Ben Iden Payne Ben Iden Payne ( September 5 , 1881 - April 6 , 1976 ) was an English actor , director and teacher . He was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne , and raised educated in Manchester . He started his career as a walk-on actor in 1899 . He served as director of the Abbey Theatre for a short time in 1907 and then returned to Manchester to work with Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman . In 1913 , he moved to the United States . Apart from the period 1935 to 1942 , he spent the rest of his life in the States , working in the theatre and teaching at various colleges including the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and University of Texas . The B. Iden Payne Awards , awarded to actors for outstanding contributions to theater in Austin , Texas , are named in his honor . One of the three theaters on campus at the University of Texas in Austin is also named after him . Reference Ben Iden Payne from the Handbook of Texas Online This article about a British actor or actress is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : British actor stubs | 1881 births | 1976 deaths In other languages : Dansk PP/fpa74 Ben Iden Payne 