For most stars, winning just one major award across the length of their career is a job well done – after all, to dominate your industry and come out on top is no mean feat. As is well-documented, showbusiness is about as cutthroat as you can get, making the plaudits of an award worth all the sacrifices for the spotlight; however, there’s also a secret winning formula shared only by an elite pick: the EGOTs. For those not in the know, an EGOT represents the pinnacle of stardom and success within the entertainment industry as a whole – they are the respective illustrious winners of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, signifying the peak of excellence across the disciplines of television, music and audio arts, film, and theatre. EGOTs are basically their own private members’ club – there are only 21 in history – and 15 of them are men. It’s a depressing but unsurprising reality that women have never been recognised anywhere near as equally in the ranks, but it also raises the question: who was the first trailblazing female to scoop the coveted big four? To find out the answer we have to start at the very beginning, all the way back in 1932. A young Helen Hayes had just starred in her first film, The Sin of Madelon Claudet, for which she would win the Oscar for ‘Best Leading Actress’. This would also set her on the road towards the EGOT, although that wasn’t to come for a long time yet. Her following foray was into theatreland, where 15 years later in 1947 she would earn a Tony for her Broadway performance in Happy Birthday, a comedy play in which she portrayed a librarian who took a scandalous ‘night on the town’. It gave her the Tony, fair and square, so now it was time to keep pushing on. Next on the hit list was the Emmy, a relatively easy win for Hayes as it turns out because she picked that one up in 1953, not for her work on a particular TV show as would be needed to secure a nomination in future, but for her general appearances on the American network NBC. All in a day’s work, really. Then at long last the Grammy, and in turn the eminent EGOT, came into grasp. You might be wondering how a star only famed for her acting might have made the jump into the charts, but here lies a perfect loophole on the route to glory – because, in fact, Hayes won her Grammy for her participation in an album called Great American Documents, which took home the prize for ‘Best Spoken Word’. Technically Hayes won her EGOT only through acting roles, but she’s worthy of letting it slide. Nevertheless, her clean sweep created history, making her the second person ever to secure the status, and indeed the first woman. It’s definitely important to mention that she then almost did it over again – she was nominated for all these awards at least once more in her career, and in the case of the Oscar and the Tony, even won them again, making her an EGOT(OT), if you will… although that one admittedly isn’t quite as catchy. Ultimately, Helen Hayes was a trailblazer for women and entertainment and set the standard for the five female EGOT winners who came in her wake – most notably, Rita Moreno, who earned the status just months afterwards. The legacy of America’s First Lady of Theatre will always live on.
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