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"Wanderer"

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24 September 2018, 20:15
Bill/Oregon
"Wanderer"
I have to say I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, at what a masterpiece this memoir is.
It was written by the actor Sterling Hayden -- yes, Gen. Jack Ripper in Doctor Strangelove" -- and published in 1963, when he was but 47. And yet what a life he had already led!
He ran away from school at 16 to go to sea and by his early 20s was considered a master of sailing ships, having sailed to Tahiti, fished the Grand Banks cod in a dory and had many other adventures on the salt. He was discovered by Hollywood in 1940. His first film, "Virginia," introduced him to a woman he would marry -- Madeleine Carroll -- but soon after, he went to work for the OSS during World War II, and under an assumed name ferried arms to the partisans in Yugoslavia. After the war, he made nearly three dozen movies and absolutely hated acting and Hollywood. In 1959, he defied a court order in a bitter divorce case, loaded his schooner with young adventurers and his four children and escaped to Tahiti, basically telling the courts, his ex, Hollywood and his creditors to screw themselves.
Turns out Hayden was not just a good writer; he was a great one. This book will be read 100 years from now, not only for the adventure and the accurate descriptions of life under sail, but for the tremendous life wisdom earned at great cost.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
24 September 2018, 22:12
tomahawker
Sounds great, have to check it out! I just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, great insight into early 30’s Nazi Germany with the wWilliam Dodd and family. US ambassador
25 September 2018, 08:30
NormanConquest
Thanks for the turn on Bill. I was aware of his OSS activities as well as his acting career but not the rest.Sounds like a life well lived.Will check it out.


Never mistake motion for action.
25 September 2018, 19:26
Bill/Oregon
He also briefly joined the Communist party after the war, and promptly quit it -- then sent a letter to J.Edgar Hoover asking if he could do anything to be cleared. One of his motivations was seeing first-hand the torture, death and privations that Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia had endured in their long and bitter fight against the Nazis.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
25 September 2018, 21:17
nopride2
I ordered the book on my Kindle, $2.51. Can't loose at that price.

Dave
26 October 2018, 10:40
Cougarz
They did a short bio on him on Turner Classic Movies not long ago. They didn't mention everything about his divorce and what happened after but they did go through his time prior to being an actor.

He may have said he didn't like acting but he sure kept returning to it!

quote:
Ripper tells Mandrake that he believes the Soviets have been using fluoridation of the American water supplies to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of Americans. patriot



Roger
___________________________
I'm a trophy hunter - until something better comes along.

*we band of 45-70ers*
12 November 2018, 03:33
butchlambert
quote:
Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I have to say I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, at what a masterpiece this memoir is.
It was written by the actor Sterling Hayden -- yes, Gen. Jack Ripper in Doctor Strangelove" -- and published in 1963, when he was but 47. And yet what a life he had already led!
He ran away from school at 16 to go to sea and by his early 20s was considered a master of sailing ships, having sailed to Tahiti, fished the Grand Banks cod in a dory and had many other adventures on the salt. He was discovered by Hollywood in 1940. His first film, "Virginia," introduced him to a woman he would marry -- Madeleine Carroll -- but soon after, he went to work for the OSS during World War II, and under an assumed name ferried arms to the partisans in Yugoslavia. After the war, he made nearly three dozen movies and absolutely hated acting and Hollywood. In 1959, he defied a court order in a bitter divorce case, loaded his schooner with young adventurers and his four children and escaped to Tahiti, basically telling the courts, his ex, Hollywood and his creditors to screw themselves.
Turns out Hayden was not just a good writer; he was a great one. This book will be read 100 years from now, not only for the adventure and the accurate descriptions of life under sail, but for the tremendous life wisdom earned at great cost.



Ordered the Kindle version.