of attention was valued, even encouraged by her mother. Payton was known as a lively girl, willing to please and she learned early in life that she had a potent effect on the opposite sex.

In November 1943, the then sixteen-year-old eloped with her high school boyfriend William Hodge. The marriage seemingly amounted to nothing more than an act of impulsive, teen-age rebellion, and Payton didn't fight her parent's insistence that the marriage be annulled. A few months later, she quit high school in the eleventh grade. Her parents, who held to the belief that formal education wasn't mandatory for success in life, didn't object to their daughter leaving high school before obtaining a diploma.

In 1944, she met her second husband, a decorated combat pilot named John Payton, who at the time was stationed at Midland Air Base. The couple were married on February 10, 1945 and moved to Los Angeles where John enrolled at USC under the G.I. Bill. It was still early in their marriage that Barbara, restless and feeling confined by her life as a housewife, expressed a desire to pursue a modeling or acting career.

Payton officially launched her modeling path by hiring the services of a local photographer who shot photos of her sporting fashionable outfits. This portfolio attracted the favorable attention of a clothing designer, Saba of California, who signed her to a contract modeling a line of junior fashion. Her career progressed and in September 1947, the Rita La Roy Agency in Hollywood took her on as a client and brought her more work as a model in print advertising; notably in catalogs for Studebaker cars. She also appeared in clothing ads for such magazines as Charm and Junior Bazaar.

During this period in her life, the couple welcomed their son, John Lee, who was born in February 1947. Payton managed to combine the responsibilities of wife, new mother and professional model, yet the strains on the Payton marriage finally reached the breaking point and Barbara and her husband separated in July 1948. Payton's drive, fueled by her high-energy personality, had become focused on promoting her career and showcasing her beauty around the town’s hot spots. Her notoriety as a luminous, fun loving party girl in the Hollywood club scene ignited the attention of William Goetz, an executive of Universal Studios. In January 1949, he signed her, age twenty-one, to a contract with a starting salary of $100 per week.