My Life in Three Acts

Actress Helen Hayes recounts her life on and off the stage, providing portraits of such personalities as Charlie Chaplin, William Randolph Hearst, and Gloria Swanson, and discussing her personal triumphs, tragedies, and regrets

Thanks to freelance writer Hatch's unobtrusive collaboration, Hayes's voice is practically audible in this candid, humorous and deeply moving story. Born with the century in Washington, D.C., Hayes first appeared on stage at age six. The shy and quiet future star's career was managed by her mother until she met roistering, boozy Charles MacArthur, whom she wed in 1928, the year the MacArthur-Ben Hecht play, The Front Page , opened on Broadway. The "mismatch" lasted until MacArthur's death in 1956, enduring the starkly described loss of their 19-year-old daughter Mary to polio. In other chapters, the actress entertains, recalling the couple's relationships with luminaries in the theater and films, valued companions and a few troublemakers. She can be caustic, noting the failings in modern stage, film and TV productions. In her 90th year, however, Hayes is still hopeful for a better world, retired professionally but active in humanitarian causes.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hayes has already written on growing old-- Our Best Years (coauthored with Marion Gladney; LJ 7/84)--and with Thomas Chastain, she has authored a mystery. Now at the age of 89, she looks back on her 80 years in the theater. Debuting on Broadway in 1909, she was a well-known actress by the age of 20 and the "first lady" of the American theater since the 1930s. She is candid, but does not dwell on the difficulties of her marriage to playwright Charles MacArthur, whose drinking problem increased after the death of their young daughter from polio. Obviously more comfortable talking abut others than herself, she of fers many delightful anecdotes about such friends as Ruth Gordon, Lillian Gish, and Bea Lillie. Belying her goody-goody persona, her comments on people she has known and worked with are often pointed. Her reflections seem cursory, however. One wishes for more depth, more detail; still her many admirers will want to read this.
- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.