Actor Tom Neal Picked Up in Wife Killing

Apr. 2, 1965 - Tom Neal, 51, whose 1951 brawl with Franchot Tone over blonde actress Barbara Payton exploded his acting career, was jailed today in Palm Springs, Calif., on suspicion of murder in the shooting of his estranged wife.

Gail Neal, 29, was shot in the back of the head shortly before midnight, police said. The .45-caliber bullet passed through her right temple.

Police said Neal would be formally charged with murder on Monday.

Mrs. Neal, who worked in a Palm Springs tennis club for the last three months, had been living alone in the home since her split with the actor. It was rumored she had filed for divorce. The marriage was Neal’s third.

Neal apparently returned to Palm Springs “two or three days ago” from Chicago, where he had been living recently, police said.

Police were investigating a report that Mrs. Neal had been concerned about her husband’s return.

The woman’s body was found on a sofa in the living room of the Neal home.

Neal had called Beverly Hills attorney James Cantillon, who drove to Palm Springs and surrendered the onetime actor to the police.

Neal, now a landscape gardener, has made no statement.

The weapon was not found, but police did find a spent .45-caliber shell on the living room floor.

Neal, who played secondary roles in a series of Hollywood movies, made headlines in 1951 when he was involved in a bloody brawl with Tone over the affections of Barbara Payton.

A former amateur prizefighter, Neal beat Tone, then 46, so badly that the star was left in an 18-hour coma. Tone was operated on — through the mouth to preserve the Tone profile — for multiple facial fractures, including a broken nose and left cheekbone.

“I’d hate to take the beating he took,” said his doctor, Lee Seigel, after the two-hour surgery.

Tone later wed Payton, but the marriage ended a short time later after Tone discovered that Payton had continued her relationship with Neal.

Both Neal and Payton faded into professional obscurity. Payton remained in Hollywood but was rarely able to find acting jobs. From 1955 to 1963, her alcoholism and drug addiction led to multiple skirmishes with the law, including an arrest on Sunset Boulevard for prostitution.

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