Biografia

Had four children with Betty Ann de Noon. The couple married and divorced three times and went through a nasty custody battle.

Was first choice of producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown to play the role of Quint in Lo squalo (1975), but Hayden's tax problems with the US government--he lived outside the country and if he entered the US he would have been arrested--precluded his taking the role.

He was the original choice to play the knife thrower Britt in I magnifici sette (1960). The part went to James Coburn when Hayden proved unavailable.

Dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and became a sailor, earning his master's license by the age of 21.

He has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Giungla d'asfalto (1950), Johnny Guitar (1954), Il dottor Stranamore - Ovvero: come ho imparato a non preoccuparmi e ad amare la bomba (1964), Il padrino (1972) and Il lungo addio (1973).

Incredible, really--how I got away with it; parlaying nine years at sea into two decades of posturing.

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.

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.

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.

[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.