Helen Hayes

She married John Swanson in 1926 and divorced him in 1928.

She married Charlie MacArthur, a divorcee, in 1928.

She had a daughter, Mary from this marriage and later adopted a son, James.

Helen Hayes was born Helen Hayes Brown in Washington on October 10, 1900. She was the only child of a poultry and pork salesman, Francis Van Arnum Brown and actress, Catherine Estelle Hayes.

She acted for the first time in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the ‘Holy Cross Academy’, a school in Washington, when she was just a toddler.

She also sang in the galas organized by her dancing school called ‘Miss Minnie Hawke’s School of Dance’.

She attended a prestigious primary school run by the ‘Dominican Academy’ from 1910 to 1912.

She enrolled at the ‘Sacred Heart Academy’ in Washington when she was eight-year-old and graduated from it in 1917. During this period Lew Fields signed up Helen for the principal role in Victor Herbert’s ‘Old Dutch’ staged at the ‘Herald Square Theater’.

Helen Hayes had her first star billing with ‘Bab’ which opened in New York in 1920 in which she gave an impression that she was the ‘tallest five-foot woman in the world’.

She also acted in the plays ‘We Moderns’ in 1923 and ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ in 1925.

She proved her acting talent in the 1926 revival of James M. Barrie’s comedy ‘What Every Woman Knows’.

Her first great success came in 1927 with the play ‘Coquette’ where she played the role of a Southern girl from an upper class family who kills herself at finding herself pregnant.

In 1930 she acted in ‘Mr. Gilhooey’, which was a flop; ‘Petticoat Influence’ and ‘The Good Fairy’ which were both moderately successful.

Helen Hayes published her autobiography in 1990 and wrote the memoirs ‘A Gift of Joy’, ‘On Reflection’ and ‘My Life in Three Acts’.