Sterling Hayden


Hayden in 1953

Born: Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916; Upper Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.
Died: May 23, 1986 (aged 70); Sausalito, California, U.S.
Other names: Sterling Walter Hayden, John Hamilton
Height: 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)

Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor and decorated Marine Corps officer and an Office of Strategic Services' agent during World War II. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in films such as John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar (1954), and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956). He became noted for supporting roles in the 1960s, perhaps most memorably as General Jack D. Ripper in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

Hayden's success continued into the New Hollywood era, with roles such as Irish-American policeman Captain McCluskey in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), alcoholic novelist Roger Wade in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), and elderly peasant Leo Dalcò in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976). With a distinctive "rapid-fire baritone" voice and standing at 6 ft 5 in (196 cm), he had a commanding screen presence in both leading and supporting roles.

Biography

Youth and education

Hayden was born March 26, 1916, in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, to George and Frances Walter, who named him Sterling Relyea Walter. After his father died, he was adopted at age 9 by James Hayden and renamed Sterling Walter Hayden. As a child he lived in coastal towns of New England, and in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Maine. He attended Wassookeag School in Dexter, Maine.

Hayden dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and took a job as mate on a schooner. His first voyage was to Newport Beach, California, from New London, Connecticut. Later, he was a fisherman on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, ran a charter yacht, and served as a fireman on 11 trips to Cuba aboard a steamer.

He skippered a trading schooner in the Caribbean after earning his master's license, and in 1937 he served as mate on a world cruise of the brigantine Yankee. After serving as sailor and fireman on larger vessels and sailing around the world several times, he was awarded his first command at age 22, skippering the square rigger Florence C. Robinson 7,700 miles from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to Tahiti in 1938. Hayden spoke of his nautical experiences before the monthly meeting of the Adventurers' Club of New York on March 21, 1940.

Early Hollywood years

In 1938, Hayden's photo was taken during the annual Gloucester, Massachusetts, Fishermen's Race. It went on the cover of a magazine prompting Paramount Pictures to call and offer a screen test. Hayden did a test in New York with Jeanne Cagney, James Cagney's sister. Hayden:

I was completely lost, ignorant, nervous. But the next thing I knew, Paramount made me a seven-year contract beginning at $250 a week, which was astronomical. I got my lovely old mother and bought a car, and we drove to California... I was so lost then I didn't think to analyze it. I said, 'This is nuts, but, damned, it's pleasant.' I had only one plan in mind: to get $5,000. I knew where there was a schooner, and then I'd haul ass.

Hayden went to Paramount in May 1940.

Paramount dubbed the 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) actor "The Most Beautiful Man in the Movies" and "The Beautiful Blond Viking God".

His first film, Virginia (1941), directed by Edward H. Griffith, starred Madeleine Carroll whom he married. He, Griffith and Carroll were reunited in Bahama Passage (1941).

In December 1941, it was reported that he had quit Hollywood saying "I'm no actor! I'm a sailor."

War service

After two film roles, he left Hollywood to fight in World War II. He enlisted in the Army and was sent to Scotland for training, but broke his ankle and was discharged.

He returned to the US and tried to buy a half-interest in a schooner but could not raise the money. He joined the United States Marine Corps as a private, under the name John Hamilton, an alias he never used otherwise. While at Parris Island, he was recommended for Officer Candidate School (OCS).

After graduation from OCS, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and was transferred to service as an undercover agent with William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan's Office of the Coordinator of Information. He remained there after it became the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

As OSS agent John Hamilton, his World War II service included motorboating with supplies from Italy to Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia. Hayden, who also participated in the Naples–Foggia campaign and established air crew rescue teams in enemy-occupied territory, became a first lieutenant on September 13, 1944, and a captain on February 14, 1945.

He received the Silver Star for gallantry in action in the Balkans and Mediterranean ( according to his citation, "Lt. Hamilton displayed great courage in making hazardous sea voyages in enemy-infested waters and reconnaissance through enemy-held areas" ), a Bronze Arrowhead device for parachuting behind enemy lines, and a commendation from Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito. He left active duty on December 24, 1945. Tito awarded him the Order of Merit.

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Death

Hayden died of prostate cancer in Sausalito in 1986, age 70.

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Dr Strangelove - Mandrake and Ripper

Bernard Welt
966 subscribers

264,798 views Feb 1, 2012
The plotting, dialogue, and performances in Dr. Strangelove are so extraordinary that we may overlook other aspects of filmmaking. Note how camera angles, lighting, pictorial composition, soundtrack and quality, and cuts control our response to this crucial scene.