Sterling Hayden, Accidental Actor
“I could jump into some jackass Western for three weeks and then be free for three months to do what I wanted.”
This month I've been swooning over Sterling Hayden and his good looks and thought I might dedicate a post to him so I have the opportunity to fill it with hunky photos. (I promised my sister I would limit the bare-chested photos, haha.) Apart from his looks I like his performances as well, mostly.
Sterling Hayden (26 March 1916 – 23 May 1986) is best known for his roles in The Killing, The Asphalt Jungle, Johnny Guitar and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb but behind the actor there's a fascinating man with a real life story that could match any fictious film role he played.
Hayden never thought of becoming an actor. He had another great passion: the sea. A high school drop-out at sixteen he took a job on a schooner and made his first sea voyage at the age of seventeen. But being a full-time sailor didn't pay well so he needed a job that did. The story goes that his crew mates suggested he'd become a movie star because of his good looks. One of them had connections and arranged an audition for him with Paramount executive Edward H. Griffith. Another story says Hayden was discovered by a Hollywood scout after his photo was taken during a boat race in 1938 and he appeared on the cover of a nautical magazine. In any case, he got the second male lead in his first film, Virginia (1941), directed by E.H. Griffith, starring Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray. He was pitched as The Most Beautiful Man in the Movies and The Beautiful Blond Viking God, standing 6-foot-5 inch tall (196 cm). Acting talent seemed to be of less concern.
“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.”
His handsome face, sandy blond hair, build and height, made him leading man material almost immediately, specialising in westerns and film noirs. Though he was never considered a great actor (he did get praise for his more famous films) he always commanded the screen with his presence and not only because of his height. His whole physique and deep voice demanded people to take notice. A lot of times I find his acting to be wooden and stiff, mostly in his line delivery, but I've also seen him in a couple of films where he gives a solid performance.
Hayden was known for his wandering life style, and like I said he was a passionate sea lover. As a sailor he was a natural and eager to learn all the tricks of the trade. He worked aboard various schooners (his first job at sea was on the schooner Puritan, on a trip from New London, Connecticut, to San Pedro, California; he was signed on as ship’s boy at $10 a month). He made his first round-the-world voyage on the schooner Yankee as first mate and also partipated in schooner races. At the age of 22 he had many nautical experiences to his name and was given command of his first ship. When he was discovered by Hollywood he saw a means to an end. His love for the sea made him accept film roles which enabled him to pay for his seafaring adventures.
Hayden's IMDB page shows 72 acting credits from 1941 to 1982, his first role being in the film Virginia (billed as Stirling Hayden) and the last being in the 1982 TV mini-series The Blue and the Gray. His most prolific decade was the 1950s (The Asphalt Jungle, Johnny Guitar and The Killing) and he starred in a lot of unmemorable films playing unmemorable characters. He was best suited for film noir because of his brooding manner. Throughout his career he never made a secret of his disdain for Hollywood.
Sterling Hayden led an extraordinary and unusual life and really lived it to the fullest. He considered himself a seaman first and a writer second. (I would love to read his autobiography Wanderer someday.) Being an actor didn't even come into the equation. He died of prostate cancer at the age of 70.
Here are some more facts about Sterling:
*FAMILY LIFE: He was married 5 times to three wives and had 6 children. His first wife was actress Madeleine Carroll whom he met while filming Virginia (1941). They fell in love (he was ten years younger than Carroll) and married in 1942. Most of the war years they spent time apart and eventually divorced in 1946. He married his second wife Betty Ann de Noon in 1947. They were actually married and divorced 3 times: 1947 – 1953, 1954 – 1955 and 1956 – 1958. They had four children who were at the center of a nasty custody battle. In the end Hayden was awarded custody and took all four of them on a 10-month sea cruise to Tahiti, hereby defying a court order. He got sentenced with five days in jail and had to pay a fine of $500. Both penalties were later suspended. He married a third time, with Catherine Devine McConnell, who stayed with him until his death (they were married from 1960 till 1986). With her he had two more children.
*WWII: After two films in Hollywood Hayden enlisted in the army to fight in WWII. He was sent to Schotland for training but was discharged because of a broken ankle. In the United States he served in the Marines as a private, under the name John Hamilton, before working for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services). He was awarded a Silver Star for his great courage while serving in the Balkans and the Mediterranean.
*HUAC: Hayden became a member of the Communist Party (apparently recruited by actress Karen Morley) after he returned to Hollywood from the war, in 1946. It was likely a result from fighting alongside Yugoslavian communist guerilla fighters and his admiration for them. At the time of the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) hearings Hayden tried to hide his communist ties at first and even joined the Hollywood delegation that stood up against HUAC. But then he voluntarily testified as a friendly witness during the hearings and confessed his former communist ties. He also named names. Later he 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." Regretting his betrayal, he wrote 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. ... It's the one thing in my life that I'm categorically ashamed of."
*DRUGS: Hayden had been a longtime heavy drinker and in the 1960s he discovered marijuana and hashish. He replaced his drinking with marijuana as a means of escape and survival and to maintain his inner peace. Smoking pot played an important part in his life and he spoke freely about it. "The main thing right now is to bring the booze under control," Hayden said in 1980 to a Toronto Sun reporter. "Grass is all I do now. Grass and hash. Grass came into me and said take it easy. That’s why I love it so much." Hayden was arrested at Toronto International Airport, eight months after the Toronto Sun interview. Custom officials found more than an ounce of hashish in his luggage. He was released after posting bail of $200 and the drug possession charges were later dismissed.
*AUTHOR: He wrote two books which received international acclaim: an autobiography Wanderer (1962) and a novel Voyage (1976). Apparently they made him a lot of money but much of it was lost in taxes.
*CONNECTION WITH MY NATIVE COUNTRY THE NETHERLANDS (!!!): In 1969 Hayden bought a 100-foot canal barge in The Netherlands and moved it to the heart of Paris. He lived half of the year with his wife Catherine and children in Connecticut, while living the other half on the Dutch barge called Who Knows. The acclaimed documentary about the actor's life, Pharos of Chaos (1982), with Hayden's last appearance on screen, shows his life aboard the barge. Seeming to be in an alcohol stupor much of the time, Hayden commented on camera: "What confuses me is I ain't all that unhappy. So why do I drink, I don't know."
HAYDEN QUOTES (source: IMDB) :
[on his films] "Bastards, most of them, conceived in contempt of life and spewn out onto screens across the world with noxious ballyhoo; saying nothing, contemptuous of the truth, sullen and lecherous."
[on why he hated acting] "Because, in the final analysis, an actor is only a pawn — brilliant sometimes, rare and talented, capable of bringing pleasure and even inspiration to others, but no less a pawn for that."
[after shooting Johnny Guitar] "There is not enough money in Hollywood to lure me into making another picture with Joan Crawford. And I like money."
"I started at the top and worked my way down."
"I have yet to invest the first dime because I don't believe in unearned income. The question is inevitable: "If you don't believe in taking what you don't earn, then how could you be reconciled to the astronomical figures [you make]?" I never was. Furthermore, I couldn't stand the work."
"There's nothing wrong with being an actor, if that's what a man wants. But there's everything wrong with achieving an exalted status simply because one photographs well and is able to handle dialogue."
"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about."
“When you took me, who did you REALLY want for the picture?”
[to producers at the end of each picture]
Up till now I've seen the following Hayden films, 18 in total, here listed in watching order, and I hope to see even more of his films this month.
*The Killing (February 2016 and rewatched on the big screen in October 2018)
*Johnny Guitar (July 2016 and rewatched on the big screen in February 2021)
*Take Me To Town (August 2016)
*Crime of Passion (March 2017)
*Zero Hour! (July 2017)
*The Asphalt Jungle (February 2018)
*Five Steps to Danger (February 2018)
*Crime Wave (November 2018)
*Naked Alibi (November 2020)
*Suddenly (November 2020)
*Top Gun (December 2020)
*The Star (February 2021)
*The Eternal Sea (February 2021)
*Flaming Feather (February 2021)
*Terror in a Texas Town (February 2021)
*Kansas Pacific (February 2021)
*Journey Into Light (February 2021)
*So Big (February 2021)
“I don't think there are many other businesses where you can be paid good money and not know what you're doing.”
My favourite Hayden films are The Killing, Johnny Guitar, Terror in a Texas Town and The Asphalt Jungle. I also like Naked Alibi, Five Steps to Danger (wouldn't mind seeing this again), Crime Wave, The Star and The Eternal Sea. I can't remember much of Crime of Passion and Zero Hour! (these two need a rewatch) but I remember enjoying the silly but fun comedy western Take Me To Town. I'll try and watch Dr. Strangelove before the month is over and you can read all my notes on Hayden films watched this February with the next round-up!
(Below are the film posters of my watched Hayden films, arranged by release date, earliest first.)
I want to end this post with some more Hayden quotes because I like his look on life and the man had a way with words:
“In the worship of security we fling ourselves beneath the wheels of routine — and before we know it our lives are gone.”
“Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”
“What does a man need — really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in, and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all — in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, and preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.”
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*The Asphalt Jungle (1950) with Sterling Hayden;
*Sterling Hayden; (3 photos)
*Young Sterling aboard a ship; (2 photos)
*Sterling Hayden out boating with Brenda Marshall and William Holden, 1941;
*Sterling and his first wife Madeleine Carroll;
*Sterling with his second wife Betty Ann de Noon and daughter Gretchen Bell in happier times, November 1950;
*Sterling and his third wife Catherine Devine McConnell at San Francisco airport, March 1960; (screenshot taken by me from this clip) *)
*Sterling Hayden and his children aboard Hayden's yacht Wanderer, November 1959;
*Sterling Hayden giving testimony before HUAC in April 1951;
*Cover of Hayden's autobiography Wanderer;
*The Asphalt Jungle (1950) with Sterling Hayden; (2 photos)
*Take Me To Town (1953) with Sterling Hayden and Ann Sheridan;
*Zero Hour! (1957) with Sterling Hayden and Charles Quinlivan;
*The Killing (1956) with Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray; (gif by me)
*Johnny Guitar (1954) with Sterling Hayden and Joan Crawford; (gif by me)
*The Asphalt Jungle (1950) with Sterling Hayden and Jean Hagen. (gif by me)
*) See more clips available to watch on the website of Bay Area Television Archive: Sterling Hayden Marries Catherine Devine McConnell and Sterling Hayden Testifies before HUAC (1951).