Known as "The First lady of the American Theater", Helen Hayes had a legendary career on stage and in films and television that spanned over eighty years. A child actress in the first decade of the 20th century, by the time she turned twenty in 1920 she was well on her way to a landmark career on the American stage, becoming perhaps the greatest female star of the theatre during the 1930's and 1940's. She made a handful of scattered films during the silent era and in 1931 was signed to MGM with great fanfare to begin a career starring in films. Her first three films, 'Arrowsmith', 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet', and 'A Farewell to Arms (1932)' were great hits and she would win the 1932 Oscar for Best Actress for her work in Madelon Claudet. Alas, her lack of screen glamour worked against her becoming a box office star during the golden era of Hollywood and her subsequent films were often not well received by critics. Within four years she had abandoned the screen and returned to the stage for the greatest success of her career, "Victoria Regina" which ran for three years starring in 1935. Helen Hayes returned to motion pictures with a few featured roles in 1950's films and frequently appeared on television. In 1970, she made a screen comeback in 'Airport' (1970), a role originally offered to Claudette Colbert who declined it, earning Hayes her a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actress. Helen Hayes retired from the stage in 1971 but enjoyed enormous fame and popularity over the next fifteen years with many roles in motion pictures and television productions, retiring in 1985 after starring in the tv film 'Murder With Mirrors'.

Lived for many years in an historic house in Nyack, New York called "Pretty Penny." Located at 235 North Broadway, she regularly offered tours of her well maintained gardens to the local garden clubs. The house was purchased by television personality and actress Rosie O'Donnell , a few years after her death, from her surviving son, actor James MacArthur .Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1985.Pre-eminent US stage actress.Adoptive mother of actor James MacArthur .Interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York, USA.Mother of stage actress Mary MacArthur who died in 1949 at the age of nineteenCharter member of the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.She had a career than spanned over 80 years beginning as a child actress at age 5.She was regarded as the "First Lady of the American Theatre."The lights of Broadway were dimmed for one minute at 8:00 p.m. on the day she died.She made frequent trips to hospitals because of asthma attacks aggravated by backstage dust. When asthma ended her theatrical career, Hayes wrote books and raised funds for organizations that fight asthma.In 1958, she became the second performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscars: Best Actress, The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Best Supporting Actress, Airport (1970), Tony: Best Actress-Play, "Time Remembered" (1958), and Emmy: Best Actress of 1953.Won three Tony Awards, two Best Actress (Dramatic) awards -- one in 1947 for "Happy Birthday," an award that was shared with Ingrid Bergman for "Joan of Lorraine," another in 1958, for "Time Remembered" -- and a third, Special Tony Award in 1980, namely: The Lawrence Langer Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre. She was also nominated as Best Actress (Dramatic) in 1970 for a revival of "Harvey."Is one of only a few actors to win an Oscar for a supporting role after winning an Oscar for a leading role.Was a supporter of the Republican Party, attending all the conventions up until her death.Shares the distinction with actors José Ferrer , 'Fredric March' and Ingrid Bergman of being the first winners of acting Tony Awards when the annual event was established in 1947.First actress to win an Oscar for playing a prostitute in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), her first talkieShe was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1988 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.Although she played Ingrid Bergman 's grandmother in Anastasia (1956), she was less than fifteen years older than she.The Helen Hayes Awards are given out annually to worthy theatrical productions in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia area, her birthplace and where she gained her first acting experience.As of 2008, she is one of only six actors who have a 2-0 winning record when nominated for an acting Oscar. The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937); Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Sally Field for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984); 'Kevin Spacey' for The Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999); and Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6258 Hollywood Boulevard and for Radio at 6549 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.Two Broadway theaters were named after Helen Hayes. The first, at 210 W. 46th Street, was named after Hayes, in 1955. After it was demolished, in 1982, another Broadway theater, at 240 W. 44th Street, was renamed, The Helen Hayes.Her likeness appears on a nondenominated USA commemorative postage stamp issued in her honor on 25 April 2011. Price on day of issue was 44¢.Is one of twelve actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Ingrid Bergman , Shirley Booth , Liza Minnelli , Rita Moreno , Maureen Stapleton , Jessica Tandy , Audrey Hepburn , Anne Bancroft , Vanessa Redgrave , Maggie Smith and Ellen Burstyn .