Hayden, Sterling (1916-1986)

US film actor. He played leading Hollywood roles in the 1950s in such films as The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Johnny Guitar (1954). Later appearances included Dr Strangelove (1964) and powerful supporting roles in Francis Coppola's The Godfather (1972) and Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973).

Briefly a member of the Communist Party, Hayden was blacklisted in the early 1950s and named names in order to work again, a decision he always regretted. His films also include Crime Wave (1954), The Killing (1956), Crime of Passion (1957), Terror in a Texas Town (1958), Bernardo Bertolucci's Novecento/1900 (1977), and 9 to 5 (1980).

His memoirs Wanderer were published in 1966.