Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 â€" March 17,
1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She
eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and
was one of 16 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.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 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.
1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She
eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and
was one of 16 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.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 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.
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