Matinee Classics - Sterling Hayden Biography & Filmography

Sterling Hayden ACTOR

PHOTOS

STERLING HAYDEN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Sterling Relyea Walter was born on March 26, 1916 in New Jersey. Following the death of his father, at age nine, he was adopted by James Hayden and given the new name of Sterling Walter Hayden. He grew up in various coastal towns, and at the age of sixteen, he dropped out of his school in Maine to become a schooner hand. He later served as mates on different ships, eventually becoming a highly respected captain and travelling all around the world. As well he became a firefighter and a print model to pay for a ship he wanted. However, his friends urged him to try a new practice in 1940, acting, so he met with producer Edward G. Griffith who signed him a contract with Paramount Pictures. With no previous performing experience, he starred in the major motion picture tearjerker “Virginia” (1941) with British actress Madeleine Carroll. The couple fell in love on set and married the next year.

Hayden appeared in only one other movie, “Bahama Passage” (1941), before deploying with the Marines for World War II. When he got back, he also got a divorce. However, in 1947, he acted in another film called “Blaze of Noon”. The actor was still under contract with Paramount, and finally got a boost to his career when he starred in the film noir “Manhandled” (1949). He gave other superb performances in John Wayne’s westerner “El Paso” (1949) and “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950) also starring Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, Marilyn Monroe and James Whitmore. For the rest of his career, he played parts in mostly western flicks like “Hellgate” (1952), “The Iron Sheriff” (1957), “Valerie” (1957), and “Ten Days to Tulara” (1958), as well as film noirs such as "Suddenly" (1954) also starring Frank Sinatra, Nancy Gates, Willis Bouchey and James Gleason “Crime Wave” (1954) starring with Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson and Timothy Carey, “Naked Alibi” (1954), “The Killing” (1956), and “Crime of Passion” (1957) starring with Barbara Stanwyck, Royal Dano, Raymond Burr, Virginia Grey, Stuart Whitman and Fay Wray.

In the years following, Hayden’s success started to wilt. After the release of “Terror in a Texas Town” in 1958 co-starring Sebastian Cabot, Carol Kelly, Eugene Mazolla, Nedrick Young, Victor Millan and Sheb Wooley, the actor literally sailed away from Hollywood and his acting career. By this time, his second marriage to Betty de Noon had also officially, for the third time, concluded. While he made some appearances on television, not until 1964 did Hayden re-appear on the big screen for his character of deranged General Jack D. Ripper, who sets World War III in motion in the dark comedy “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”. He had another long absence after this picture, but from 1969 to 1976 remained pretty involved in the film industry for flicks like “Loving” (1970), Francis Ford Coppola’s classic “The Godfather” (1972), “The Long Goodbye” (1973), and “1900” (1976). Again his appearances turned sporadic, but he continued periodically acting until his last feature, the horror “Venom”, in 1981.

Throughout the actor’s career, he additionally performed in over ten television series and a movie, as well as published an autobiography detailing his oceanic adventures, “Wanderer” (1963), and the fictional historical epic, “Voyage: a Novel of 1896” (1976). His final piece of acting work was the CBS war drama TV mini-series titled “The Blue and the Gray” in 1982. On May 23, 1986, Hayden passed away from prostate cancer. He was seventy years old, and was survived by his third wife, Catherine Devine McConnell, and his six children.

Filmography

1982 The Blue and the Gray

1981 Venom

1981 Gas

1980 Nine to Five

1980 The Outsider

1979 Winter Kills

1978 King of the Gypsies

1976 1900

1976 Deadly Strangers

1976 Cipolla Colt

1975 Is It Any Wonder?