Remembering Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes (October 10, 1900) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 80 years. She was one of 12 people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. 

Birth Name: Helen Hayes Brown

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Dark Blue

Height: 5'

Nickname: "The First lady of the American Theater"

Quote: "If you rest, you rust."

Hayes began a stage career at an early age. 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 actor Gary Cooper), The White Sister (opposite Clark Gable), What Every Woman Knows, and Vanessa: Her Love Story. However, Hayes did not prefer that medium to the stage.

Hayes eventually returned to Broadway in 1935, returning to Hollywood in the 1950s. 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. 

Hayes died on St. Patrick's Day, 1993, from congestive heart failure. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the Greatest Leading Ladies of the 20th century theatre and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986.