High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Sterling Hayden (March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). He also played the Irish policeman, Captain McCluskey, in Francis Ford Coppola`s The Godfather in 1972, and the novelist Roger Wade in 1973`s The Long Goodbye. At six feet five inches (196 cm), he was taller than most actors.