Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was one of 15 people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (an EGOT). 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.

16/01/2019
Helen Hayes :ACTRESS

1. Profile : -

Born Helen Hayes Brown
October 10, 1900
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died March 17, 1993 (aged 92)
Nyack, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1905–1987
Spouse(s) Charles MacArthur
(m. 1928; died 1956)
Children 2, including James MacArthur

2. Introduction :-

Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was one of 15 people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (an EGOT). 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, DC, 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. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the greatest leading ladies of the 20th-century theatre.

3. Early life :-

Helen Hayes Brown 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's 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 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), but moved to Hollywood only when her husband, playwright Charles MacArthur, signed a Hollywood deal. 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.

4. 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 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.

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 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. 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.

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.

*Hayes with husband and adopted son

5. 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 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 death of her only daughter, Mary (1930–1949), an aspiring actress, of polio at the age of 19. Hayes's adopted son, James MacArthur (1937–2010), went on to a career in acting, starring in Hawaii Five-O on television. Hayes guest-starred on Hawaii Five-0 in the 1975 episode Retire in Sunny Hawaii... Forever and later, in 1980, both appeared in the episode No Girls for Doc/Marriage of Convenience/The Caller/The Witness of The Love Boat.

*Hayes with husband and adopted son

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.

6. Philanthropy :-

*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 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, and was produced by McDowell and directed by Robert Small, with Hayes narrating.

*7. Helen Hayes Hospital :-

*Helen Hayes and young patient at Helen Hayes Hospital 1945

*Helen Hayes at Helen Hayes Hospital in the 1950s.

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, NY. 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."

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 fundraising 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.

8. 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 passed away less than a month earlier. Hayes was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack. In 2011, she was honored with a US postage stamp.

9. Legacy :-

Diminutive and homespun, Helen Hayes was distinctly less glamorous than the other Great Ladies, but the qualities of modesty and practicality that she projected helped create her lasting appeal. Hayes was a stage star for five decades before retiring, when she continued to act occasionally on film, television, and radio.

10. Stage and awards : -

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

*Youth theatre

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 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
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 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (revival)
1958 A Adventure Lulu Specer
Mid-Summer Rose, the Maid Revival
A Touch of the Poet Nora Melody
1960 The Cherry Orchard Lyuboff Ranevskaya Revival
The Chalk Garden Mrs. 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 Tony Award's Vernon Rice-Drama Desk Award (revival)
1968 The Show-Off Mrs. Fisher return engagement (revival)
1969 The Front Page Mrs. Grant Revival
1970 Harvey Veta Louise Simmons Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Revival)
1971 Long Day's Journey Into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone Revival
1980 Tony Award's Lawrence Langner Memorial Award

11. Filmography and awards :-

Year Film Role Notes

1910 Jean and the Calico Doll and one subsequent Vitagraph film Juvenile lead Hayes recalled in a 1931 interview with The New York Times that she had played the juvenile lead in two films starring Jean, the Vitagraph dog
1917 The Weavers of Life Peggy
1928 The Dancing Town Olive Pepperall short subject

*1931 The Sin of Madelon Claudet Madelon Claudet Academy Award for Best Actress
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 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
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 90 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 Letitia Van Gorder The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart
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. Costarred with her son James MacArthur (who played her nephew in the episode).

1976 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

12. Other awards :-

In 1973, Hayes was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[29] 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.

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