Helen Hayes Trivia

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As of 2008, she is only one of 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).

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.

Although she played Ingrid Bergman`s grandmother in Anastasia (1956), she was less than fifteen years older than her.

First actress to win an Oscar for playing a prostitute in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), her first talkie

Shares the distinction with actors José Ferrer, `Fredric March (I)` and Ingrid Bergman of being the first winners of acting Tony Awards when the annual event was established in 1947

Was a supporter of the Republican Party, attending all the conventions up until her death.

Is one of only a few actors to win an Oscar for a supporting role after winning an Oscar for a leading role.

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."

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.

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.

The lights of Broadway were dimmed for one minute at 8:00 p.m. on the day she died.

She was regarded as the "First Lady of the American Theatre."

She had a career than spanned over 80 years beginning as a child actress at age 5.

Charter member of the National Women`s Hall of Fame in 1973.

Mother of stage actress Mary MacArthur who died in 1949 at the age of nineteen

Interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York, USA.

Adoptive mother of actor James MacArthur.

Pre-eminent US stage actress.

Received the Women`s International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1985.

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.