The Writings Of
John O’Dowd
John O’Dowd is a freelance writer and celebrity biographer whose more than thirty articles and interviews with several veteran actors and recording artists have appeared in such national magazines as Filmfax, Videoscope, Classic Images, Cult Movies, Films of the Golden Age, Motown Chatbusters, and Psychotronie Video. He is the author of 2007’s Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye – The Barbara Payton Story (the Second Edition of which, was published in 2015); the 2018 audio book, My Friend Yvette Vickers – In Her Own Words, and the 2019 “coffee table” photo book, Barbara Payton – A Life in Pictures. John has recently cowritten (with screenwriter and director Ciaran Creagh) his first screenplay, which is an adaptation of his biography of Barbara Payton.
For Immediate Release
Irish Screenwriter / Director & U.S. Celebrity Biographer team up to bring the story of Actress Barbara Payton to the big screen.
It’s a project more than 25 years in the making. Now the story of actress Barbara Payton is getting ready to head to the big screen, where it essentially started – explosive as a firecracker – and burned out just as quickly. Author and celebrity biographer John O’Dowd has teamed with award-winning Irish screenwriter and director Ciaran Creagh to write the quintessential movie script about this beautiful and talented young actress, who garnered a salary of $10,000 a week in the 1950s, then ended up on skid row little more than a decade later.
O’Dowd gained unprecedented access to the people who knew her best while writing the definitive biography on Payton, “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story.” He built a strong relationship with her beloved only son, John Lee Payton, Jr., and with her loving and loyal sister-in-law, Jan Redfield. It was O’Dowd’s dedication to telling the whole poignant tale of Barbara’s life, with integrity and empathy, that allowed him to write the full story – blemishes and all – in a way no previous author had done.
After years of working to get his book made into a screenplay worthy of production, O’Dowd joined forces with Creagh. The pair have worked diligently to transform O’Dowd’s two books on Payton – the biography and his exquisitely crafted second book “Barbara Payton – A Life in Pictures,” into the new screenplay, which they hope to bring to the big screen very soon.
O’Dowd, a native of New Jersey, first encountered Payton as a small boy watching her film “Bride of the Gorilla.” He was captivated by her beauty and began what would become a lifelong journey to learn about and tell her story. As he grew up and became a celebrity interviewer and biographer, he set out to write the consummate book about the rapid rise and downfall of the blonde beauty.
Creagh, of Dublin, Ireland, discovered Payton similarly by watching one of her films. This time it was her performance with Gregory Peck in the western “Only the Valiant.” Creagh was older than his co-screenwriter when he discovered Payton in this way. He Googled Payton and found O’Dowd’s works about the fallen star.
Creagh, whose latest film “Ann” is gaining acclaim and awards, has helped lift O’Dowd’s work on the Payton story to a whole new level as they teamed up to co-write this screenplay. Currently his feature “Cry from the Sea” starring Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis), Dominic Cooper (Mama Mia), Aidan Quinn (Michael Collins) and Sarah Bolger (In America) is shooting in Ireland.
The screenwriters are hoping their film will bring movie-goers into the group of fans who can look past the many problems Payton had to see her true innocence, beauty and talent. If her story were unfolding in this era of the “Me Too Movement” she might have been helped and treated with dignity, rather than discarded and pushed into the gutter of Hollywood trash.
For more information, contact: ciaran@hillsixteen.com.
Barbara Payton
A Life in Pictures
Author John O'Dowd revisits the life of the late Hollywood actress Barbara Payton in his new hardcover BearManor Media book, titled Barbara Payton: A Life in Pictures. An image driven follow-up to his first BearManor book on Barbara's life and times, 2007's Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story, the project contains over 1,000 photos and 550 pages, and offers an enlarged perspective of Barbara's fascinating, if brief and star-crossed life. Collected over the past two decades from dozens of sources-both in the United States, and abroad-the images in the book run the gamut from family photos and studio portraits, to candids, news photos, movie ads, and film stills. Accompanying the photos and their captions are over 170 quotes about Barbara and her life that have been culled from newspapers of the day, as well as from several people who knew her intimately. Hopefully, the combination of photographic and written material in the book will help provide a deeper understanding of Barbara, and what remains one of Hollywood's biggest, and most shocking, self-inflicted tragedies.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
The Barbara Payton Story
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story is the heartbreaking saga of the wild and free-spirited actress who hit Hollywood in the late 1940s, equipped with little more than a suitcase full of dreams, a ravenous hunger for fame and a devastating beauty---only to see each one of her dreams destroyed by a disastrous private life that led her straight through the gates of Hell. Gutsy, vulnerable--and doomed--Barbara Payton blazed across the motion picture stratosphere in record time, only to collapse in a catastrophic free-fall from which she would never recover.
My Friend Yvette Vickers
In Her Own Words
The audio book "My Friend, Yvette Vickers: In Her Own Words" by Barbara Payton biographer John O'Dowd, is a tribute to Yvette that has been several years in the making. Close friends and confidantes since 1998, Yvette and John shared a special bond that was largely unknown to others, but was important to them both. A few years before her (circa 2010) tragic - and heartbreaking - passing from heart disease at her Beverly Hills home, Yvette made a recording for John that was comprised of nearly two hours worth of anecdotes and memories from her life and career. The recording, which Yvette sent to John on several cassettes, was meant to provide him with some material for her memoir, which the two had planned to collaborate on. Sadly, that project never came to pass, however, some of the information Yvette had recorded on the tapes was subsequently used in the two articles she and John worked on together for Filmfax and Psychotronic Video magazines.
A few years after her passing, John began considering putting together an audio book about Yvette that would utilize the material she had recorded, as well as the many fascinating telephone messages she left for him throughout the course of their ten-year friendship; many of which are quite moving, and show the kinds of challenges she faced in her last years. In late 2016, John received tremendous help in his efforts once he obtained the assistance of audio producer and sound engineer Nunzio Fazio, of Coldwater Canyon Entertainment, and (in 2017), of producer Stephen Michael Babula, owner of the NJ-based SMB Recordings. The trio's many hours of hard work on the project quickly became a labor of love for them, and the result of their efforts is something they hope Yvette's many fans will welcome and enjoy. Above all, it is their shared wish the audio book will show the kindhearted, intelligent, funny, loving and supportive lady that Yvette Vickers was to all who knew her. Rest assured, to them - and to her many fans - Yvette will NEVER be forgotten.
Five Star
Reviews
“Right off, let me note that this book is about my mother, Barbara Payton, so of course I have a strong reason to care about it. My initial reluctance to be interviewed by Mr. O’Dowd, and my deep doubt about the use for another person out to make money off my mother made it a hard sell. But, I came to know John and trust him to tell the whole story, to tell it from all sides, to research it to an extent that would be laudable for any biography, and to include the good and the bad, leaving it for the reader to reach his or her own conclusion. I love my mother and have always been proud of her, but I’m realistic that her life was mostly great success and great failure. The author has done a good job. I found the book a pleasure and an agony to read, but I’m grateful for it and hope you will give it a read. It is a fine piece of work.” – John Lee Payton
“This photo book is incredible. The amount of photos and text is beyond most photo books I own. It tells the story of Barbara’s life in pictures and in text from family, co stars, news articles etc. It is the perfect companion to Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye also by John O’Dowd. Even if you haven’t read that, and you must, this book is still a must have for any Barbara Payton fan. It’s stunning and the love put into it is touching. There are some photos that really struck me, for example a friend of Barbara’s took a photo of her shoe closet in the 50’s. The candids like that for example show the human side of Barbara, even if it’s material items, it makes her more real, more human to those of us that never knew her. There are gorgeous photos from her Hollywood days, childhood photos, and some sad photos toward the end. But the author does an incredible job of telling her life story through these photos, it’s not just a bunch of pics with minimal text, it’s a biography in itself. Extremely well done, please buy this you won’t regret it!”
“This is an enthralling biography that you will read again and again. Right off the bat, this is NOT your usual cut-and-paste biography. The author, John O’Dowd, has spent years researching and interviewing everyone he could find who knew Barbara Payton. The book is filled with rare photographs of the doomed star with even one snapshot taken just days before her tragic death. The result is a nearly 400 page study of a vastly complicated woman who was years ahead of her time. If she were alive today, she would be celebrated by the media as just another Anna Nicole Smith but with much more talent.”
“Prior to reading John O’Dowd’s brilliant biography of Barbara Payton, my knowledge of Barbara was peripheral at best. I knew she was once a famous actress who descended into alcoholism and died tragically. On the surface the story seems simple, but the complete story of Barbara Payton’s life is much more complex and much more compelling. With the aid of Barbara’s family (including her son who had never spoken publicly about his mother before), friends, and co workers, O’Dowd gives a clear, fair view of Barbara and manages to create a tone that is neither overly sympathetic nor overly judgmental. All in all this is a fine, fascinating biography of a subject whose story I now realize has been overly simplified previously. There is no doubt that Barbara Payton led a lifestyle that would be considered salacious to most, but, John O’Dowd’s biography dims the lights on some of the sensationalism and restored the some respect to the name Barbara Payton. This book is HIGHLY recommended!!!!!”