Nancy Reagan

Born on July 6, 1921, New Yorker Anne Frances Robin (her real name) was the daughter of Edith Luckett, who was trying to make her way as an actress. When she was very young, her parents separated from her, so she ended up living for a while with her uncles, since her mother had to face long theatrical tours. Finally, she married Leal Davis, a prestigious neurosurgeon who legally adapted the girl, who from then on would use the surname Davis.

Graduating with a degree in English literature and philology from Smith College in Massachusetts in 1945, she worked as a sales clerk in a department store and a nurse’s aide, before several friends of her mother’s, including  Spencer Tracy  and  Walter Huston , helped her make her way as an actress. .

After the Broadway success of “Lute Song”, where she played a Chinese escort, she passed a camera test for which MGM offered her a seven-year contract. “Joining the metro was like entering a dream world,” she declared. However, the company did not quite take advantage of its potential. She debuted with a small role in  The Doctor and the Girl , opposite  Glenn Ford , although she had more impact in  Worlds Opposite , with  Barbara Stanwyck , where she was a socialite. She was also featured in the film noir  Shadow on the Wall , in which she played a child psychiatrist.

At that time, the actress dated big Hollywood stars, including  Clark Gable himself , whom she remembered as “the kindest actor” she had ever met. However, there was no romance with him. Nancy Davis ‘ life   would change forever when she found out that her name had appeared on one of Hollywood’s nefarious blacklists. To fix the problem, she decided to get in touch with the president of the Screen Actors Guild, at that time an illustrious fellow of the union named  Ronald Reagan . He managed to clarify that her name had been confused with that of another actress.

Apparently the crush was immediate, so they both started dating. Their relationship gave rise to much talk in the heart media at the time, especially due to the absence of scandals, and because they preferred to get away from the nightclubs frequented by other Hollywood personalities, to focus on healthier activities. The two worked together on the war film  Hellcats of the Navy .

Although Reagan was reluctant to marry because of his traumatic divorce from actress  Jane Wyman , after three years of dating he proposed to Nancy at Chasen’s, their favorite restaurant in Beverly Hills. They married very discreetly, on March 4, 1952, in Brown, a small church in the San Fernando Valley, in a ceremony attended only by the godparents,  William Holden  and his wife, also actress  Brenda Marshall . Becoming a stepmother to Maureen and Michael, the two children that her husband already had, Nancy would give birth to Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.

In 1952 he rescinded his relationship with MGM, to look for more varied roles. She ends up being one of the protagonists of the cult B-series film  Donovan’s Brain , where she played the wife of a mad scientist. Since she was not given good roles, she ended up lavishing herself on television series, such as  The Tall Man , retiring from her in 1962 to focus on her family.

Very close to her husband, she was his main support when he first became governor of California, and later to the presidency in 1981. During those years, Nancy dedicated herself to activism, especially in campaigns against drug addiction. When her husband was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in 1981, she became her dedicated nurse. “Nothing can happen to Ronnie, what would my life be,” she wrote in her journal.

He drew a lot of attention during those years, for example for changing all the crockery in the White House, despite the fact that it had been paid for by private donations. He also became a fashion reference, for his elegant wardrobe, from designers such as Óscar de la Renta.

Once  Ronald Reagan ‘s term was over , the couple retired to their residence in Bel-Air. When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, in 1994. In those years,  Albert Brooks  insisted that he return to acting, after offering him the leading role in the film  Mother . But she finally refused so as not to temporarily abandon her husband, so the role of hers went to  Debbie Reynolds .