Sterling Hayden

[HARDCORE]

10-15-2023

Sterling Hayden was a memorable actor and a war hero (about my father’s age at the time, both born in 1916), He was a gent that I had the privilege to personally meet many years ago on a coastal-road trip in California!

I was just a kid (relatively speaking), at that time, and one of my parents spotted him driving northward up along “The California-Coast”, at a time when (I believe), he was having some family problems! He was piloting a VW Bug Convertible at the time and after I shouted out (from our car’s window) a brief greeting to him, he was gracious enough to give us a smile and a nod of his head, from behind the wheel of his vehicle!

Now, I had long forgotten this ‘ever so brief’ encounter with ‘Hayden’ until just today when I once again saw his name and likeness referenced on line. But I did remember his passing courtesy of many years ago, and it brought to mind that (even in the midst of his own family difficulties), this man, a well known actor and a war hero, still had the courtesy to acknowledge a mere kid’s passing greeting!

I have met (or known” a great many people in my life, some noteworthy and some bums and abject phonies, but this brief (passing) encounter with ‘Sterling Hayden’ brought back to mind, that time (many years ago now) when a real (highly acclaimed and decorated actor and “World War Two Combat Hero” took the time to acknowledge a mere kid as he passed him by on one of the many roads of life!

In short, there was just something refreshing and delightful about briefly meeting a person of such renown and a real man who took the time to politely acknowledge a mere kid in such a polite and refreshing fashion. A man who was but a matter of months older that my own father!

Now I don’t know for sure, but maybe there is a quiet dignity and sense of real value and courtesy that imbibed the persona of many of our American patriots past, as Sterling Hayden could have just as easily scowled back at us in disdain, but took the time to smile back and nod a pleasant greeting, and one that I will forever remember! “Hayden’ was a real man - courteous, brave and genuine! He was also a gent to be remembered and reckoned with!

“In short (and once again)”, maybe ‘those years that fell between the Seventeenth thru the Twenty-First Century were truly banner years in the production of “Real Americans!!”

Hardcore