Sterling Hayden or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sail
“Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water? Vodka. That's what they drink, isn't it? Never water… Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?…Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?… I can no longer sit back and allow… the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.”
And with those fabulous, rambling lines, the paranoid General Jack Ripper instigated a nuclear war in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
The man behind the character – actor Sterling Hayden – was in at least 70 films and television shows, including the Godfather (as police Captain McCluskey). But acting was just a way to pay the bills, according to Hayden. How else could he afford to live on a boat in Sausalito? Well, that may be understating it – Hayden’s “boat” was a 99-foot schooner. Hayden was so enamored with sailing that he once declared, “I'm no actor! I'm a sailor.”
The real-life Hayden was far more fascinating than any character he played on screen. He was a spy and operative who smuggled arms through enemy waters, as well as a decorated Marine, awarded the Silver Star (today, he’s even honored on the official CIA website). Before his first acting role, Sterling Hayden had already earned his Master Mariner license at 21, and commanded a merchant vessel at 22. Hayden sailed the Eastern Seaboard since he was a kid, and even crewed a circumnavigation voyage on a ship that later graced the cover of National Geographic.
Oh, yeah. And about that “Commie” line from Dr. Strangelove? It hit closer to home than many might assume. Sterling Hayden actually was a “card carrying Communist,” at least for a brief time during his work in Eastern Europe. That was still long enough for him to be targeted by HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee (yes, that one, of Joe McCarthy infamy). Hayden later said he regretted the choice, stating it was the “stupidest thing I ever did.” Yeah, maybe that and also the time he defied a court order and took his kids across the Pacific to Tahiti. Sterling Hayden, the man behind so many great characters, reminds us that truth is stranger than fiction.
