James Hayden
Acting
Biography
James Hayden was an American actor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Apart from starring on Broadway, he is best known for playing Patrick "Patsy" Goldberg in the 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America. Hayden trained and served as a medic in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. On his discharge, he returned to New York, attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and began working as an actor. In 1983, the year of his death, he portrayed a heroin addict in the critically acclaimed Broadway play American Buffalo, co-starring with his close friend Al Pacino. At 4:30 AM, he was speaking to his estranged wife, on the telephone, when his voice suddenly ceased. Mrs. Hayden immediately called Hayden's physician, and the physician called the 911 emergency number over to Hayden's Manhattan apartment at 69th Street and Broadway. Police discovered James Hayden slumped over the kitchen sink, telephone still in hand. On the floor of the kitchen, police had found a hypodermic needle and several glassine envelopes believed to contain heroin. He was pronounced dead at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Just six hours before his death, he had received a standing ovation for his performance. In 1984, during the making of The Pope of Greenwich Village, Mickey Rourke dedicated his performance to the memory of Hayden.
Known For
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Once Upon a Time in America
When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.
Cruising
When drillers on an offshore oil rig dredge up several prehistoric eggs, one man is attacked by what appears to be an unidentified deep-sea creature protecting them. Soon, strange symptoms and behaviors become apparent among the crew and one of the creatures grows to adult-size.
The Intruder Within
A serial killer is stalking New York. Inspector Edward X. Delaney is an NYPD detective, nearing retirement, who is trying to put together the pieces of the case. Are the victims somehow linked? What does the brutal method of death signify?
The First Deadly Sin
A New York writer of gothic fiction finds her mansion full of ghosts from a brothel massacre.
The Nesting
The story of the life and times of the legendary Hollywood blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, from her meteoric rise to stardom to her marriages and untimely death.
Marilyn: The Untold Story
The dramatic account of actress Patricia Neal's miraculous recovery from a near-fatal stroke in 1966 with the help of her then-husband, author Roald Dahl, and their close friend, veteran actress Mildred Dunnock.