Sterling Hayden

Acting

Sterling Hayden

Born — Died

1916-03-26 — 1986-05-23

Place of birth

Upper Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

70 titles

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-p…

Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

The Godfather poster
8.7

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

The Godfather

1972

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre poster
6.2

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb poster
8.1

After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.

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

1964

Playhouse 90 poster
7.5

Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinking right-hand man to CBS chairman William S. Paley—during a brainstorming session for program ideas. The project was ultimately developed by Hubbell Robinson, a CBS vice president who received no screen credit on Playhouse 90 but is often described as its creator.

Playhouse 90

1956

Banacek poster
8.4

Banacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network from 1972 to 1974. The series was part of the rotating NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie anthology. It alternated in its time slot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season.

Banacek

1972

Film credits

2020s · 2 titles

1980s · 5 titles

Nine to Five poster
7.0

Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.

Nine to Five

1980

Venom poster
5.6

International terrorists attempt to kidnap a wealthy couple's child. Their plan comes unstuck, however, when a deadly Black Mamba, sent by mistake instead of a harmless snake, escapes and terrorizes both them and their hostages.

Venom

1981

Pharos of Chaos poster
6.7

A superb, moving and thrilling interview with American actor Sterling Hayden (1916-86), held in Besançon, France, on board a dilapidated barge, when he was 65 years old. An unparalleled portrait, in his own words and without any qualms, of a legendary Hollywood star, icon of film noir and the western, who was also a marine, an OSS agent, an anti-communist informer, a writer and a wandering sailor: the hero of his own life.

Pharos of Chaos

1983

Gas poster
3.7

Susan Anspach stars in this comedy as a news reporter who investigates a story about stolen milk causing milk and gas prices to rise. During the course of her investigation, other people become involved, culminating in a multiple car chase.

Gas

1981

The Starlost: The Beginning poster
8.0

Three farmers in Cypress Corners discover that farm life is not so simple. Discovering a hidden door in the earth, they break through it, discovering they are not on Earth, but in a giant Noah's Ark-like spaceship. The spaceship is made up of giant "domes" holding the various cultures of humanity. Eventually, they find the bridge, its crew dead and its computer complaining that the ship is off-course, heading into the path of a distant sun. The three farmers take it upon themselves to travel the ship, contacting the various cultures of humanity in search of somebody who can correct the course of the ship and save mankind.

The Starlost: The Beginning

1980

1970s · 12 titles

The Godfather poster
8.7

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

The Godfather

1972

The Long Goodbye poster
7.4

In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.

The Long Goodbye

1973

1900 poster
7.8

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.

1900

1976

Winter Kills poster
5.7

The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter.

Winter Kills

1979

King of the Gypsies poster
5.9

Zharko, leader of the Romanis in NYC, passes his position of leadership on to his unwilling grandson, Dave, leading to infighting between Dave and his father.

King of the Gypsies

1978

Cry, Onion! poster
5.3

Onion Jack has bought a piece of land on which to settle, but the property is still in possession of the orphans of the original owner and is coveted by the local oil baron.

Cry, Onion!

1975

The Final Programme poster
5.4

Returning from Lapland, where he buried his father, a renowned scientist, Jerry Cornelius, comes back to London with the firm intention of taking revenge on his brother Frank and snatching his beloved sister Catherine from his clutches. Since the recent gigantic global conflagration, things have changed considerably. If he wanted to, Jerry could easily get hold of napalm to blow up Frank's hideout. But he prefers to join forces with the disturbing Mrs Brunner, who, with the help of three scientists – Smiles, Lucas and Powys – is trying to recover a mysterious microfilm left to Frank by his father...

The Final Programme

1973

Angel's Leap poster
5.8

In this French crime thriller, you can leave the mob, but the mob won't leave you. Louis (Jean Yanne) has retired to a Thailand plantation with an Asian wife and child. Back in Marseilles, however, because a no-holds-barred gang war has broken out, Louis' large collateral family is wiped out, and he is family are slated for destruction.

Angel's Leap

1971

The Cinema According to Bertolucci poster
7.0

Documentary on the filming of Novecento by Bernardo Bertolucci

The Cinema According to Bertolucci

1976

The Outsider poster
5.8

Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson), an American Vietnam veteran of Irish descent, returns to Belfast to join the cause of his grandfather, Seamus (Sterling Hayden). Soon he finds that he is not as welcomed in his home country as he imagined he would be. Even worse, he's the target of an IRA assassination plot designed to make the British forces look bad in order to elicit financial support from wealthy Americans.

The Outsider

1979

Sweet Hunters poster
6.3

An ornithologist goes on a field trip to a deserted island near the mainland with his wife and small son, and is joined by the wife's sister, who is getting over an abortion; later, an escaped convict is discovered. A situation which may seem naturalistic enough, but the form never is: incidents are isolated, cross-relations are oblique, emotions are unexplained.

Sweet Hunters

1970

Loving poster
6.0

Brooks Wilson is in crisis. He is torn between his wife Selma and two daughters and his mistress Grace, and also between his career as a successful illustrator and his feeling that he might still produce something worthwhile.

Loving

1970

1950s · 32 titles

The Asphalt Jungle poster
7.5

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

The Asphalt Jungle

1950

Prince Valiant poster
6.1

A young Viking prince strives to become a knight in King Arthur's Court and restore his exiled father to his rightful throne.

Prince Valiant

1954

The Killing poster
7.6

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

The Killing

1956

Johnny Guitar poster
7.4

On the outskirts of town, the hard-nosed Vienna owns a saloon frequented by the undesirables of the region, including Dancin' Kid and his gang. Another patron of Vienna's establishment is Johnny Guitar, a former gunslinger and her lover. When a heist is pulled in town that results in a man's death, Emma Small, Vienna's rival, rallies the townsfolk to take revenge on Vienna's saloon – even without proof of her wrongdoing.

Johnny Guitar

1954

Flaming Feather poster
6.2

A mysterious outlaw known as the Sidewinder, phantom leader of renegade Ute Indians, terrorizes the people of the Arizona Territory in the 1870s. When rancher Tex McCloud has his place burned out, he vows to find and kill the Sidewinder.

Flaming Feather

1952

Suddenly poster
6.4

The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow Ellen Benson, a pacifist who can't abide guns and those who use them. But violence descends on Ellen's household willy-nilly when the U.S. President passes through town... and slightly psycho hired assassin John Baron finds the Benson home ideal for an ambush.

Suddenly

1954

5 Steps to Danger poster
6.6

Can a couple keep important secrets from Communist spies?

5 Steps to Danger

1956

Naked Alibi poster
6.1

Questioned as a murder suspect, solid (but drunk) citizen Al Willis attacks his police questioners, is beaten, and swears vengeance against them. Next night, Lieut. Parks is murdered; Willis is the only suspect in the eyes of tough Chief Conroy, who pursues him doggedly despite lack of evidence. The obsessed Conroy is dismissed from the force, but continues to harass Willis, who flees to a sleazy town on the Mexican border. Of course, Conroy follows. But which is crazy, Conroy or Willis?

Naked Alibi

1954

Crime Wave poster
7.1

Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. The other two former cellmates then attempt to force him into doing a bank job.

Crime Wave

1953

Arrow In The Dust poster
6.2

A cavalry deserter poses as a major and leads a wagon train with a hidden cargo of repeating rifles.

Arrow In The Dust

1954

The Last Command poster
6.7

During the Texas War of Independence of 1836 American frontiersman and pioneer Jim Bowie pleads for caution with the rebellious Texicans. They don't heed his advice since he's a Mexican citizen, married to the daughter of the Mexican vice-governor of the province and a friend to General Santa Anna since the days they had fought together for Mexico's independence. After serving as president for 22 years, Santa Anna has become too powerful and arrogant. He rules Mexico with an iron fist and he would not allow Texas to self-govern. Bowie sides with the Texans in their bid for independence and urges a cautious strategy, given Santa Anna's power and cunning. Despite the disagreement between the Texicans and Bowie regarding the right strategy they ask Bowie to lead them in a last-ditch stand, at Alamo, against General Santa Anna's numerically superior forces.

The Last Command

1955

Crime of Passion poster
6.1

Kathy leaves the newspaper business to marry homicide detective Bill, but is frustrated by his lack of ambition and the banality of life in the suburbs. Her drive to advance Bill's career soon takes her down a dangerous path.

Crime of Passion

1956

Zero Hour! poster
6.6

In 1950s Canada, during a commercial flight, the pilots and some passengers suffer food poisoning, thus forcing an ex-WW2 fighter pilot to try to land the airliner in heavy fog.

Zero Hour!

1957

Hellgate poster
6.7

A man is framed and sent to the toughest prison in the territory.

Hellgate

1952

Shotgun poster
5.6

Clay Hardin, a Deputy U.S. Marshal, is about to turn in his badge and take the job as the territory's Indian commissioner until the notorious Ben Thompson slays the marshal when he tried to make an arrest. Clay turns his back on a white-collar job and his girl to pursue the gang. Picking up a bounty hunter and a beautiful half-breed woman along the way, the little band follows the trail into Apache land where the lawman discovers that the outlaws plan to sell repeating rifles to the Indians.

Shotgun

1955

The Golden Hawk poster
5.3

A 17th-century French pirate sides with an English noblewoman who's posing as a pirate.

The Golden Hawk

1952

Requiem for a Heavyweight poster
8.0

An over-the-hill heavyweight boxing champion who suffers from the ravages of years of head trauma is exploited by his manager, despite the efforts of a compassionate young woman who tries to help him recover his self-respect.

Requiem for a Heavyweight

1956

So Big poster
5.5

A girl of wealth comes to a Dutch community outside Chicago as a schoolteacher, and while there falls in love with a poor but big-hearted farmer.

So Big

1953

Kansas Pacific poster
5.0

Just before the Civil War (but after the South has seceded), Southern saboteurs try to prevent railroad construction from crossing Kansas to the frontier; army captain Nelson is sent out to oppose them. As the tracks push westward, Nelson must contend with increasingly violent sabotage, while trying to romance the foreman's pretty daughter Barbara.

Kansas Pacific

1953

Terror in a Texas Town poster
6.7

Armed with a harpoon, a Swedish whaler is out for revenge after the death of his father. A greedy oil man trying to buy up the Swede's land might be the guilty party.

Terror in a Texas Town

1958

Denver and Rio Grande poster
5.6

Jim Vesser and his team of railroading men try to build a rail line through a mountain pass, while a group of less scrupulous construction workers sabotages the entire operation in the hopes that they can get their tracks laid first and get the money from the railroad.

Denver and Rio Grande

1952

The Eternal Sea poster
6.6

Biography of Admiral John Hoskins' efforts to retain active command despite WW2 injury.

The Eternal Sea

1955

Flat Top poster
4.6

A rock hard commander trains Navy Carrier Pilots during the Second World War

Flat Top

1952

Days of Wine and Roses poster
7.2

An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.

Days of Wine and Roses

1958

Top Gun poster
6.6

A gunslinger returns to his hometown to warn of an impending outlaw gang attack, but he's met with hatred and fear for his previous killings.

Top Gun

1955

Take Me to Town poster
6.5

Saloon entertainer Vermilion O'Toole and her former partner in crime Newt Cole escape from a train ride to prison and hide out in logging town Timberline. Meanwhile, the three sons of widower Will Hall come to town in search of a wife for their dad. Vermilion needs to lay low to escape the marshal, so she accepts the boys' offer to visit pioneer community Pine Grove. Once there, she annoys local Mrs. Grundys but eventually starts to fit in.

Take Me to Town

1953

Gun Battle at Monterey poster
5.2

An outlaw saved by a Mexican girl hunts the holdup partner who shot him in the back.

Gun Battle at Monterey

1957

Valerie poster
4.6

After the American Civil War, former Union Major John Garth marries pretty settler Valerie but tragedy strikes and the two spouses end up in court where they give two different conflicting accounts of their marriage.

Valerie

1957

Battle Taxi poster
5.6

In the Korean war, the commander of an Air Rescue helicopter team must show a hot-shot former jet pilot how important helicopter rescue work is and turn him into a team player.

Battle Taxi

1955

The Iron Sheriff poster
6.6

Frontier peacekeeper Sheriff Galt faces a crisis of conscience in The Iron Sheriff. In the aftermath of a robbery-murder, Galt follows the trail of evidence directly to his own son, Benjie. Sworn to uphold the law at all costs, Galt is grimly determined to see that Benjie will receive a fair trial without any coercion on his part. But the townsfolk have already decided that the sheriff will try to spring the boy, and a lynch-mob mentality slows festers its way through the community. As the trial proceeds, it becomes obvious that Benjie is going to hang for his alleged crime, but there's still one or two surprises in store.

The Iron Sheriff

1957

Journey Into Light poster
6.5

John Burrows, an ordained minister from a small village in the East, envisions himself with a larger congregation. He is mortified when his wife drunkenly interrupts a sermon, then despondent after her suicide. Burrows travels to Los Angeles for a fresh start, but takes to the bottle himself and ends up arrested for public intoxication. A skid-row con man, Gandy, finds him a bed at a flop house, while a street preacher, Doc Thorssen, and daughter Christine take him to a local mission. Christine is blind. She falls in love with Burrows, enjoying his discussions of the spirit and the soul but knowing little of his past. One day she is struck by a streetcar and knocked unconscious, causing Burrows to once again question his faith. He ultimately accepts the Lord's will and is offered a better place to live and preach. Burrows decides he is better suited to the mission, with Christine by his side.

Journey Into Light

1951

Timberjack poster
4.2

A young man seeks his father's killers among lumberjacks, and discovers that they are actually timber barons who also seek to control lumber mills. Based on the novel of the same name.

Timberjack

1955

1940s · 3 titles

Series credits

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre poster
6.2

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

Playhouse 90 poster
7.5

Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinking right-hand man to CBS chairman William S. Paley—during a brainstorming session for program ideas. The project was ultimately developed by Hubbell Robinson, a CBS vice president who received no screen credit on Playhouse 90 but is often described as its creator.

Playhouse 90

1956

Banacek poster
8.4

Banacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network from 1972 to 1974. The series was part of the rotating NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie anthology. It alternated in its time slot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season.

Banacek

1972

Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television poster
8.6

A seven-hour chronological edit of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, expanded with over an hour of restored scenes to trace the Corleone family’s rise from Vito’s youth in Sicily to Michael’s reign in 1950s America.

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

1977

The Starlost poster
7.5

A huge generational colony spacecraft called The Ark has gone off-course. Many of the descendants from the original crew and colonists are unaware that they are aboard a ship.

The Starlost

1973

The Blue and the Gray poster
6.8

The Blue and the Gray is a television miniseries that first aired on CBS in three installments on November 14, November 16, and November 17, 1982. Set during the American Civil War, the series starred John Hammond, Stacy Keach, Lloyd Bridges, and Gregory Peck as President Abraham Lincoln. It was executive produced by Larry White and Lou Reda, in association with Columbia Pictures Television, then owned by The Coca-Cola Company.

The Blue and the Gray

1982

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars poster
7.2

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

1951

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars poster
7.2

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

1951

General Electric Theater poster
6.8

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.

General Electric Theater

1953