Background
Hayward was born in Wolverhampton, England, and died in Dunedin while promoting his last film. He was the son of Rudall and Adelina Hayward, who came to New Zealand in 1905.
Hayward was born in Wolverhampton, England, and died in Dunedin while promoting his last film. He was the son of Rudall and Adelina Hayward, who came to New Zealand in 1905.
Rudall (junior) was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School from 1916 to 1917 and the Waihi School of Mines.
He worked in Australia c1920 under Raymond Longford (who in 1915-1916 was filming in New Zealand), on some of Longford"s films: The Sentimental Bloke, On Our Selection, and Rudd’s New Selection. He was prosecuted by the Auckland City Council in the Police Court and fined £1 on each of two charges for putting up posters for The Bloke from Freeman’s Bay in unauthorised places contrary to city by-laws, in October 1921. His first feature was My Lady of the Cave (1922), then Rewi’s Last Stand (1925), The Te Kooti Trail (1927), and The Bush Cinderella (1928).
In 1928-1930 he made 23 two-reel "community comedies" with local settings and actors at various towns, and titles like: Tilly of Te Aroha, Hamilton’s Hectic Husbands, A Daughter of Dunedin, Winifred of Wanganui, Natalie of Napier, and Patsy of Palmerston.
Lee Hill worked with Haywood on these, then went into competition with him. His first sound film was On the Friendly Road (1936) with Colin Scrimgeour, and he remade Rewi’s Last Stand with sound (1939).
After World World War II he worked in England, then made his most successful film The Amazing Dolphin of Opononi about Opo the dolphin. He made educational films in New Zealand and overseas, then his final film To Love a Maori (1972), which was shot on 16 mm.
In the 1973 Queen"s Birthday Honours, Hayward was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to the community.