Sheila Hayes (fl. early 20th Century), English actress
(photo: Rita Martin, London, 1915)
‘MISS SHEILA HAYES Another of the latest talented recruits to the film. Miss Sheila Hayes will be remembered as the beautiful Plum Blossom in that quaint and amusing Chinese play, The Yellow Jacket, which was produced at the Duke of York’s Theatre about two years ago. Miss Hayes has now gone abroad to study cinema acting.’
(The Sketch, London, Saturday, 15 December 1915, p. 333)
Although Sheila Hayes appeared in several London productions between 1911 and 1917, including the small part of Ko-Matsu in The Mousmé (Shaftesbury Theatre, 9 September 1911), it is for her playing Moy Fah Loy in The Yellow Jacket (Duke of York’s Theatre, 27 March 1913) that she is chiefly remembered. In spite of The Sketch‘s report (quoted above), no trace of her going abroad in 1915/1916 can be found. She did, however, go to America about 1919 where she appeared at the Garrick Theatre, New York, between August 1920 and April 1922 in the comedy, Enter Madame. Miss Hayes returned briefly to England before returning to America where in November 1922 she was in the cast of Charles Dillingham’s melodrama, Bull Dog Drummond at the National Theatre, Washington, with H.B. Warner in the lead. She remained in the United States until 1936, when she returned to England.
Footlight Notes 