== Biografi ==
Helen Hayes blev født i [[Washington D.C.]] [[10. oktober]] [[1900]]. Hendes mor Catherine Estelle var en håbefuld skuespillerinde i en omrejsende trup.
<ref>[http://www.helenhayes.com/about/bio.htm "The Official Website of Helen Hayes: Biography"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061023050355/http://www.helenhayes.com/about/bio.htm |date=23. oktober 2006 }} Helen Hayes.com, hentet 2. februar, 2012</ref>
<ref name="hayes1">[http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3739&source_type=A "Biography of Helen Hayes"] Kennedy-Center.org, hentet 2. februar 2012</ref>
Hendes far, Francis van Arnum Brown, arbejdede forskellige steder blandt andet som ekspedient på patentkontoret i Washington
og som sælger for en engros slagter.<ref name="hayes1"/><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848403-1,00.html "The Theatre:Helen Millennial"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527221154/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848403-1,00.html |date=27. maj 2013 }} ''Time Magazine'', December 30, 1935.</ref>
Hayes' irsk katolske morforældre immigrerede fra [[Irland]] under [[Hungersnøden i Irland 1845-1849|hungersnøden]].<ref>Rice, Jean.[http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/IrelandGenWeb/2003-02/1044131835 "Helen Hayes (1900-1993),The First Lady of Theater"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018231519/http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/IrelandGenWeb/2003-02/1044131835 |date=18. oktober 2007 }} Rootsweb.com (Ancestry.com) hentet 2. februar 2012</ref>
Kultur