Adoptive mother of actor James MacArthur.
Although she played Ingrid Bergman's grandmother in Anastasia (1956), she was less than fifteen years older than she.
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).
Charter member of the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.
First actress to win an Oscar for playing a prostitute in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), her first talkie
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¢.
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.
Interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York, USA.
Is one of only a few actors to win an Oscar for a supporting role after winning an Oscar for a leading role.
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.
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.
Mother of stage actress Mary MacArthur who died in 1949 at the age of nineteen
Pre-eminent US stage actress.
Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1985.
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.
She had a career than spanned over 80 years beginning as a child actress at age 5.
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.
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.
She was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1988 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
She was regarded as the "First Lady of the American Theatre."