John Howard Payne (May 23, 1912 – December 6, 1989) was an American film actor who is mainly remembered from film noir crime stories and 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC Western television series The Restless Gun.

Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia on May 23, 1912. His mother, Ida Hope (née Schaeffer), a singer, graduated from the Virginia Seminary in Roanoke and married George Washington Payne, a developer in Roanoke. They lived at Fort Lewis, an antebellum mansion that became a state historic property, but was destroyed by fire in the late 1940s.

Payne attended prep schools at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania and Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and afterwards went to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City in the fall of 1930. He studied drama at Columbia and voice at the Juilliard School. To support himself, he took on a variety of odd jobs, including wrestling as "Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes" and boxing as "Tiger Jack Payne".

He returned frequently to visit his family in Roanoke, Virginia.

In 1934, a talent scout for the Shubert theaters spotted Payne and gave him a job as a stock player. He appeared in road company productions of Rose-Marie and The Student Prince at $40 a week.

Payne toured with several Shubert Brothers shows, and frequently sang on New York City-based radio programs. On Broadway he appeared in the revue At Home Abroad (1935–36) alongside Ethel Waters, Eleanor Powell and Beatrice Lillie. He understudied for Reginald Gardiner and took over one night. He was seen by Fred Kohlmar of Sam Goldwyn's company and was offered a movie contract.

In 1936, he left New York for Hollywood. His first role was in Goldwyn's Dodsworth, playing Harry McKee, the son-in-law of Walter Huston's titular character.

He had the male lead as Jimmy Maxwell in Hats Off (1936), an independent film.