Helen Hayes

For other uses, see Helen Hayes (disambiguation).

Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Born	Helen Hayes Brown (1900-10-10)October 10, 1900 Washington, D.C.
Died	March 17, 1993(1993-03-17) (aged 92) Nyack, New York
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1905-1985
Spouse(s)	John Swanson (m.1926-1928; divorced) Charles MacArthur (m.1928-1956; his death)
Awards
Academy Awards
Best Actress 1931 The Sin of Madelon Claudet Best Supporting Actress 1970 Airport
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actress 1953 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Tony Awards
Best Actress - Play 1947 Happy Birthday 1958 Time Remembered Lawrence Langner Memorial Tony Award 1980

Helen Hayes Brown (October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of eleven people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. 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 the greater Washington, D.C. area since 1984, are her namesake. In 1955 the former Fulton Theatre on 46th Street in New York City's Broadway Theater District was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. When that venue was torn down in 1982, the nearby Little Theatre was renamed in her honor.

Early life

Helen Hayes was born in Washington D.C. on October 10, 1900. Her mother, Catherine Estelle (née Hayes), or Essie, 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' Irish Catholic maternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine;

Hayes began a stage career at an early age. She said her stage debut was as a 5-year-old singer at Washington's Belasco Theatre (on Lafayette Square, across from the White House.) By the age of ten, she had made a short film called Jean and the Calico Doll, but moved to Hollywood only when her husband, playwright Charles MacArthur, signed a Hollywood deal. She attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart Convent in Washington and graduated in 1917.

Career

in the film What Every Woman Knows (1934)

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 Myrna Loy), A Farewell to Arms (with actor Gary Cooper, whom Hayes admitted to finding extremely attractive), The White Sister, What Every Woman Knows (a reprise from her Broadway hit) and Vanessa: Her Love Story. However, she never became a fan favorite and Hayes did not prefer the medium to the stage.

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

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 the death of her daughter Mary, and her husband's failing health.

In 1955 the Fulton Theatre was renamed for her. However, business interests in the 1980s wished to raze that theatre and four others to construct a large hotel that included the Marquis Theatre. To accomplish razing this theatre and three others, as well as the Hotel Astor, the business interests received Hayes' consent to raze the theatre named for her, even though she had no ownership interest in the buildings. Parts of the original Helen Hayes theatre on Broadway were used to construct The Shakespeare Center on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, which Hayes dedicated with Joseph Papp in 1982. In 1983 the Little Theater on West 45th 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.

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

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 D.C. area is named in her honor. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6220 Hollywood Blvd.

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 some others (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 the themes in these books include her return to Roman Catholicism (she had been denied communion from the Church for the length of her marriage to MacArthur, who was a Protestant and a divorcé); and the death of her only daughter, Mary, who was an aspiring actress, from polio at the age of 19. Hayes's adopted son, James MacArthur, went on to a career in acting, starring in Hawaii Five-O on television. (Hayes herself guest starred on a 1975 episode of Hawaii Five-0, playing the aunt of MacArthur's character.)

Hayes was hospitalized a number of times for her asthma condition, which was aggravated by stage dust, forcing her to retire from legitimate 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

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.

Riverside Shakespeare Company Shakespeare Center Dedication with Helen Hayes, 1982.

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 returned to the New York stage in a benefit reading for the company with a reading of A Christmas Carol with the late 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, produced by McDowell and directed by Robert Small, with Hayes narrating the performance.

Death

Hayes died on St. Patrick's Day,1993 from congestive heart failure in Nyack, New York. Lillian Gish had designated Hayes as beneficiary of her estate, but Hayes survived her by less than a month. Hayes was interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York. In 2011, she was honored with a US postage stamp.

Quotes

• "The hardest years in life are the ones that live upon life itself." (age 64)
• "If you rest, you rust." (ca. age 60)
• "From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot in front of the other. But when books are opened you discover you have wings."
• "I'm absolutely crazy about life...about the value of living and doing. I have a belief, too, that's there's another world out there and that one day I will be joining Charlie and Mary (the daughter who died at 19 from polio) and other people I love, and it consoles me to think about that."

Body of work

Stage and awards

Year	Production	Role	Notes
1905	Miss Hawke's May Ball	Irish Dancer
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Peaseblossom
1908	Babe in the Woods	Boy babe
1909	Jack the Giant Killer	Gibson Girl, Nell Brinkley, Girl impersonators
	A Royal Family	Prince Charles Ferdinand
	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
	The Never Homes	Fannie Hicks, Another Near Orphan
	The Seven Sisters	Klara, the Youngest Daughter
	Mary Jane's Pa
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
	A Royal Family	Prince Charles Ferdinand
	The Prince Chap
	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
	Romance	Suzette
	Just a Woman	Hired girl
	Mile-a-Minute Kendall	Beth
	Rich Man, Poor Man	Linda Hurst
	Alma, Where Do You Live?	Germain
	Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch	Asia
	Within the Law
	Pollyanna	Pollyanna Whittier, The Glad Girl
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
	Dancing Mothers	Catherine (Kittens) Westcourt
	Quarantine	Dinah Partlett
1925	Caesar and Cleopatra	Cleopatra
	The Last of Mrs. Cheyney	Maria
	Young Blood	Georgia Bissell
1926	What Every Woman Knows	Maggie Wylie
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
	Victoria Regina	Victoria
1934	What Every Woman Knows
1936	Victoria Regina	Victoria	Revival
1938	The Merchant of Venice	Portia
	Victoria Regina	Victoria	Revival
1939	Ladies and Gentlemen	Miss Terry Scott
1940	Twelfth Night	Viola
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	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1948	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
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
1956	Lovers, Villains and Fools	Narrator, Puck and the Chorus from Henry V
	The Glass Menagerie	The Mother
1958	Time Remembered	The Duchess of Pont-Au-Bronc	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1958	A Adventure	Lulu Specer
	Mid-Summer	Rose, the Maid
	A Touch of the Poet	Nora Melody
1960	The Cherry Orchard	Lyuboff Ranevskaya
	The Chalk Garden	Mrs. Maugham
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, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Mrs. James G. Blaine, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Rachel Jackson
1965	Helen Hayes' Tour of the Far East
1966	The Circle
	The School for Scandal	Mrs. Candour
	Right You Are If You Think You Are	Signora Frola
	We Comrades Three	Mother
	You Can't Take It With You	Olga
1967	The Show-Off	Mrs. Fisher	Tony Award's Vernon Rice-Drama Desk Award
1968	The Show-Off	Mrs. Fisher	return engagement
1969	The Front Page	Mrs. Grant
1970	Harvey	Veta Louise Simmons	Nominated - Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1971	Long Day's Journey Into Night	Mary Cavan Tyrone
1980			Tony Award's Lawrence Langner Memorial Award

Filmography and awards

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1910	Jean and the Calico Doll		though 'unconfirmed' and the film is lost, Hayes would have been nine years old when appearing in this film with canine Vitagraph star Jean
1917	The Weavers of Life	Peggy
1928	The Dancing Town		short subject
1931	Arrowsmith	Leora Arrowsmith
	The Sin of Madelon Claudet	Madelon Claudet	Academy Award for Best Actress
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
	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	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1959	Third Man on the Mountain	Tourist	Uncredited
1961	The Challenge of Ideas	Narrator	short subject
1970	Airport	Ada Quonsett	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1974	Herbie Rides Again	Mrs. Steinmetz	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing	Hettie
1977	Candleshoe	Lady St. Edmund

Television appearances and awards

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	Showtime, U.S.A.		Episode #1.1
	The Prudential Family Playhouse		The Barretts of Wimpole Street
	Pulitzer Prize Playhouse	Mary, Queen of Scots	The Late Christopher Bean
1951	Pulitzer Prize Playhouse	Mary, Queen of Scots	Mary of Scotland
	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars		Dark Fleece
	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars		The Lucky Touch
	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars		Not a Chance
	Robert Montgomery Presents	Queen Victoria	Victoria Regina
			Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress (nonspecific role)
1952	Omnibus		The Twelve Pound Look
			Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress (nonspecific role)
1953	Omnibus		The Happy Journey
	Omnibus		Mom and Leo
	Christmas with the Stars
	Medallion Theatre	Harriet Beecher Stowe	"Battle Hymn"
			Emmy Award for Best Actress (nonspecific role)
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	Mrs. Antrobus	The Skin of Our Teeth
	The Best of Broadway	Abby Brewster	Arsenic and Old Lace
1956	Omnibus		Dear Brutus
	Omnibus		The Christmas Tie
1957	The Alcoa Hour		Mrs. Gilling and the Skyscraper Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
	Playhouse 9	Sister Theresa	Four Women in Black
1958	Omnibus		Mrs. McThing
	The United States Steel Hour	Mother Seraphim	One Red Rose for Christmas Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1959	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Essie	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	Madame Ranevskaya	The Velvet Glove
	Dow Hour of Great Mysteries		The Bat
1961	Michael Shayne		Murder Round My Wrist
1963	The Christophers		What One Bootmaker Did
1967	Tarzan	Mrs. Wilson	The Pride of the Lioness
1969	Arsenic and Old Lace	Abby Brewster
1970	The Front Page	Narrator
1971	Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate	Sophie Tate Curtis	Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1972	Harvey	Veta Louise Simmons
	Here's Lucy	Mrs. Kathleen Brady	Lucy and the Little Old Lady
	Ghost Story	Miss Gilden	Alter-Ego
1973–1974	The Snoop Sisters	Ernesta Snoop	Nominated - Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series
1975	Hawaii Five-O	Aunt Clara	Retire in Sunny Hawaii - Forever Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series
1976	Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers	Dr. McCartney	miniseries
	Victory at Entebbe	Etta Grossman-Wise
1978	A Family Upside Down	Emma Long	Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1980	The Love Boat	Agatha Winslow	1 episode
1982	Love, Sidney	Mrs. Clovis	Pro and Cons
	Murder is Easy	Lavinia Fullerton
1983	A Caribbean Mystery	Miss Marple
1984	Highway to Heaven	Estelle Wicks
1985	Murder with Mirrors	Miss Marple

See also

• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards

References

• Mosel, Tad and Macy, Gertrude. Leading Lady: The World and Theatre of Katharine Cornell(1978), Little, Brown & Co, Boston, ISBN 0-316-58537-8
• Murphy, Donn B. and Moore, Stephen. Helen Hayes; A Bio-Bibliography (1993)

External links

• Helen Hayes at the Internet Movie Database
• Helen Hayes at the Internet Broadway Database
• Helen Hayes at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Official site
• Tribute site
• Helen Hayes papers, 1817-1963 (bulk dates 1905-1963), held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• American Masters (PBS)
• The Helen Hayes Awards
• Photographs of Helen Hayes
• Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts