Helen Hayes (1900-1993) was an American actress whose long career made a lasting impression in the American theater world.

Helen Hayes was born on October 10, 1900, in Washington, D.C., daughter of Francis Brown Hayes and Catharine Estelle Hayes. The young Helen appeared on stage even before she went to school: at five years old she played the part of Prince Charles in The Royal Family. Other roles quickly followed this one, and she made her first appearance on Broadway as Psyche Finnegan in The Summer Widowers when she was ten years old. Much later, in 1958, Hayes wrote of this period: "when I was five, everything was certain and known, and I was positive that life was long and art short ... even in 1905, Broadway was merely 230 miles away."

Though she appeared on the New York stage numerous times before she was even of age, the young Helen was educated...