Helen Hayes in Broadway Plays

Award Winning Theatrical, Movie, and Television Performances

Nov 7, 2009

Helen Hayes' extraordinary professional career that included stage, radio, movie, and television work spanned eighty years.

Born in Washington, D. C. October 10, 1900, Helen Hayes Brown spent her childhood acting in the theatre at her mother’s insistence. She made her stage debut at age eight with the Columbia Players in her hometown.

Broadway Theatre Debut

In November 1909 she played Little Mime in Victor Herbert’s Old Dutch at the Herald Square Theatre. Following work in two more productions, she returned to Washington to resume school studies and acting with the Columbia Players.

Following a variety of roles in Washington and New York, Helen toured with performances of Pollyanna. It was said that in J. M. Barrie’s Dear Brutus (1918) she conveyed “a wonderful blending of dream beauty and girlish actuality”. As stated in “Variety”, “Miss Hayes’ credentials were fully established” with her work in the 1922 production of To the Ladies.

Marriage and Family to Hollywood Movies

The revival of Barrie’s What Every Woman Knows had an eight-month run in 1926. Hayes delighted critics with her perfect Scottish accent in a role that further consolidated her reputation. It was a role that she returned to throughout her long career.

During her triumphant 1928 appearance in Coquette, Helen married playwright Charles MacArthur. At the time, The Front Page, written by MacArthur and Ben Hecht, was a major hit on Broadway. Their daughter Mary who was born in 1930, contracted polio and died at age nineteen. A few years after Mary’s birth the couple adopted James who became a well-known actor with the television series Hawaii Five-0.

When Charles became a screenwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1930, the family moved to Hollywood. Helen's first starring movie role was in The Sin of Madelon Claudet, for which she won the Academy Award for best actress. During that year (1931) she starred opposite Gary Cooper in A Farewell to Arms, but preferred stage and radio work to moviemaking.

Theatre Performances as Victoria Regina

Back on Broadway, Helen starred in Victoria Regina which is usually regarded as her most triumphant role. During each 2 1/2-hour performance, the actress made the 60-year transition from young bride to elderly queen. In all, she portrayed Queen Victoria 969 times over a period of four years. She said later that she prepared for the role by thinking of her grandmother who was a devotee of the Queen.

Miss Hayes was the inaugural recipient of the Tony Award for Best Actress for her tipsy librarian portrayal in Happy Birthday (1947). In 1948 she played Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie at London’s Haymarket Theatre. An Emmy was presented to her in 1952 for The Twelve Pound Look

Helen continued working after Charles’ death in 1956. She completed her role in the movie Anastasia with Ingrid Bergman, and played Amanda in a stage production of The Glass Menagerie. She received another Tony Award for best actress in 1958 for Time Remembered.

Washington D. C. Retirement Announcement

In 1970, Hayes played James Stewart’s sister in the Broadway revival of Harvey. Her last performance on stage was as Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night (1971) in Washington, D. C. Her stage career had come full circle.

During that year she received her second Academy Award for her supporting role in Airport. She was the first recipient of the Oscar for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.

Helen Hayes published several books including “A Gift of Joy” (1965) and "My Life in Three Acts" (1990). She continued performing in television and film, and participating in charitable causes. She was a recipient of the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Presidential Medal of Honor. In 1983, the Helen Hayes Awards were established in Washington to honor achievement and promote professional theatre in Washington, D. C.

When the theatre (formerly the Fulton) that bore her name was demolished in 1983, the Little Theatre on 44th Street was renamed to honor her. Miss Hayes, described as diminutive in stature, colossal in talent, died March 17, 1993 in Nyack, New York. Many writers refer to her as The First Lady of the American Stage. Her distinguished career is said to be parallel to that of Ethel Barrymore.

Sources:

The copyright of the article Helen Hayes in Broadway Plays in Theatre History is owned by Kathleen Airdrie. Permission to republish Helen Hayes in Broadway Plays in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.