James Hayden was an American actor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Apart from starring on Broadway, he is 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. On his discharge, he returned to New York, attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and began working as an actor. In 1983, the year of his death, he portrayed a heroin addict in the critically acclaimed Broadway play American Buffalo, co-starring with his close friend Al Pacino. At 4:30 AM, he was speaking to his estranged wife, on the telephone, when his voice suddenly ceased. Mrs. Hayden immediately called Hayden's physician, and the physician called the 911 emergency number over to Hayden's Manhattan apartment at 69th Street and Broadway. Police discovered James Hayden slumped over the kitchen sink, telephone still in hand. On the floor of the kitchen, police had found a hypodermic needle and several glassine envelopes believed to contain heroin. He was pronounced dead at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Just six hours before his death, he had received a standing ovation for his performance. In 1984, during the making of The Pope of Greenwich Village, Mickey Rourke dedicated his performance to the memory of Hayden.

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