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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

deadpan adj.

also deadpanned

[SE dead + pan n.¹ (4); deadpan (as n., adj., adv.) is cited as SE in OED, though pan is acknowledged to be ‘orig. US slang’; it would thus seem likely to have been sl. at its coinage]

(US) expressionlesss.

1928		N.Y. Times 11 Mar. viii. 6/1: Dead pan, playing a rôle with expressionless face.
1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 12: They [...] look around with that sorta dead pan look that always comes on to a Mexicano’s puss when he’s goin’ to do a job of work.
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 48: With tired, dead-pan expressions.
1947		C.S. Montanye ‘Frozen Stiff’ in Popular Detective Mar. 🌐 Mullin, dead-panned and fishy-eyed, nodded.
1951		letter in N.Y. Daily News 12 Sept. 11C: It’s enough to make even deadpan Gromyko laugh [W&F].
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 8: Donald stood there defiantly watching him. His expression was dead pan.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 223: Sneed’s tone was mocking, but his expression dead-pan, and briefly got DS Feast going.
1983		A. Payne ‘Willesden Suite’ Minder [TV script] 34: Arthur is unsure whether the dead-pan Dave is really winding him up or not.
1996		A. Close Official and Doubtful 275: The deadpan insults rained on complete strangers were a joke.