Noel Coward's longtime companion

Graham Payne, longtime companion of playwright Noel Coward, has died
in Switzerland, the Los Angeles Times reports.

<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-passings18.2nov18,1,77352.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california>

Payn, 87, a South African-born singer and actor, died Nov. 2 in a
hospital in the Swiss village of Les Avants.

He was co-editor of Coward's diaries, published in 1982, and the main
executor of Coward's estate. Payn also wrote "My Life With Noel
Coward," a 1994 memoir.

Payn was "a product of the white-tie-and-tails school of song and
dance," the L.A. Times notes. Payn's breakthrough was in Coward's 1945
play "Sigh No More," in which Payn sang the haunting feature number
"Matelot." That song was written for him by Coward. It marked the
beginning of a personal and professional relationship that lasted
until Coward's death in 1973.

Payn also appeared in several films --
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668238/>
-- including the 1969 version of "The Italian Job," which also starred
Benny Hill, Michael Caine and Noel Coward.
.