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Helen Hayes
Promotional photograph of Helen Hayes.jpg
Promotional photo, 1940
Born
Helen Hayes Brown

(1900-10-10)October 10, 1900
Died March 17, 1993(1993-03-17) (aged 92)
Occupation Actress
Years active 1905–1987
Spouse(s)
Charles MacArthur
(m. 1928; died 1956)
Children 2, including James MacArthur

Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned nearly 90 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (an EGOT). She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting; to date, the only other people to have accomplished both are Rita Moreno and Viola Davis. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

The annual Helen Hayes Awards, which have recognized excellence in professional theatre in greater Washington, D.C., since 1984, are her namesake. In 1955, the former Fulton Theatre on 46th Street in New York City's Theatre District was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. When that venue was torn down in 1982, the nearby Little Theatre was renamed in her honor. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the greatest leading ladies of the 20th-century theatre.

Early life

Helen Hayes Brown was born in Washington, D.C., on October 10, 1900. Her mother, Catherine Estelle "Essie" (née Hayes), was an aspiring actress who worked in touring companies. Her father, Francis van Arnum Brown, worked at a number of jobs, including as a clerk at the Washington Patent Office and as a manager and salesman for a wholesale butcher. Hayes's Catholic maternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine. Hayes attended Dominican Academy's prestigious primary school, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, from 1910 to 1912, appearing there in The Old Dutch, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and other performances. She attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart Convent in Washington and graduated in 1917.

Career

Helen Hayes 1927
Hayes in 1927

Hayes began a stage career at an early age. She said her stage debut was as a five-year-old singer at Washington's Belasco Theatre, on Lafayette Square, across from the White House. By age ten, she had made a short film, Jean and the Calico Doll (1910).

Her sound film debut was The Sin of Madelon Claudet, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She followed that with starring roles in Arrowsmith (with Ronald Colman); A Farewell to Arms (with Gary Cooper); The White Sister (opposite Clark Gable); Another Language (opposite Robert Montgomery); What Every Woman Knows (a reprise of her Broadway hit); and Vanessa: Her Love Story also with Robert Montgomery. But Hayes did not prefer film to the stage.

Hayes eventually returned to Broadway in 1935, where for three years she played the title role in Gilbert Miller's production of Victoria Regina, with Vincent Price as Prince Albert, first at the Broadhurst Theatre and later at the Martin Beck Theatre.

What Every Woman Knows 1934
Hayes in the film What Every Woman Knows (1934)

In 1951, she was involved in the Broadway revival of J.M. Barrie's play Mary Rose at the ANTA Playhouse. In 1953, she was the first-ever recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre, repeating as the winner in 1969. She returned to Hollywood in the 1950s, and her film star began to rise. She starred in My Son John (1952) and Anastasia (1956), and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as an elderly stowaway in the disaster film Airport (1970). She followed that up with several roles in Disney films such as Herbie Rides Again, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing and Candleshoe. Her performance in Anastasia was considered a comeback—she had suspended her career for several years due to her daughter Mary's death and her husband's failing health.

In 1955, the Fulton Theatre was renamed for her. In the 1980s, business interests wished to raze that theatre and four others to construct a large hotel that included the Marquis Theatre. Hayes's consent to raze the theatre named for her was sought and given, though she had no ownership interest in the building. Parts of the original Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway were used to construct the Shakespeare Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which Hayes dedicated with Joseph Papp in 1982. In 1983 the Little Theater on West 44th Street was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre in her honor, as was a theatre in Nyack, which has since been renamed the Riverspace-Arts Center. In early 2014, the site was refurbished and styled by interior designer Dawn Hershko and reopened as the Playhouse Market, a quaint restaurant and gourmet deli.

Hayes, who spoke with her good friend Anita Loos almost daily on the phone, told her, "I used to think New York was the most enthralling place in the world. I'll bet it still is and if I were free next summer, I would prove it." With that, she convinced Loos to embark on an exploration of all five boroughs of New York. They visited and explored the city; Bellevue Hospital at night, a tugboat hauling garbage out to sea, parties, libraries, and Puerto Rican markets. They spoke to everyday people to see how they lived their lives and what made the city tick. The result of this collaborative effort was the book Twice Over Lightly, published in 1972.

It is unclear when or by whom Hayes was called the "First Lady of the Theatre". Her friend, actress Katharine Cornell, also held that title, and each thought the other deserved it. One critic said Cornell played every queen as though she were a woman, whereas Hayes played every woman as though she were a queen.

Hayes was also recognized with additional awards during her career. In January 1968, Philadelphia Art Alliance president Raymond S. Green presented her with the alliance's Award of Merit "in recognition of outstanding creative work of high artistic merit." She had been chosen unanimously by the alliance's drama committee and board of directors, according to alliance executive director James Kirk Merrick who noted, "This award isn't given every year.... It is only presented when we feel someone is deserving. I don't think there can be any question as to how we arrived at choosing Miss Hayes."

In 1982, with friend Lady Bird Johnson, she founded the National Wildflower Research Center, now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, in Austin, Texas. The center protects and preserves North America's native plants and natural landscapes.

The Helen Hayes Award for theater in the Washington, DC, area is named in her honor. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6220 Hollywood Blvd. Hayes is also in the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Hayes was a Catholic and a pro-business Republican who attended many Republican National Conventions (including the one held in New Orleans in 1988), but she was not as politically vocal as several other Republicans (e.g., Adolphe Menjou, Ginger Rogers, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, etc.) in the Hollywood community of that time.

Hayes wrote three memoirs: A Gift of Joy, On Reflection, and My Life in Three Acts. Some of these books' themes include her return to Roman Catholicism (she had been denied communion from the Church for the duration of her marriage to Charles MacArthur, who was a divorced Protestant); and the polio-related death of her 19-year-old daughter, Mary (1930–1949), an aspiring actress. Hayes's adopted son, James MacArthur (1937–2010), had a successful career in acting, including as co-star to Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-O. He married actresses Joyce Bulifant, Melody Patterson, and Helen Beth "H.B." Duntz. Hayes guest-starred on Hawaii Five-O in the 1975 episode "Retire in Sunny Hawaii... Forever". She and her son appeared in The Love Boat episode "No Girls for Doc/Marriage of Convenience/The Caller/The Witness".

Hayes was hospitalized a number of times for asthma, which was aggravated by stage dust, forcing her to retire from theater in 1971, at age 71.

Her last Broadway show was a 1970 revival of Harvey, in which she co-starred with James Stewart. Clive Barnes wrote, "She epitomizes flustered charm almost as if it were a style of acting ... She is one of those actors ... where to watch how she is doing something is almost as pleasurable as what she is doing." She spent most of her last years writing and raising money for organizations that fight asthma.

Philanthropy

SHAKESPEARE CENTER DEDICATION HELEN HAYES 4 small
Riverside Shakespeare Company Shakespeare Center Dedication with Helen Hayes, 1982

Hayes was a generous donor of time and money to a number of causes and organizations, including the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City. Along with Mildred Natwick, she became a founding member of the company's Board of Advisors in 1981. She was also on the board of directors for the Greater New York Council of the Girl Scouts of the USA during the early 1970s.

In 1982, Hayes dedicated Riverside's The Shakespeare Center with New York theatre producer, Joseph Papp, and in 1985 she returned to the New York stage in a benefit for the company with a reading of A Christmas Carol with Raul Julia, Len Cariou, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Carole Shelley, Celeste Holm and Harold Scott, directed by W. Stuart McDowell. The next year Hayes performed a second benefit for the Riverside Shakespeare Company, this time at the Marquis Theatre, the construction of which had been made possible by the demolition of the Helen Hayes Theatre three years before. The production featured Rex Smith, Ossie Davis and F. Murray Abraham, and was produced by McDowell and directed by Robert Small, with Hayes narrating.

Helen Hayes Hospital

Helen Hayes and young patient at Helen Hayes Hospital 1945
Hayes and a young patient at Helen Hayes Hospital 1945

According to her daughter-in-law, HB MacArthur, Hayes took the most pride in her philanthropic work with Helen Hayes Hospital, a physical rehabilitation hospital located in West Haverstraw, New York. She was extremely proud of the strides the hospital made toward the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, saying: "I've seen my name in lights on theater marquees and in letters 20 feet tall on Broadway billboards, but nothing has ever given me greater sense of pride and satisfaction than my 49-year association with this unique hospital."

Helen Hayes MacArthur on the grounds of Helen Hayes Hospital in the 1950s
Hayes at Helen Hayes Hospital in the 1950s

Hayes became involved with the hospital in the 1940s and was named to the Board of Visitors in 1944. In 1974, the hospital was renamed in her honor. She served on the Helen Hayes Hospital Board of Visitors for 49 years, until her death in 1993. In that time, she advocated tirelessly for the hospital and successfully led a fight to prevent its relocation to Albany in the 1960s. In the 1970s, she was instrumental in lobbying for funding to transform the hospital into a state-of-the-art facility.

Hayes also contributed her enthusiastic support to hospital events and fund-raising efforts, including handing out diplomas to the children upon graduation when the hospital was still a pediatric care facility. She also faithfully attended the hospital's annual Classic Race, leading it in a classic car, handing out awards to runners, hand cyclists, and wheelchair racers, and offering the use of her home, Pretty Penny, for a dinner to launch the hospital's endowment fund.

Death

Hayes died on March 17, 1993, of congestive heart failure in Nyack, New York. Hayes's friend Lillian Gish, the "First Lady of American Cinema", was the designated beneficiary of her estate, but Gish had died less than a month earlier. Hayes was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack and was survived by her son, James Gordon MacArthur, and four grandchildren: Charles P. MacArthur, Mary McClure, Juliette Rappaport, and James D. MacArthur. In 2011, she was honored with a US postage stamp.

Acting credits

Theatre

Year Production Role Notes
1905 Miss Hawke's May Ball Irish Dancer
A Midsummer Night's Dream Peaseblossom Revival
1908 Babe in the Woods Boy babe
1909 Jack the Giant Killer Gibson Girl, Nell Brinkley, Girl impersonators
A Royal Family Prince Charles Ferdinand Revival
Children's Dancing Kermess Impersonation of "The Nell Brinkley Girl"
The Prince Chap Claudia, Age 5
A Poor Relation Patch
1910 Old Dutch Little Mime
The Summer Widowers Pacyche Finnegan, Pinkie's playmate
1911 The Barrier Molly, an Alaskan Child
Little Lord Fauntleroy Cedric Errol Revival
The Never Homes Fannie Hicks, Another Near Orphan
The Seven Sisters Klara, the Youngest Daughter Revival
Mary Jane's Pa Revival
1912 The June Bride The Holder's Child
1913 Flood Victim's Benefit
The Girl with Green Eyes Susie, the Flower Girl
His House in Order Derek Jesson, his son Revival
A Royal Family Prince Charles Ferdinand Revival
The Prince Chap Revival
The Prince and the Pauper Tom Canty and Edward, Prince of Wales
1914 The Prodigal Husband Young Simone
1916 The Dummy Beryl Meredith, the Kidnapper's Hostage
On Trial His Daughter, Doris Strickland
1917 It Pays to Advertise Marie, Maid at the Martins Revival
Romance Suzette
Just a Woman Hired girl Revival
Mile-a-Minute Kendall Beth
Rich Man, Poor Man Linda Hurst Revival
Alma, Where Do You Live? Germain Revival
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Asia Revival
Within the Law Revival
Pollyanna Pollyanna Whittier, The Glad Girl Revival
1918 Penrod
Dear Brutus Margaret, his daughter
1919 On the Hiring Line Dorothy Fessenden, his daughter
Clarence Cora Wheeler
The Golden Age
1920 Bab Bab
1921 The Wren Seeby Olds
The Golden Days Mary Ann
1922 To the Ladies Elsie Beebe
No Siree!: An Anonymous Entertainment by the
Vicious Circus of the Hotel Algonquin
1923 Loney Lee Loney Lee
1924 We Moderns Mary Sundale, their Daughter
The Dragon
She Stoops to Conquer Constance Neville Revival
Dancing Mothers Catherine (Kittens) Westcourt
Quarantine Dinah Partlett
1925 Caesar and Cleopatra Cleopatra Revival
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney Maria
Young Blood Georgia Bissell
1926 What Every Woman Knows Maggie Wylie Revival
1927 Coquette Norma Besant
1928 Coquette Norma Besant London version
1930 Mr. Gilhooley A girl
Petticoat Influence Peggy Chalfont
1931 The Good Fairy Lu
1933 Mary of Scotland Mary Stuart
1935 Caesar and Cleopatra Cleopatra Revival
Victoria Regina Victoria
1934 What Every Woman Knows Revival
1936 Victoria Regina Victoria Revival
1938 The Merchant of Venice Portia Revival
Victoria Regina Victoria Revival
1939 Ladies and Gentlemen Miss Terry Scott
1940 Twelfth Night Viola Revival
1941 Candle in the Wind Madeline Guest
1943 Harriet Harriet Beecher Stowe
1944 Harriet Harriet Beecher Stowe Revival
1947 Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire Mrs. Alice Grey
Happy Birthday Addie
1948 The Glass Menagerie Amanda Wingfield Revival
1949 Good Housekeeping
1950 The Wisteria Trees Lucy Andree Ransdell
1952 Mrs. McThing Mrs. Howard V. Larue III
1955 Gentleman, The Queens Catherine, Lady Macbeth, Mary and Queen Victoria
The Skin of Our Teeth Mrs. Antrobus Revival
1956 Lovers, Villains and Fools Narrator, Puck, and the Chorus from Henry V
The Glass Menagerie Amanda Wingfield Revival
1958 Time Remembered The Duchess of Pont-Au-Bronc revival
1958 An Adventure Lulu Spencer
Mid-Summer Rose, the Maid Revival
A Touch of the Poet Nora Melody
1960 The Cherry Orchard Lyuboff Ranevskaya Revival
The Chalk Garden Mrs. St. Maugham Revival
1962 Shakespeare Revisited: A Program for Two Players
1964 Good Morning Miss Dove Miss Lucerna Dove
The White House Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Edith Wilson, Julia Grant
Leonora Clayton, Mary Todd Lincoln, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison,
Mrs. Franklin Pierce, Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston,
Mrs. James G. Blaine, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Rachel Jackson
1965 Helen Hayes' Tour of the Far East
1966 The Circle Revival
The School for Scandal Mrs. Candour Revival
Right You Are If You Think You Are Signora Frola Revival
We Comrades Three Mother
You Can't Take It with You Olga Revival
1967 The Show-Off Mrs. Fisher
1968 The Show-Off Mrs. Fisher return engagement (revival)
1969 The Front Page Mrs. Grant Revival
1970 Harvey Veta Louise Simmons (Revival)
1971 Long Day's Journey Into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone Revival
1980

Film

Year Film Role Notes
1910 Jean and the Calico Doll and one subsequent Vitagraph film Juvenile lead
1917 The Weavers of Life Peggy
1928 The Dancing Town Olive Pepperall Short subject
1931 The Sin of Madelon Claudet Madelon Claudet
Arrowsmith Leora Arrowsmith
1932 A Farewell to Arms Catherine Barkley
The Son-Daughter Lian Wha 'Star Blossom'
1933 The White Sister Angela Chiaromonte
Another Language Stella 'Stell' Hallam
Night Flight Madame Fabian
1934 Crime Without Passion Extra in hotel lobby Uncredited
This Side of Heaven Actress on screen in theatre Uncredited
What Every Woman Knows Maggie Wylie
1935 Vanessa: Her Love Story Vanessa Paris
1938 Hollywood Goes to Town Herself, uncredited Short subject
1943 Stage Door Canteen Herself
1952 My Son John Lucille Jefferson
1953 Main Street to Broadway Herself
1956 Anastasia Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna
1959 Third Man on the Mountain Tourist Uncredited
1961 The Challenge of Ideas Narrator Short subject
1970 Airport Ada Quonsett
1974 Herbie Rides Again Mrs. Steinmetz
1975 One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing Hettie
1977 Candleshoe Lady Gwendolyn St. Edmund
1987 Divine Mercy: No Escape Narrator Final film role

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1950
Prudential Family Playhouse Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Pulitzer Prize Playhouse Gwenny Bean The Late Christopher Bean
1951 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots Mary of Scotland
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Honora Canderay Dark Fleece
The Lucky Touch
Not a Chance
Robert Montgomery Presents Queen Victoria Victoria Regina
1952 Omnibus The Twelve Pound Look
1953 Mrs. Kirby The Happy Journey
Mom Mom and Leo
Medallion Theatre Harriet Beecher Stowe "Battle Hymn"
1954 The United States Steel Hour Mrs. Austin Welcome Home
The Best of Broadway Fanny Cavendish The Royal Family
The Motorola Television Hour Frances Parry Side by Side
1955 Producers' Showcase Margaret Antrobus The Skin of Our Teeth
The Best of Broadway Abby Brewster Arsenic and Old Lace
1956 Omnibus Mrs. Dearth Dear Brutus
Bessie Arlington Episode: "The Christmas Tie"
1957 The Alcoa Hour Mrs. Gilling Episode: "Mrs. Gilling and the Skyscraper"
Playhouse 90 Sister Theresa Four Women in Black
1958 Omnibus Mrs. Howard V. Larue III Episode: "Mrs. McThing"
The United States Steel Hour Mother Seraphim Episode: "One Red Rose for Christmas"
1959 Hallmark Hall of Fame Essie Miller Ah, Wilderness!
Play of the Week Madame Ranevskaya The Cherry Orchard
1960 The Bell Telephone Hour Baroness Nadedja von Meck The Music of Romance
Play of the Week Mother Hildebrand The Velvet Glove
Dow Hour of Great Mysteries Letitia Van Gorder The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood
1963 The Christophers What One Bootmaker Did
1967 Tarzan Mrs. Wilson The Pride of the Lioness
1969 Arsenic and Old Lace Abby Brewster TV movie
1970 The Front Page Narrator (voice) TV movie
1971 Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate Sophie Tate Curtis TV movie
1972 Harvey Veta Louise Simmons TV movie
Here's Lucy Mrs. Kathleen Brady Episode: "Lucy and the Little Old Lady"
Ghost Story Miss Gilden Episode: "Alter-Ego"
1973–1974 The Snoop Sisters Ernesta Snoop TV series (5 episodes)
1975 Hawaii Five-O Clara Williams Episode: "Retire in Sunny Hawaii... Forever"
1976 The Moneychangers Dr. McCartney TV miniseries
Victory at Entebbe Etta Grossman-Wise TV movie
1978 A Family Upside Down Emma Long TV movie
1980 The Love Boat Agatha Winslow Episode: No Girls for Doc/Marriage of Convenience/The Caller/The Witness"
1982 Love, Sidney Mrs. Clovis Episode: "Pro and Cons"
Murder Is Easy Lavinia Fullerton TV movie
1983 A Caribbean Mystery Miss Jane Marple TV movie
1984 Highway to Heaven Estelle Wicks Episode: Highway to Heaven: Part 1 & 2"
1985 Murder with Mirrors Miss Jane Marple TV movie

Awards and honors

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1931 Academy Awards Best Actress The Sin of Madelon Claudet Won
1970 Best Supporting Actress Airport Won
1956 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Anastasia Nominated
1974 Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Herbie Rides Again Nominated
1977 Grammy Awards Best Spoken Word Album Great American Documents Won
1980 Orson Welles & Helen Hayes at Their Best Nominated
1951 Primetime Emmy Awards Best Actress Nominated
1952 Nominated
1953 Won
1958 Best Single Performance by an Actress The Alcoa Hour Nominated
1959 The United States Steel Hour Nominated
1972 Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate Nominated
1974 Best Actress in a Limited Series The Snoop Sisters Nominated
1976 Outstanding Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series Hawaii Five-O Nominated
1978 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special A Family Upside Down Nominated
1947 Tony Awards Best Actress in a Play Happy Birthday Won
1958 Time Remembered Won
1970 Harvey Nominated
1980 Lawrence Langer Award Received

In 1972, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. The following year, in 1973, Hayes was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Hayes's name and picture. In 1983, Hayes received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. In 1979, she received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Helen Hayes para niños

  • List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
  • List of actors with Academy Award nominations
  • List of people from Morelos, Mexico
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