Product Description

The legendary star of stage and screen reflects on her life and career. With wit, wisdom and candor, Hayes introduces us to the extraordinary cast of characters she has known throughout her long life and career. 2 cassettes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #825582 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 266 pages

From Publishers Weekly
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.

From Library Journal
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.

From AudioFile
The "First Lady of the American Theater" looks back on a distinguished career, a mostly happy family life and legions of celebrity friendships.She includes her appraisals of contemporary theater, the Hollywood scene and television. The ideal reader for these memoirs would, of course, have been Hayes herself. She did in fact do the 1990 abridgment, but as she died at age 93, her adopted son, actor James MacArthur, does the honors. It's not a wholly successful substitution. "I" is now a male voice; "mother and I" are not James and Helen, but Helen and her mother; and James reads about himself in the third person. Adding to the mild confusion is the absence of well-timed pauses to delineate shifts in time or location. Still, MacArthur reads with warmth and affection, the spirit in which the book was written and the life lived. J.B.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

english--sara c.
For more than fifty years, Helen Hayes has been a star on stage, screen, and television. In that time, she crossed paths with some of Broadway's most famous stars: Charlie Chaplin, Scott Fitzgerald, Gloria Swanson, and many more. As for being acclaimed First Lady of the American Theater, Hayes starred in her first play when she was just six years old. My Life In Three Acts tells about Hayes's hit play, such as Victoria Reigna, and about some of her not so respected plays. In her autobiography, Hayes speaks with wit and wisdom on topics that are both public and private. She expresses her thoughts on World War Two, and about the assassination of Kennedy. She reflects on the mournful parts of her life: the death of her husband and daughter, and the alcoholism of those dear to her. Hayes also supplies amusing anecdotes about her friends, which include John Ford and Al Capone. After finishing her career as an actress, Hayes expresses her opinion on what is wrong with the American theater today, such as how porn theaters are taking over classic Broadway theaters.
I found My Life In Three Acts to be inspiring by how Hayes improved her life everyday. Throughout Hayes's career, her life was rousing in every aspect. "George Tyler, (a movie producer,) once told me that I were only four inches taller, I could reach the heights too." I liked this quote because I could tell that throughout Hayes' acting days, she was growing by exceeding heights and overcoming problems. Such as after a horrific event occurs in her family, Hayes finds a way to deal with the problem by taking sympathy from others, moving homes, and doing what she does best; act. Hayes was able to capture her emotions and to put them into words that made me feel like I was engaged in the experiences as well. For example, she wrote about a delightful childhood treat of hers that her grandmother used to prepare for her. "She would cut a hole in the orange, insert a peppermint stick, and then we'd squeeze the orange and suck the juice through the stick." I felt as if I was enjoying the treat myself.
The events Hayes encountered were very detailed and made My Life In Three Acts exciting. Some of my favorite parts of the book describe the stirring parties Hayes attended. "The people who sat around that table in the Algonquin Hotel's Rose Room set the style for New York, dictating what one should read, think, wear, eat, what plays to see, what opinions to have, and so on." Not only did this quotation capture `the style for New York,' but it also described the style of the kind of people that were at the parties and in Hayes's life. I thought that it was also exciting to hear about the different places Helen toured through throughout her career, from France to Oklahoma City. One time while touring, Hayes got ready for bed on the train and saw a breathtaking site; the stars in the night sky seemed close enough to touch, and the snow sparkled like diamonds. Hayes then rushed to tell the rest of the actors on the train, and they became enthralled too. This scene in the book demonstrated all of the simple things in Hayes's life that she appreciated and didn't take for granted. Everyday there seemed to be excitement in Hayes's life. Because of how inspired and excited I felt reading this book, I can defiantly call it an engrossing memoir that is able to take a reader back to stimulating theater life in the mid-1900's.

A Classy Lady's Non-Classy Memoirs
Helen Hayes whose life story would be fascinating to all fans of Broadway and/or Hollywood pretty much squanders this effort by traducing a large assortment of individuals. What makes this badmouthing all the more unpleasant is the fact that most of her targets were deceased at the time of its publication and unable to present their side of the story.

While the recurring instances of charcter assasination are the book's biggest liability, the First Lady of the American Theater also comes off as somewhat self-centered and shallow.

Those who respect the many noble actions which typified Helen Hayes' final decades will be disappointed and likely disturbed by this autobiography that does not do her memory justice.