Menken, Helen

(1901-1966)

   She and her sister, actress Grace Menken, were born in New York City to deaf parents. As a child performer, Helen played a fairy in A Midsummer Night S Dream to open the Astor Theatre in 1906, followed by engagements with De Wolf Hopper in The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1908) and with Eddie Foy in Mr. Hamlet of Broadway (1909), and others. She made her adult debut on Broadway in Major Pendennis (1919) with John Drew. The first of her three husbands was the then little-known Humphrey Bogart.* Her long list of credits as a leading lady include the role of Queen Elizabeth in the Theatre Guild production of Mary of Scotland* (1933). Increasingly troubled by facial paralysis from the 1940s, she turned to radio and producing. For the American Theatre Wing,* she produced the Stage Door Canteen* series, organized the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards,* and served as president. At the 1966 Tony Awards, she was posthumously recognized with a Special Award for a lifetime of service to Broadway theatre.