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Arthur Hayden Biography & Facts

Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, model and Marine. 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. Hayden often professed a distaste for acting and used his earnings to finance his numerous voyages as a sailor. He was also a decorated Marine Corps officer and an Office of Strategic Services' agent during World War II. 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. 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. After selection to and graduation from Marine Corps OCS, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserve and shortly was transferred for duty 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). 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. Return to Hollywood He returned to the US and told the press "I feel a real obligation to make this a better country – and I believe the movies are the place to do it." Hayden returned to Paramount and was cast as one of several brothers in an aviation film, Blaze of Noon (1947). The studio suspended him when he turned down a role in The Sainted Sisters. Hayden made two films for Pine Thomas Productions who distributed through Paramount: a western, El Paso (1949), supporting John Payne; and Manhandled (1949), a thriller with Dorothy Lamour. Communist Party membership Hayden's admiration for the Communist partisans he had fought alongside during World War II led him into a brief membership in the Communist Party in 1946. He was apparently active in supporting an effort by the Communist-controlled motion picture painters union to absorb other film industry unions. As the Red Scare deepened in the US, he testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his brief Communist Party membership and "named names". He later said "the FBI made it very clear to me that, if I became an 'unfriendly witness', I could damn well forget the custody of my children. I didn't want to go to jail, that was the other thing." Hayden testified that joining the Party was "the stupidest and most ignorant thing I have ever done in my life". He added that he had quit the party but been persuaded to return by Karen Morley. His wife at that time was Betty de Noon (m. 1947). Hayden expressed remorse, however, over his testimony before, 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." Film career Hayden played a minister who doubts his faith in Journey into Light (1951), then supported Bette Davis in The Star (1952). He followed it with a series of action films: Denver and Rio Grande (1952), a Western, for Paramount; Hellgate (1952), another Western; The Golden Hawk (1952), a pirate swashbuckler for producer Sam Katzman; Flat Top (1952), a Korean War drama; Fighter Attack (1953), a World War II film. In 1952, while divorcing his second wife, the court heard Hayden made $100,000 the previous year. Hayden then starred in So Big (1953), a melodrama from an Edna Ferber novel starring Jane Wyman, then it was back to medium budget action films: Take Me to Town (1953), a Western with Ann Sheridan; Kansas Pacific (1953), a West.... Discover the Arthur Hayden popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Arthur Hayden books.