Veteran TV, stage director Jeffrey Hayden dies at 90

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jeffrey Hayden, who directed early live TV plays with stars including James Dean and who worked with wife Eva Marie Saint on screen and stage, has died. He was 90.

Hayden died at home Dec. 24 after a year of cancer treatment, publicist Jeff Sanderson said Tuesday.

Hayden directed early network TV color specials "Lady in the Dark" and "The Chocolate Soldier" as well as "Philco Television Playhouse" live dramas with stars including Walter Matthau, Paul Newman and Dean.

His extensive series credits included "The Andy Griffith Show," ''Leave it to Beaver," ''77 Sunset Strip," ''Cagney and Lacey," ''Magnum, P.I" and the serial "Santa Barbara."

Hayden produced and directed 1991's "Primary Colors: The Story of Corita," about a former nun who became an artist, and directed 1996's "Children in America's Schools with Bill Moyers."

In the theater, Hayden directed Saint in plays including "Summer and Smoke," ''Desire Under the Elms" and "The Country Girl." His other stage credits included "The Sunshine Boys," ''Fences" and, in 2015, "Sunset Baby" at a local theater.

Hayden and Saint, who married in 1951, also performed together in "Love Letters" and "On the Divide" in theaters nationwide. She is the Oscar-winning star of 1954's "On the Waterfront."

Hayden, a New York native and graduate of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was active in civil rights movements of the 1950s and '60s, according to his biography.

Besides Saint, Hayden is survived by their children, Laurette and Darrell, and four grandchildren.