My Life in Three Acts

Helen Hayes, acclaimed “First Lady of the American Theatre,” has been on stage, screen, and television for more than fifty years. In that time she moved among the world’s most famous and talented, including Joan Crawford, William Randolph Hearst, Charlie Chaplin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Burton, Lillian Gish, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Gloria Swanson. She treats us to delightful anecdotes about Ethel Barrymore, John Ford, and Al Capone. She also reflects more seriously on the painful parts of her life: the alcoholism of those close to her; the guilt of having not spent more time with her young children; the remorse about the fact that her success overshadowed her playwright-screenwriter husband, Charles MacArthur; the difficulty of being alone after the deaths of her daughter and husband. An engrossing account of the pleasures and discomforts that go with being a celebrity, and through them all, a rich and productive life.