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."

Filmography

• 2016The Albatross — Glass Man (voice) (archive footage)
• 1992The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 — Captain Mark McCluskey
• 1984The Shipwrecker — Book
• The Blue and the Gray — John Brown
• 1981Gas — Duke Stuyvesant
• 1981Venom — Howard Anderson
• 1980Nine to Five — Russell Tinsworthy
• 1980The Starlost: The Beginning — Jeremiah
• 1979The Outsider — Seamus Flaherty
• 1979Winter Kills — Z.K. Dawson
• 1978King of the Gypsies — King Zharko Stepanowicz
• Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television — Capt. Mark McCluskey
• 19761900 — Leo Dalcò
• 1975Cry, Onion! — Henry 'Jack' Pullitzer
• 1975Deadly Strangers — Malcolm Robarts
• 1973The Final Programme — Maj. Wrongway Lindbergh
• 1973The Long Goodbye — Roger Wade
• The Starlost — Old Jeremiah
• Banacek — Tony Fowler
• 1972The Big Departure — M. Nature / The Leader
• 1972The Godfather — Captain McCluskey
• 1971Angel's Leap — Mason / Custer
• 1970Loving — Lepridon
• 1970Sweet Hunters — Allan
• 1969Hard Contract — Michael Carlson
• 1964Carol for Another Christmas — Daniel Grudge
• 1964Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb — Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper
• 1958Old Man — Tall Convict
• 1958Ten Days To Tulara — Scotty
• 1958Terror in a Texas Town — George Hansen
• 1957A Sound of Different Drummers — Gordon Miller
• 1957Gun Battle at Monterey — Jay Turner / John York
• 1957The Iron Sheriff — Sheriff Samuel Galt
• 1957Valerie — John Garth
• 1957Zero Hour! — Captain Martin Treleaven
• 19565 Steps to Danger — John Emmett
• 1956Crime of Passion — Lt. William Doyle
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Link Stevens
• Playhouse 90
• 1956The Come On — Dave Arnold
• 1956The Killing — Johnny Clay
• 1955Battle Taxi — Capt. Russ Edwards
• 1955Shotgun — Clay Hardin
• 1955The Eternal Sea — Rear-Adm. John Madison Hoskins
• 1955The Last Command — Jim Bowie
• 1955Timberjack — Tim Chipman
• 1955Top Gun — Rick Martin
• 1954Arrow In The Dust — Bart Laish
• 1954Johnny Guitar — Johnny 'Guitar' Logan
• 1954Naked Alibi — Joe E. Conroy
• 1954Prince Valiant — Sir Gawain
• 1954Suddenly — Sheriff Tod Shaw
• 1953Crime Wave — Det. Lt. Sims
• 1953Fighter Attack — Steve
• General Electric Theater — Joe Turner
• 1953Kansas Pacific — Capt. John Nelson
• 1953So Big — Pervis De Jong
• 1953Take Me to Town — Will Hall
• 1952Denver and Rio Grande — McCabe
• 1952Flaming Feather — Tex McCloud
• 1952Flat Top — Commander Dan Collier
• 1952Hellgate — Lt. Tod Voorhees
• 1952The Golden Hawk — Kit 'The Hawk' Gerardo
• 1952The Star — Jim Johannsen aka Barry Lester
• 1951Journey Into Light — Rev, John Burrows
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Maj. Jim Curtis
• 1950The Asphalt Jungle — Dix Handley
• 1949El Paso — Bert Donner
• 1949Manhandled — Joe Cooper
• 1947Blaze of Noon — Tad McDonald
• 1947Variety Girl — Sterling Hayden
• 1941Bahama Passage — Adrian Ainsworth
• 1941Virginia — Norman Williams

Appearances as themselves (12)

• 2022Rat Pack — Self (archive footage)
• 2020Kubrick by Kubrick — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western? — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar' — Self (archive footage)
• 1985Irving Johnson High Seas Adventurer — Himself
• 1983Pharos of Chaos — Self - Actor
• 1982At Anchor / Land Under: A Film With Sterling Hayden — Himself
• 1976The Cinema According to Bertolucci — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• 1958Days of Wine and Roses — Self (introduction)
• 1956Requiem for a Heavyweight — Self (intro/outro)