Graham Payn (25 April 1918 – 4 November 2005) was born in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. He was a British actor and singer, gay and the life partner of the late Sir Noel Coward. Payn moved with his family to England when he was about ten years old (circa 1928). He became a boy soprano in concerts and in boy's choirs. He made his first stage appearance at thirteen at the Palladium, as "Curly" in Peter Pan. At the age of fourteen he appeared in Noel Coward's revue Words and Music. Payn's audition consisted of a tap dance routine which he performed while singing "Nearer, My God, to Thee".