
Sterling Hayden
Born: 1916-03-26
Place of Birth: Upper Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Biography
Sterling Walter Hayden, born Sterling Relyea Walter, was an American actor and author. He didn't really harbor any aspirations of being an actor, dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and hired on as mate on a schooner. He was a ship's captain at 22, and in need of cash to buy his own boat, established himself as a model in New York, discovered by Paramount Studios talent scouts and offered a contract. Sterling Hayden, the handsome tall blond actor who played wholesome leading-man movie roles in the 1940's and 1950's and later weathered into a rough-hewn solid character actor in films such as ''Dr. Strangelove'', ''The Godfather,'' "Nine to Five" and "King of the Gypsies". He appeared in 71 feature films and tv-productions from the debut in "Virginia" 1941 to the tv mini-series "The Blue and the Gray" in 1982. He wrote of his obsessive fascination with the sea in a 1963 autobiography, ''Wanderer,'' and in 1970 his 700-page epic novel of the sea, ''Voyage,'' was a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Sterling Hayden appeared in the German documentary, ''Pharos of Chaos,'' (1983) filmed aboard his barge in Europe, and seemed to be in an alcoholic stupor much of the time, supplementing his wine intake with hashish. On camera he said: ''What confuses me is I ain't all that unhappy. So why do I drink, I don't know.''
Known For

The Godfather

Winter Kills

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Nine to Five

Old Man

El Paso

Crime Wave

Suddenly

Hard Contract

Flaming Feather

Venom

Rat Pack

The Outsider

Shotgun

Valerie

Top Gun

Timberjack

Sweet Hunters

Cry, Onion!

The Long Goodbye

Flat Top

Hellgate

Loving

So Big

Naked Alibi

The Killing

1900

The Eternal Sea

The Asphalt Jungle

Gas

Kubrick by Kubrick

The Iron Sheriff

Johnny Guitar

King of the Gypsies

The Big Departure

At Anchor / Land Under: A Film With Sterling Hayden

Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'

Days of Wine and Roses

Requiem for a Heavyweight

The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959

Blaze of Noon

The Last Command

The Come On

Zero Hour!

Crime of Passion

Gun Battle at Monterey

Ten Days To Tulara

Prince Valiant

Arrow In The Dust

The Starlost: The Beginning

The Golden Hawk

The Star

Carol for Another Christmas

Variety Girl

Take Me to Town

Terror in a Texas Town

Kansas Pacific

Denver and Rio Grande

Pharos of Chaos

Manhandled

The Final Programme

Deadly Strangers

The Cinema According to Bertolucci

Battle Taxi

The Albatross

5 Steps to Danger

Journey Into Light

Angel's Leap

Fighter Attack

Virginia

Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other

Bahama Passage

Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
