
Sterling Hayden
Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor and author. He 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."
84 acting credits
Acting · 84

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962

The Godfather
1972

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956

Playhouse 90
1956

Banacek
1972

Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television
1977

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
1964

The Starlost
1973

The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
2016

The Blue and the Gray
1982

1900
1976

The Long Goodbye
1973

General Electric Theater
1953

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951

The Killing
1956

Johnny Guitar
1954

Nine to Five
1980

The Asphalt Jungle
1950

King of the Gypsies
1978

Loving
1970

Cry, Onion!
1975

Suddenly
1954

Winter Kills
1979

Zero Hour!
1957

Prince Valiant
1954

Venom
1981

Gas
1981

Crime Wave
1953

Crime of Passion
1956

Variety Girl
1947

The Last Command
1955

Flaming Feather
1952

Carol for Another Christmas
1964

Naked Alibi
1954

Valerie
1957

Rat Pack
2022

Kubrick by Kubrick
2020

Hellgate
1952

Fighter Attack
1953

So Big
1953

Shotgun
1955

Manhandled
1949

El Paso
1949

The Star
1952

The Final Programme
1973

Kansas Pacific
1953

The Cinema According to Bertolucci
1976

Top Gun
1955

Terror in a Texas Town
1958

Denver and Rio Grande
1952

Old Man
1958

The Outsider
1979

Gun Battle at Monterey
1957

Hard Contract
1969

Deadly Strangers
1975

Requiem for a Heavyweight
1956

The Eternal Sea
1955

Bahama Passage
1941

The Iron Sheriff
1957

Take Me to Town
1953

Timberjack
1955

Battle Taxi
1955

5 Steps to Danger
1956

Journey Into Light
1951

Days of Wine and Roses
1958

Angel's Leap
1971

The Starlost: The Beginning
1980

Arrow In The Dust
1954

Sweet Hunters
1970

Flat Top
1952

The Golden Hawk
1952

The Come On
1956

Pharos of Chaos
1983

Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
2016

The Big Departure
1972

Virginia
1941

A Sound of Different Drummers
1957

Blaze of Noon
1947
Irving Johnson High Seas Adventurer
1985

Ten Days To Tulara
1958

Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'
2016

At Anchor / Land Under: A Film With Sterling Hayden
1982

Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other
2016

The Albatross
2016