Helen Hayes in the Southern Quote

She was born on October 10th, 1900 in Washington D.C. From her first stage performance at age five, she showed an incredible connection with her audience. Five years later, the ten-year old took her growing list of credits and made her first appearance on Broadway.

After graduating from the Academy of the Sacred Heart Convent, Helen moved to New York as a seasoned seventeen year old. There, for the first time, she began to feel her natural ability wasn’t enough. These concerns spurred her to learn how to make the most of her body, or what she called, her “actor’s instrument.” Through the study of dance, mime, and fencing, Helen learned to control every muscle of her five foot frame. The marriage of her natural talent with her devotion to detail created a star whose majestic stage presence denied her small statue.

Helen Hayes left an indelible mark on the American theater. She was the first person to ever win a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony, and an Emmy in competitive categories. Today her legacy lives on in her life’s passion. Helen established the Mary MacArthur Fund to help children with polio after her only daughter Mary died with the dreaded disease. When she successfully convinced the Nyack Hospital to open a treatment center for the disease’s paralyzed survivors, it became the first in the country. When it was appropriately renamed Helen Hayes MacArthur Hospital Helen would quip, “An actress’s life is so transitory – suddenly you’re a building.”

In today’s Southern Quote we honor the woman known as the “First Lady of the American Theater.” The late Helen Hayes once said, “My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.” — Helen Hayes