Sterling Hayden

Infobox actor
name = Sterling Hayden


imagesize = 170px
caption = Hayden in "The Killing" (1956)
birthname = Sterling Relyea Walter
birthdate = March 26, 1916
birthplace = Upper Montclair, New Jersey, United States
deathdate = May 23, 1986 (age 70)
deathplace = Sausalito, California
restingplace =
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othername = Sterling Walter Hayden, John Hamilton
occupation = Actor, author, sailor, model, Marine, OSS agent
yearsactive = 1930s-1982
spouse = Madeleine Carroll (1942-1946)
Betty De Noon (divorced 1959)
Catherine Devine McConnell (1960-1986)
partner =
children = Four from second marriage, two from third
parents = George and Frances Walter
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Sterling Hayden (March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as "Johnny Guitar", "The Asphalt Jungle" and "The Killing". Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in "" (1964). He also played the Irish policeman, Captain McCluskey, in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" in 1972.

Biography

Early life, education

Born in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, Hayden's parents were George and Frances Walter, who named him Sterling Relyea WalterHayden, Sterling (1964). Wanderer. Bantam. ISBN 978-1-57409-048-2, pp. 65-66, 76, 354] [United States Census for 1920, Montclair Town, Essex County, New Jersey, Sheet 6B] . After his father died, he was adopted at the age of nine by James Hayden and renamed Sterling Walter Hayden. As a child, he lived in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and Maine, where he attended Wassookeag School in Dexter, Maine.

Hayden was a genuine adventurer and man of action, not dissimilar from many of his movie parts. He ran away to sea at 17, as a ship's boy, then later was a fisherman on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. After serving as sailor and fireman on larger vessels, he was awarded his first command at 19, and sailed around the world several times.

Hollywood years, military service, communist sympathies

Hayden became a print model and later signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, who dubbed the 6' 5" (1.96 m) actor The Most Beautiful Man in the Movies and The Beautiful Blond Viking God. His first film starred Madeleine Carroll, with whom he fell in love and married. But after just two film roles, he left Hollywood to serve as an undercover agent with William J. Donovan's COI office. He remained there after it became the OSS. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/spies.revealed.ap/index.html "Chef Julia Child, others, part of WWII spy network"] , Associated Press. CNN.com, August 14, 2008.] [Schlesinger Robert, [http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2008/08/20/arthur-schlesinger-jrs-not-so-secret-career-as-a-spy.html "Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s Not-So-Secret Career as a Spy : My father's OSS records reveal no James Bond, but a World War II career like so many others"] , US News and World Report, August 20, 2008] Hayden also joined the Marines under the name John Hamilton (which was never his legal name). His World War II service included running guns through German lines to the Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia. He won the Silver Star and a commendation from Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito.

His admiration for the Communist partisans led to a brief membership in the Communist Party. According to his [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001330/bio IMDB biography] , as the Red Scare deepened in U.S., "he cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee, confessing his brief Communist ties" and 'naming names'. His wife at that time, Betty De Noon, insisted that the 'names' her ex-husband provided were already in the hands of the Committee, which had a copy of the Communist Party's membership list. In any event, Hayden subsequently repudiated his own cooperation with the Committee, stating in his autobiography "I don't think you have the foggiest notion of the contempt I have had for myself since the day I did that thing.".

Marriages, sailing

Sterling Hayden often professed distaste for film acting, claiming he did it mainly to pay for his ships and voyages. In 1959, after a bitter divorce he was awarded custody of his children. He defied a court order and sailed to Tahiti with all four children, Christian, Dana, Gretchen and Matthew.

Hayden married Catherine Devine McConnell in 1960. They had two sons, Andrew and David, and were married until his death in 1986. Catherine also had a son from her first marriage, the journalist Scott McConnell.

In the early 1960s, Hayden rented one of the pilot houses of the retired ferryboat "Berkeley", docked in Sausalito, California where he resided while writing his autobiography "Wanderer", which was published in 1963.

In the 1970s, after his appearance in "The Godfather", he appeared several times on NBC's "Tomorrow Show" with Tom Snyder where he talked about his career resurgence and how it had funded his travels and adventures around the world. Hayden bought a canal barge in the Netherlands in 1969, eventually moving it to the heart of Paris and living on it part of the time. He also shared a home in Connecticut with his family and had an apartment in Sausalito, California.

In 1986, Sterling Hayden died of prostate cancer in Sausalito, California, age 70. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Sterling Hayden Dead |url= |publisher=New York Times |date=May 24, 1986]

Quotations

From his autobiography, "Wanderer":
* To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

Bibliography

*cite book
title = Wanderer
year = 1963
publisher = Knopf
location = New York
isbn = 1-57409-048-8
*cite book
title = Voyage : a novel of 1896
year = 1976
publisher = Putnam
location = New York
isbn = 0-399-11665-6

Partial filmography

* "The Blue and the Gray" (1982) miniseries
* "Venom" (1982)
* "Gas (film)" (1981)
* "" (1980) (TV)
* "Nine to Five" (1980)
* "The Outsider" (1980)
* "Winter Kills" (1979)
* "King of the Gypsies" (1978)
* "1900" (1976)
* "Cipolla Colt" (1975)
* "Is It Any Wonder?" (1975)
* "Deadly Strangers" (1974)
* "The Final Programme" (1973)
* "The Long Goodbye" (1973)
* "Le Grand départ" (1972)
* "The Godfather" (1972)
* "Le Saut de l'ange" (1971)
* "Loving" (1970)
* "Ternos Cacadores" (1969)
* "Hard Contract" (1969)
* "Carol for Another Christmas" (1964) (TV)
* "Dr. Strangelove" (1964)
* "Terror in a Texas Town" (1958)
* "Ten Days to Tulara" (1958)
* "Iron Sheriff" (1957)
* "Zero Hour!"(1957)
* "Gun Battle at Monterey" (1957)
* "5 Steps to Danger" (1957)
* "Crime of Passion" (1957)
* "The Killing" (1956)
* "The Come On" (1956)
* "The Last Command" (1955), playing Jim Bowie
* "Top Gun" (1955)
* "The Eternal Sea" (1955)
* "Shotgun" (1955)
* "Timberjack" (1955)
* "Suddenly" (1954)
* "Naked Alibi" (1954)
* "Johnny Guitar" (1954), title role
* "Arrow In the Dust" (1954)
* "Prince Valiant" (1954)
* "Crime Wave" also called "The City is Dark", (1954)
* "Kansas Pacific (1953)
* "Fighter Attack" (1953)
* "Flat Top" (1952)
* "The Golden Hawk" (1952)
* "Hellgate" (1952)
* "Denver and Rio Grande" (1952)
* "Flaming Feather" (1952)
* "The Star" (1952)
* "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950)
* "El Paso" (1949)
* "Blaze of Noon" (1947)
* "Bahama Passage" (1942)
* "Virginia" (1941)

References

External links

*imdb name|0001330|Sterling Hayden
* [http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/sterlinghayden.html Biography] with many photos

Persondata
NAME= Hayden, Sterling
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Walter, Sterling Relyea
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= March 26, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH= Upper Montclair, New Jersey, United States
DATE OF DEATH= May 23, 1986
PLACE OF DEATH= Sausalito, California