Career
Apart from starring on Broadway and in various movies, he is perhaps 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. Upon his discharge he returned to New York and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began working as an actor.
James died of a heroin overdose during the production.
In 1984, during the making of The Pope of Greenwich Village, Mickey Rourke dedicated his performance to the memory of James Hayden.
