Sterling Hayden - 1916-1986

Happy birthday to actor and author Sterling Hayden who would've turned 92 today. I've long admired Hayden's presence in gritty, '50s-era film noirs such as Crime Wave and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing but he's probably best known for his role as "General Jack D. Ripper" in Kubrick's 1964 satire Dr. Strangelove as well as his cameo in The Godfather.

Hayden was a complex man who claimed to hate acting, preferring to live his life at sea. The New Jersey native first ran away from home at the age of 17, joining a fishing crew in Newfoundland before landing his own command two years later. Spotted by a casting director, Hayden headed to Hollywood in the late '30s and made his film debut in 1941's Virginia but abandoned the glitter to become an undercover agent for the OSS in World War II. A brief fling with communism led him to name names to HUAC in the '50s, an act that haunted him for the rest of his life. Hayden returned to Hollywood appearing in such cult classics as Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford and director John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle before walking away a second time in 1959 -- defying the courts orders by sailing to Tahiti with his four children during divorce proceedings. The voyage was documented in his 1963 autobiography, Wanderer, which I actually just started reading this week.

A lifetime of drinking and drifting eventually caught up with the actor, who made no bones about the mercenary nature of his work on the big screen. He passed away from prostate cancer in 1986 at the age of 70.

Sleep Lab

Last night I participated in a sleep study set up by my doctor. I had heard complaints from friends about my snoring so I mentioned it during my last check-up. Within one week I made an appointment to spend the night in a facility off of I-35 and W. Mockingbird here in Dallas. I was a little nervous to be honest. Holly Tamale and I spent the evening walking around Fair Park (it was absolutely gorgeous weather, too good to stay inside) and made veggie tacos. But the whole time my mind was pre-occupied, not only with the sleep study, but the eviction notice posted on my door the previous day! More on that later.

I arrived at the lab around 9 pm. The Mockingbird Towers sit right off the highway, a rather non-descript set of buildings that most people in Dallas have passed countless times without giving much thought. The cleaning crew let me in and I made my way to the security desk to inquire where suite 200 W was. I was greeted by my tech, Jessica, a very sweet young woman. I asked what was expected of me and she told me to relax while she attended another participant. It took about an hour before she saw me again. By this time I had changed into my pajamas, filled out the forms and watched a frightening video of a fat man attending a sleep study before being told by his doctor that he would have to wear a breathing mask to bed FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. Dear God, no. The small room I was occupying resembled a low rent Hilton, although there was no sink or bathroom in the room. The bed was a firm mattress and the room temperature was set to freezing. Brrrr.

Jessica informed me that she was going to attach the various wires to my head, torso and legs with a putty-like adhesive. The goop was smeared into the back of my head. She told me hot water would remove it. After hooking me up, I immediately had to go to the rest room. That involved her unhooking me and me shuffling through the hallway trailing a mess of wires. "Don't get it wet," is all she said.

I read a bit before turning off the lights. I could clearly hear people in the next room talking. I laid in bed starring up at the blinking lights in the ceiling. There was a video camera above the bed, monitoring my every move. Horrifying. I think I got about two hours of sleep the whole night. I repeated woke up, the thin wires grafted onto my skin, pulling and tugging. On my back, on each side...nothing. I could not get comfortable. I had to go to the restroom one other time and pushed the call button to get Jessica to come in and unhook me.

I woke up around 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. Jessica came in one final time about 15 minutes later and told me I was free to go. After pulling all the wires off me (ouch), I filled out a questionnaire, put on my pants and walked out the building into the still dark morning. Driving home, I thought to myself, "I still have time to make it back and squeeze in a couple hours of sleep."