European Film Star Postcards: Sterling Hayden

04 May 2024

Sterling Hayden

American actor Sterling Hayden (1916-1986) specialised in Westerns and Film Noirs throughout the 1950s. He is best known for his role as the deranged General Jack D. Ripper in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964). Hayden loved boating, and his passion dominated much of his life.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 52. Photo: Paramount.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D. 75. Photo: Paramount.

The Beautiful Blond Viking God

Sterling Hayden was born Sterling Reylea Walter in Upper Montclair, New Jersey in 1916. He was the son of George Walter and Frances Simonson. In 1925, when he was only nine years old, his father died. His stepfather James Hayden adopted him, and his name was changed to Sterling Walter Hayden. In his youth, he lived in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C. and Maine, among other places.

Hayden was certainly not of wealthy stock, yet he attended Wassookeag School, a preparatory school in Dexter, Maine, until he was seventeen. After that, he fled to the sea. He worked aboard ships, first as a cabin boy on a schooner, later as a fisherman on the waters around Newfoundland and even as a fireman. In 1935, he received his first command. He sailed the world several times and became a ship captain at 22.

The young captain stood out greatly for his qualities as a captain and his height (1m96), blond hair and muscular body. Hayden wanted to own his boat and decided to moonlight in the modelling world, prompting Paramount Pictures to call and offer a screen test. Hayden did a test in New York with Jeanne Cagney, James Cagney's sister. In 1940, he signed a seven-year contract with Paramount beginning at $250 a week. The studio began advertising him as 'The Most Beautiful Man in the Movies!' and 'The Beautiful Blond Viking God'.

In his first film, Virginia (Edward H. Griffith, 1941), he starred with one of Paramount's best-known actresses, Madeleine Carroll. The two fell in love and married. After a second film with Carroll, Bahama Passage (Edward H. Griffith, 1941), Hayden left Hollywood to work as an undercover agent for William J. Donovan's Office of Strategic Services - the predecessor of the CIA -, where he remained when it changed to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). When the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor during World War II, Hayden joined the Marines under the pseudonym John Hamilton to obscure his Hollywood past.

He went to Europe, where he smuggled weapons and supplies through the German line to the Yugoslav resistance and parachuted over fascist Croatia. Hayden befriended Yugoslav communists and received a Silver Star for his achievements and a commendation from Josip Broz Tito. After returning to the US, he continued acting. He was cast as one of several brothers in an aviation film, Blaze of Noon (John Farrow, 1947). The studio suspended him when he turned down a role in The Sainted Sisters. In 1946, he joined the Communist Party for six months. When McCarthyism took hold of America in 1951, Hayden admitted before the House Committee on Un-American Activities that he had ties to Communism. He also named some names. Hayden always regretted his actions, which he saw as a betrayal, and later wrote in his autobiography that he greatly despised himself around that time.

British postcard in the Celebrity Autograph Series, no. 189. Photo: Republic. Sterling Hayden in Timberjack (Joseph Kane, 1955).

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 3331. Photo: ENIC. Sterling Hayden in Battle Taxi (Herbert L. Strock, 1955).

The Wanderer

After several unsuccessful roles for Paramount, Hayden went freelance, although he did not enjoy the film world. He invested the money he earned in ship projects. During the 1950s, he starred in several Westerns and Film Noirs. Hayden had a starring role in John Huston's Noir classic The Asphalt Jungle (1950), for which he received excellent reviews. He had a support role in a big studio picture, Prince Valiant (Henry Hathway, 1954), playing Sir Gawain.

That year, he acted in Nicholas Ray's Western Johnny Guitar (1954), starring Joan Crawford. It was a box office hit and became a cult favourite. However, his career was marked by mediocre roles, periods of absence when he was sailing, and bad films. There were some exceptions, though, such as Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956). He was also offered the role of knife-throwing Britt in The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960), but he was unavailable.

Sterling Hayden was reunited with Kubrick in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964). For his role as General Jack D. Ripper, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award. However, he never lost his passion for sailing. Hayden periodically left the acting world to focus on his passion. In 1969, he bought a residential barge in the Netherlands, which he later moved to Paris and lived in. In 1972, he played the role of the corrupt cop McCluskey in the award-winning gangster film The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972), which marked his return to the big screen. He played alcoholic novelist Roger Wade in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), and elderly peasant Leo Dalcò in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976).

Hayden was cast as the sailor Quint in Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975), but he had to decline due to tax problems. With a distinctive 'rapid-fire baritone' voice and a height of 1m96, he had a commanding screen presence in leading and supporting roles. He returned to Hollywood for King of the Gypsies (Frank Pierson, 1978), Winter Kills (William Richert, 1979), The Outsider (Tony Luraschi, 1980), 9 to 5 (Colin Higgins, 1980), the Canadian comedy Gas (Les Rose, 1981), Venom (Piers Haggard, 1981) and TV Mini Series The Blue and the Gray (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1982).

Sterling Hayden also wrote two books. In 1963, his autobiography, 'Wanderer', was released, in which he wrote about his sea voyages and his regrets about cooperating with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In 1976, the novel 'Voyage' was published. In 1983, he appeared in a documentary on his life, Leuchtturm des Chaos/Lighthouse of Chaos (Manfred Blank, Wolf-Eckart Bühler, 1983). Sterling Hayden has been married to three women and was the father of six children. His first marriage was to British actress Madeleine Carroll. It lasted four years (1942-1946). His second marriage, to Betty Ann de Noon (1947-1953, 1954-1955, 1956-1958), was turbulent: they divorced and remarried twice before breaking up for good in August 1958. What followed was a nasty battle for custody of their four children, Christian, Dana, Gretchen and Matthew. Hayden made headlines in 1959 when he ignored a court ruling on custody and took his four children on his schooner The Wanderer on a trip to Tahiti. His last marriage, to Catherine Devine McConnell (1960-1986), lasted until he died. With her, Hayden had two children, Andrew and David. In 1986, Sterling Hayden died of prostate cancer. He was seventy years old.