Winning an Oscar or an Emmy is all well and good, but taking home both prizes with a Grammy and Tony to boot? There's not much more an actor can hope for. The term EGOT was invented in the mid '80s. When the term was first coined, only three people could claim membership in that exclusive club: composer Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes and Rita Moreno.
To celebrate the 2026 Academy Award season, we're looking back at the life of Helen Hayes, the first woman to win all four awards.
© Bettmann Archive via Getty ImagesMary MacArthur was a promising young actress and made her stage debut with her mother
Mary MacArthur
Mary MacArthur was born on 16 February 1930 and died at just 19 years old on 22 September 1949. She was the only daughter of Helen and her husband Charles MacArthur. Following her death, Helen Hayes established the Mary MacArthur Fund which supports rehabilitation work for polio patients
She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, debuted on stage with her mother in Alice Sit-By-The-Fire and went on to tour with Lillian Gish in The Marquise.
© Getty ImagesThe Hawaii Five-O actor was the adopted son of Helen Hayes
James MacArthur
BAFTA-nominated actor James MacArthur was the adopted son of Helen Hayes and her husband Charles. Born in 1937, he appeared onscreen until just before the millennium. James' best known roles include Danny Williams in Hawaii Five-O between 1968 and 1979, as well as '60s hits like Hang 'Em High (1968), Battle of the Bulge (1965) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).
He was married three times, welcoming two children with his first wife Joyce Bulifant and and a futher two during his third marriage to Helen Beth Duntz, to whom he stayed married until his death. James passed away in 2010 from natural causes at the age of 72.
© Bettmann Archive via Getty ImagesHelen Hayes is known as the First Lady of American Theatre
Early career
You don't earn the title 'First Lady of American Theatre' without having the career to match it. Born in 1900, Helen got her start early on as a child actress at just 5 years old and gradually built a name for herself. A 1918 production of Dear Brutus got people's attention and during the following decade Hayes moved on from young adult to ingenue roles, culminating in her first critical and commercial success, the 1926 revival of What Every Woman Knows.
She signed with MGM in 1931 and won an Oscar in 1932 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet. Four years of onscreen roles proved enough for the actress and she returned to her first love: the stage, with 1935's Victoria Regina which ran for 3 years.
© Conde Nast via Getty ImagesFor Charles and Helen, it was love at first sight
Marriage to Charles MacArthur
Helen met playwright Charles MacArthur at a Manhattan studio, both guests at a party thrown by artist Neysa McMein. As the famous story goes, later on in the evening he poured salted peanuts into her hand and remarked: "I wish they were emeralds".
They married in 1928, welcoming daughter Mary in 1930 and adopting James in his infancy in 1937. Charles died in 1956 and Helen never remarried.
© Getty ImagesHelen Hayes was known as the First Lady of American Theatre for good reason
Later life
Success in productions like Mary of Scotland in 1933 and Victoria Regina in 1935 solidified her reputation. Her last starring appearance was in the 1971 production Long Day's Journey into Night, due to allergies and asthmatic reactions to stage dust.
She kept working, however, and took on the role of Agatha Christie's famous detective Miss Marple in two TV movies: A Caribbean Mystery (1983) and Murder with Mirrors (1985). The latter was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and concluded an 80 year career. Hayes passed after suffering congestive heart failure in 1993, a decade after she retired.
