Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis marry - Mar 04, 1952 - HISTORY.com Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis marry Share this: Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis marry Author Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis marry URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1952, actor and future President Ronald Reagan marries his second wife, actress Nancy Davis. The couple wed in Los Angeles at the Little Brown Church in the Valley. Nancy Davis, whose real name is Anne Frances Robbins, met her husband in 1951. (MGM Studios signed her to a contract and billed her as Nancy Davis for her first screen role in the film Shadow on the Wall). The two met in 1951, while Reagan was serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Nancy was embroiled in an effort to remove her name from the notorious McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist of possible communist sympathizers. The list actually referred to another actress of the same name, but it was preventing Davis from finding work, so the future first lady contacted Reagan to see if he, as SAG president, could help clear up the confusion. The two fell in love and were married a year later.

Their first child, Patricia, was born 7 months after the wedding. In 1957, the couple appeared together in Hellcats of the Navy, but after their son Ron was born the following year, Nancy left acting to become a full-time wife and mother. Meanwhile, her husband’s political career took off and he became governor of California in 1967, a position he held until 1975. In 1980, he became president, serving for two terms. For her part, Nancy embraced the role of governor’s wife and later, first lady. Thought of as America’s first couple, the Reagans appeared to embody traditional American values. Their appeal reflected America’s love affair with movies and the actors in them. Americans ate up images of Ronald and Nancy’s public expressions of sincere devotion and they were often photographed together on their ranch in California or dancing in each other’s arms at state functions. Nancy placed her husband at the center of her life. My life really began when I married my husband,” she once reminisced.

Speaking of Reagan, she said, I could be the wife I wanted to be…A woman’s real happiness and real fulfillment come from within the home with her husband and children.” She nursed him while he recovered from a serious gunshot wound inflicted by a would-be assassin in 1981 and he stood by her when she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer in 1987. Shortly after leaving office, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and the ever-devoted, stalwart Nancy took care of him until his death in 2004 at the age of 93. Related Videos Nancy Reagan - IMDb IMDb Actress Nancy Reagan was born on July 6, 1921 in New York City, New York, USA as Anne Frances Robbins. She was an actress, known for The Dark Wave (1956), Stand-Up Reagan (1989) and The Next Voice You Hear... (1950). She was married to Ronald Reagan . She died on March 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

See full bio » Born: Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton to Present 2016 SAG Lifetime Achievement Award to Lily Tomlin 17 January 2017 3:00 AM, -08:00 | PEOPLE.com a list of 36 people created 13 Oct 2014 a list of 41 people created 15 Mar 2015 a list of 34 people created 18 Jan 2016 a list of 31 people created 11 months ago a list of 21 people created 3 weeks ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Nancy Reagan's work have you seen? User Polls Hellcats of the Navy Nurse Lt. Helen Blair (1957) 1962 Wagon Train (TV Series) Mrs. Baxter 1962 87th Precinct (TV Series) Diane King 1956-1961 General Electric Theater (TV Series) Vicky Carlisle / Betty Anderson / Evelyn Kent - Money and the Minister (1961) ...

Vicky Carlisle (as Nancy Davis) - The Playoff (1960) ... Betty Anderson (as Nancy Davis) 1961 The Tall Man (TV Series) Sarah Wiley 1961 Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) Amy Lawson 1953-1954 Schlitz Playhouse (TV Series) Nan Gage - Ramshackle Inn (1949) ...

(as Nancy Davis) Hide 1981 Reagan's Way: Pathway to the Presidency (TV Movie documentary) (grateful thanks) Hide 2013 America's Book of Secrets (TV Series documentary) Herself 1995-2007 Larry King Live (TV Series) Herself 2007 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series) Herself 1998 American Experience (TV Series documentary) Herself 1997 Mike Wallace Remembers (TV Movie) Herself 1997 Biography (TV Series documentary) Herself 1995 Inside the White House (TV Movie documentary) Herself - 1981-1989 1992 The Reagan Years (Video documentary short) Herself 1989 This Morning (TV Series) Herself 1988 Christmas in Washington (TV Special) Herself 1988 America's Tribute to Bob Hope (TV Movie documentary) Herself 1987 Great Performances (TV Series) Herself 1980-1987 Good Morning America (TV Series) Herself 1986 Liberty Weekend (TV Special documentary) Herself 

1986 One to Grow On (TV Series short) Herself 1984 Hour Magazine (TV Series) Herself 1983 The Chemical People (TV Movie) Herself (as Mrs.

Nancy Reagan) 1983 Diff'rent Strokes (TV Series) Herself 1981 NBC White Paper (TV Series documentary) Herself Herself - US First Lady / Herself - CA First Lady - Episode #18.139 (1980) ... Herself - US First Lady - Episode #10.151 (1971) ...

Herself - CA First Lady 1975 V.I.P.-Schaukel (TV Series documentary) Herself 1975 Dean's Place (TV Movie) Herself 1956-1960 General Electric Theater (TV Series) Herself / Herself - Commercials 2016 2016: We Remember Part Two (TV Movie documentary) Herself / Acting Role 2016 Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 2016 The Eighties (TV Mini-Series documentary) Herself - First Lady 2007-2016 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series) Herself 2016 PBS NewsHour (TV Series) Herself - 2011 Interview 2015 The Making of Trump (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2014 Täuschung - Die Methode Reagan (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2014 Codes and Conspiracies (TV Series documentary) Herself 2013 The Presidents' Gatekeepers (TV Movie documentary) Herself - Masters of the Universe (2013) ...

Herself (as The First Lady) - The Revolutionaries (2013) ...

Herself (as The First Lady) 2012 Creating a Candidate (Video documentary short) Herself 2003-2012 60 Minutes (TV Series documentary) Herself - First Lady / Herself / Herself (segment "Mike") 2012 Inside Comedy (TV Series) Herself 2010 Mutter Teresa - Heilige der Dunkelheit (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 2010 The Special Relationship (TV Movie) Herself (uncredited) 2009 50 años de (TV Series) Herself 2009 30 for 30 (TV Series documentary) Herself 2009 Welcome to the 80's (TV Series documentary) Herself 2009 White House Revealed (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2009 Biography (TV Series documentary) Herself 2008 Verdens morsomste mand (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 2008 The American Future: A History (TV Mini-Series documentary) Herself 2008 President Hollywood (TV Movie documentary) Herself

 (uncredited) 2008 The O'Reilly Factor (TV Series) Herself 2006-2007 E!

True Hollywood Story (TV Series documentary) Herself 2006 The Curse of Superman (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 2006 The Drug Years (TV Mini-Series documentary) Herself 2005-2006 20 to 1 (TV Series documentary) Herself 2006 Challenger: The Untold Story (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2005 80s (TV Series documentary) Herself 2005 Michael Jackson's Boys (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 2004 Husker du... (TV Series documentary) Herself 2004 Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

(TV Series documentary) Herself 2004 Modern Marvels (TV Series documentary) Herself 2002 Guts and Glory (Video short) Herself 2002 Timeshift (TV Series documentary) Herself - 'Just Say No' Campaigner 2002 Playboy: Inside the Playboy Mansion (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2002 Air Force One (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2000 Challenger: Go for Launch (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 1999 Killer Sun (TV Movie documentary) Herself (uncredited) 1998 Cold War (TV Mini-Series documentary) Herself 1996 The White House (TV Movie documentary) Herself 1991 Memories of 1970-1991 (TV Series documentary) Herself 1989 Murphy Brown (TV Series) Herself / former First Lady 1988 Ronnie Dearest: The Lost Episodes (Video documentary short) Herself (as Nancy Davis, Nancy Reagan) 1981 Showtime Looks at 1981 (TV Movie documentary) Herself - First Lady 19

51 The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (Documentary) (as Nancy Davis) Related Videos Personal Details Other Works: Release of the book, "First Lady: A Portrait of Nancy Reagan", by Chris Wallace .

See more » Publicity Listings: 1 Biographical Movie | 3 Print Biographies | 5 Portrayals | 1 Interview | 28 Articles | 5 Magazine Cover Photos | See more » Official Sites: Nancy Davis | The First Lady | Mrs. Nancy Reagan Height: Did You Know? Personal Quote: Bob had an extraordinary career in both movies and television. Just when it seemed he was ready to retire, he always found a new project that kept him busy and filled with wonderful stories. - in response to the news about the death of friend/actor Robert Stack . See more » Trivia: At age 7, was a guest at the White House Easter Egg roll and met then-First Lady Grace Coolidge . See more » Star Sign: Nancy Reagan Dead: Actress Turned First Lady Was 94 | Hollywood Reporter Getty Images Nancy Reagan She appeared in 12 films, then gave up show business in the early 1960s for “the role that I wanted to play” — the wife of Ronald Reagan. Nancy Reagan, the actress-turned-first lady who would take her "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign to mass audiences through appearances on Diff'rent Strokes and other shows, has died.

She was 94. The former Nancy Davis, the second wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president and 33rd governor of California, died Sunday morning of congestive heart failure at home in Los Angeles, Melissa Giller of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation confirmed. Director-producer Mervyn LeRoy fixed up Nancy with fellow actor (and then-Screen Actors Guild president) Ron for a date in 1951. They were married on March 4, 1952, in a small church in Studio City, with actor William Holden and his wife, Ardis, there as the only attendants. The petite, doe-eyed Nancy appeared as an actress in 12 movies and several TV shows, usually portraying faithful, patient and understanding daughters, sisters, mothers or wives. Her only movie appearance opposite Ron came in the World War II-set Hellcats of the Navy (1957), in which he played a submarine commander and she a nurse. She acted on the big screen in just one more film after that — 1958’s Crash Landing — and so did he, in The Killers (1964).

He announced his campaign to run for governor of California in 1965 and served until 1975. Nancy had an opportunity to play the title role in Albert Brooks’ Mother (1996), but she turned down the writer-director, saying she needed to care for her ailing husband, then plagued with Alzheimer’s. (Doris Day also said no, but Debbie Reynolds signed on and earned a Golden Globe nomination.) She did appear as herself on the TV series Diff’rent Strokes in 1978 and Dynasty in 1981. In the 1983 Diff'rent Strokes episode "The Reporter," fledgling journalist Arnold goes undercover and discovers a student selling drugs at school. But he refuses to name the story's source, attracting the attention of the First Lady, who comes and speaks to Arnold's class, learning that a surprising number of his classmates have experimented with drugs. She proves her affection for the kids by allowing them to come shake her hand. She was nominated for TV Land Awards for the performance in both 2003 and 2007, losing both times.

While her husband, who was 11 years older than she, was governor of California, Nancy began focusing on the fight against drug and alcohol abuse among young people. That carried into her White House years, when she championed the “Just Say No” campaign. She also popped up a couple of times lip-synching as part of the famous/infamous "Stop the Madness" video, a Reagan administration-endorsed anti-drug screed featuring, among others, Herb Alpert, a very wired monkey, Whitney Houston, David Hasselhoff and The Hollywood Reporter contributor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After the couple left the White House following two terms in 1989, the Reagans returned to live in California, splitting time between their Bel-Air home and the 350-acre ranch near Santa Barbara that Ron purchased in 1951. He died in June 2004 at age 93. His first marriage was to Oscar-winning actress Jane Wyman (Johnny Belinda) from 1940-48. Nancy Reagan was born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921, in New York City.

Her parents divorced when she was young, and as her mother Edith pursued an acting career, she was raised by an aunt and uncle in Bethesda, Md. After her mother remarried, she was adopted by her stepfather, Loyal Davis, a prominent neurosurgeon and champion of conservative politics. She studied drama at Smith College, and, with the encouragement of her mother, set her sites on acting. Following graduation, she toured with a road company before landing a role on Broadway in the 1946 musical Lute Song, which starred Mary Martin and a young Yul Brenner. She then appeared in a Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse adaptation of a play called Ramshackle Inn and attracted the attention of Hollywood. She moved west and landed a seven-year contract with MGM starting at $250 a week after Spencer Tracy, who was friends with her mother, went to bat for Nancy and convinced the legendary George Cukor to direct her screen test. She landed an uncredited role in the film Portrait of Jennie (1948), starring Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones.

The following year, she received her first screen credits in The Doctor and the Girl, playing the daughter of a Park Avenue neurosurgeon (Charles Coburn), and East Side, West Side, opposite Barbara Stanwyck. She played a child psychiatrist in the murder mystery Shadow on the Wall (1950); a pregnant wife opposite James Whitmore in William Wellman’s The Next Voice You Hear (1950), for which she scored glowing reviews; a war widow in Night Into Morning (1951); a small-town schoolteacher with Fredric March in It’s a Big Country: An American Anthology (1951); the mother of a bratty boy in Talk About a Stranger (1952); the sister of a shell-shocked war veteran in Shadow in the Sky (1952); and the wife of a mad scientist in Donovan’s Brain (1953). She also appeared in such series as Climax!, The Tall Man, General Electric Theater, 87th Precinct and, in an episode that aired in December 1962, Wagon Train. After that, she retired from acting.

“I knew that being [Reagan’s] wife was the role that I wanted to play,” she said. She also raised the couple’s two children, Patti and Ron. (Her husband had two children, Maureen and the adopted Michael, from his marriage to Wyman.) As first lady, Nancy used the White House as a venue to showcase young performers, especially in the PBS series In Performance at the White House. In 1987, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and spoke candidly about a decision to have a mastectomy. Two years later, her autobiography, My Turn, was published; in it, she addressed her reliance on astrology. Following Ron’s presidency, the Reagans were frequent diners at Chasen’s, their old Hollywood haunt where decades earlier director John Huston had given her a dinner party to welcome the young actress to town and where Ron would later propose to her. A spokesperson for the family said she will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., next to her husband. In lieu of flowers, she requested that contributions be made to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation .

In June 2001, Nancy talked about her life with her husband and his battle with Alzheimer’s in an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. “You certainly wish that it was different,” she told Sawyer. “But, you learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we’re all here for a certain space of time, and then it’s going to be over, and you better make this count.” Duane Byrge and Daniel Fienberg contributed to this report. Nancy Reagan Biography :: National First Ladies' Library 6 July 1921 Sloane Hospital, Flushing, Queens, New York *Nancy Reagan was the ninth of ten First Ladies born in New York, the "mother state" of presidential wives; the others were Elizabeth Monroe, Hannah Van Buren, Julia Tyler, Abigail Fillmore, Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, Frances Cleveland, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy and Barbara Bush.

*Nancy Reagan's godmother was the famous actress Alla Nazimova Father: Kenneth Seymour Robbins, born 23 February 1894, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, used car salesman; married secondly, Patricia Brinckerhoff Cross in 1928; died, 2 February 1972, New Jersey Mother: Edith P. Luckett, born 16 July 1888, Washington, D.C.; married first to Kenneth Robbins, 27 June 1916; married secondly to Loyal Davis, 20 May 1929; worked after marriage as actress, playing a socialite and a maid on an NBC radio soap opera program "The Betty and Bob Show." A Democrat, she was a close friend of Chicago mayor Ed Kelley; died, 26 October 1987, Phoenix, Arizona.

* Living to 99 years old, Edith Davis was the longest-living mother of a First Lady Nancy Reagan's parents divorced 23 February 1928; Edith Luckett resumed her theatrical career and sent her daughter to the home of her sister Virginia and her husband Audley Galbraith who raised her in their Bethesda, Maryland home. Nancy Reagan made visits to her mother whenever she was in New York for a lengthy theater run. Edith Luckett married a second time to Loyal Davis, neurosurgeon on 21 May 1929; she and her daughter moved to his home in Chicago.

Adoptive Father: In 1935, Nancy Robbins was adopted by neurosurgeon Loyal Davis, born 17 January 1896, Galesburg, Illinois; Nancy Reagan considered Davis to be her true "father." He was Professor of Surgery and then Professor Emeritus, at Northwestern University; died 19 August 1983, Scottsdale, Arizona *Nancy Reagan is the only First Lady who was legally adopted by her mother's second husband, her birth father having ceded his legal title to her parenthood; although the widowed mothers of Abigail Fillmore, Eliza Johnson and Betty Ford remarried, none of their daughters were legally adopted by their stepfathers; the divorced mother of Jacqueline Kennedy remarried but her daughter was not legally adopted by her stepfather; the widowed mother of Frances Cleveland did not remarry until after her daughter was of adult age; the widowed fathers of Ida McKinley, Florence Harding, Lady Bird Johnson and Barbara Bush did not remarry until after their daughters were of adult age.

Ancestry: English, Spanish; The most recent of Nancy Reagan's ancestors to immigrate to the United States was eight generations before her, in the line of her paternal grandmother, John Moseley, born in Dorchester, England in 1638. All of her traced ancestors came from England. On a presidential state visit to Spain during which she tried a few flamenco dance steps, Mrs. Reagan told Washington Post reporter Donnie Radcliffe that there was a claim of Spanish ancestors in her family tree. Birth Order: Nancy Reagan is an only child. She has a stepbrother, Richard Davis (born 1927), from the first marriage of her adoptive father Loyal Davis. Physical Appearance: 5' 4", brown hair, hazel eyes Religious Affiliation: Presbyterian Education: Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C.

1925-1928; Girl's Latin School, Chicago, Illinois, 1929-1939; Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1939-1943, bachelor's degree in dramatic arts Occupation before Marriage: After graduating from college, Nancy Reagan worked as a sales clerk in the Marshall Fields Department store in Chicago, and then as a nurse's aide, also in Chicago. Through her mother's friends in the acting profession, Nancy Reagan received a non-speaking role in the touring company of Ramshackle Inn, and the play eventually came to Broadway. Nancy Reagan settled in New York and landed a minor role in the musical Lute Song, starring Yul Brynner and Mary Martin. In 1949, after a successful screen test, Nancy Reagan accepted a seven-year contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, moved to Hollywood, California, and performed in the first of her eleven feature films, The Doctor and the Girl.

Marriage: 30 years old, married 6 March 1952 to Ronald Reagan (born 6 February 1911, Tampico, Illinois, died 5 June 2004, Los Angeles, California), Screen Actors Guild president, film and television actor, former radio sports announcer at the Little Brown Church, North Hollywood. After a honeymoon at the Mission Inn, in Riverside, California and Phoenix, Arizona, the Reagans lived in a series of homes, settling in a modern home in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles, built and provided for by General Electric, the company for whom Ronald Reagan served as a national spokesman. The GE house was outfitted with all of the company's state-of-the-art technology.

Husband's First Marriage: Ronald Reagan first married on 26 January 1940, January 26 to Sarah Jane Mayfield, known professionally as "Jane Wyman" ( born 5 January 1917, died 10 September 2007) Children: One son, one daughter; Patricia Ann Reagan ("Patti Davis"), born 21 October 1952; Ronald Prescott Reagan, born 20 May 1958 Stepchildren: From Ronald Reagan's marriage to Jane Wyman; Maureen Reagan, born 4 January 1941, died 8 August 2001; Michael Reagan, born 18 March 1945 (adopted) Occupation after Marriage: While her husband struggled for acting work, including a short stint as a Las Vegas performer, Nancy Reagan assumed the full-time work of mother and homemaker. She made three films after her marriage. Her last film, at Columbia in 1956, was Hellcats of the Navy, in which she and her husband appeared together.

During Reagan's two terms as California Governor, she adopted several causes, including the welfare of returned and wounded Vietnam War veterans, fundraising and lobbying efforts on behalf of those Vietnam War servicemen who were either Prisoners of War or Missing In Action. As California's First Lady, she wrote a syndicated column and donated her salary to the National League of Families of American POW-MIA. She also regularly visited state institutions that cared for the elderly and physically and emotionally handicapped children; after observing a program that successfully brought these groups together as a form of therapy, the "Foster Grandparent Program," she promoted it throughout California and, eventually, the nation. Presidential Campaign and Inauguration: Although Nancy Reagan preferred to campaign with her husband rather than on her own, during the 1980 primaries she began to make her own appearances and make remarks that reflected her husband's views on issues; it reflected a growing role of candidates' spouses and was similar to the one Rosalynn Carter was simultaneously playing in the primaries. In the 1984 presidential campaign, Nancy Reagan was especially helpful during the last of a several televised debates.

After concluding that the President had done poorly in a previous debate, she urged his advisors to ask him to memorize endless statistics. They did as she suggested and he proved more effective in the ensuing debate. Inauguration day 1981 was the first one held on the west front of the Capitol Building, a decision favored by the Reagans since it meant the ceremony was facing the rest of the nation, as opposed to those of the past which faced towards the Atlantic Ocean. Media attention focused on the high cost of tickets to attend the 1981 Inauguration Ball and other invitation-only events, contrasting it with the 1977 Carter Inaugural which had more public events than any in previous history and Inaugural Ball tickets selling for $25 to guests. However, tickets to the 1981 Reagan Inaugural Ball were of comparative cost to those before the 1977 Carter Inaugural Ball.

Inauguration day 1985 marked two swearing-in ceremonies, neither of which were held on the Capitol Building steps; the first was traditionally considered "private" since it fell on a Sunday was held in the Grand Foyer of the White House and the "public" one held the following day was forced inside the Capitol Building Rotunda due to extremely cold temperatures, the first ever held at that site. Although the Reagans did not follow the Carter precedent of walking down Pennsylvania Avenue in 1981 or 1985, it was a tradition that was resumed by their successors. First Lady: 1981, January 20 - 1989, January 20 59 years old When Nancy Reagan first became First Lady, her focus was on creating a home in the White House; rather than use government funds to redecorate as well as renovate the floors, doors and other hardware, she sought private funds to underwrite the work. In preparation for the required entertaining, she also carefully tested the meals that were to be served and also told U.S.

New & World Report that she hoped to have new china ordered since there had been much breakage in the fifteen years since the Johnson set had been inaugurated. Rather than being purchased with federal appropriations, the cost of the new china set was entirely underwritten by the private Knapp Foundation. The combination of the redecorating, new china set, more formalized entertaining style than the Carters, in addition to her attendance at the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana of England in 1981, and her acceptance of free clothing from designers (thus unwittingly violating the new Ethics in Government Act of 1978) led to the creation of a public relations dilemma. Contrasted in print and broadcast news with the 1981 economic recession, high unemployment and homeless families, the so-called "Queen Nancy" caricature was created and even occasionally invoked by Democrats as a means of criticizing the Administration. In addition, much as there had been some suggestion of a regional bias against LBJ's Texan background and the Carters' rural background in the national media, there was suggestion of one against the Reagans' southern California ties and entertainment industry careers.

With her intended work on the house and the patterns set for entertaining completed, Nancy Reagan began to focus in mid-1982 on the public issues and projects about which she intended to raise consciousness. Although she continued her support of the Foster Grandparents program, Nancy Reagan’s primary project was promotion of drug education and prevention programs for children and young adults. To this end, she traveled nearly 250,000 miles throughout the U.S. and several nations to visit prevention programs and rehabilitation centers to talk with young people and their parents, appeared on television talk shows, taped public service announcements, and wrote guest articles. At one California school, when Nancy Reagan had asked the children what the best and most immediate response should be when they were offered drugs, there were shouts of "just say no." The catch-phrase "just say no" soon proliferated through the popular culture of the 1980's, eventually adopted as the name of a loose organization of clubs formed in grammar, middle and high schools in which young people pledged not to experiment with harmful drugs. In April 1985 Mrs.

Reagan expanded her drug awareness campaign to an international level by inviting the wives of world leaders to attend a White House conference she hosted on youth drug abuse. In October of that year, during the U.N.'s 40th anniversary, she hosted thirty international First Ladies for a second such gathering. When President Reagan signed the October 27, 1986 "National Crusade for a Drug Free America" anti-drug abuse bill into law, she considered it a personal victory and made an unprecedented joint address to the nation with him on the problem. In October 1988, she became the first First Lady to address the U.N. General Assembly, speaking on international drug interdiction and trafficking laws. Perhaps Nancy Reagan's largest and most important work as First Lady, however, was her role as the President's personal protector. Part of this role grew out of the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt on his life. Forever afterwards, Nancy Reagan made it her concern to know his schedule: in what public venues would he be speaking, before what groups, at what time, as well as with whom he would be privately meeting.

In time, her concern to protect her husband's personal well-being led her to consult an astrologer to attempt to discern precisely what days and at what times would be optimum for safety and success, and which slots were to be avoided because of potential dangers as reflected in the astrological readings. Both Reagans admitted that the President had a tendency to trust all those who worked for him, while the First Lady tended to perceive those who, in her words, might "end run him," essentially using their positions to further their personal careers or agendas rather than that of the President and the Administration. The President's long-time aide Michael Deaver also served as a trusted and important advisor to Nancy Reagan and he often approached her when he felt a problem might be developing. Nancy Reagan effectively supported decisions to replace various personnel, including the likes of National Security Council member William P. Clark, and the hiring of others such as Secretary of State George Schultz. After Nancy Reagan witnessed the bold control exercised by Chief of Staff Donald Regan following President Reagan's 1985 cancer surgery, and then the fall-out he generated in mishandling the Administration's reaction to the Iran-Contra scandal, she felt that the President would be better served with a replacement.

However, she was one among many who felt this way, including those working in the Administration and national media, from Vice President George H. Bush to Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham. Many of these figures would not bring their concern directly to the President, but rather to his wife. The ensuing media firestorm of exaggerated and unfair attribution of her influence was prompted by New York Times columnist William Safire’s March 1987 critique of her prerogatives and characterization of her as "an incipient Edith Wilson." The deposed Chief of Staff reacted by publishing a sensational memoir in which he disclosed her request that astrology be used in the president's official scheduling; no such personal revelations had previously been cast against an incumbent First Lady before to the degree that they were by Regan. Although Nancy Reagan rarely ventured into specific policy, it was she who defied the conventional wisdom in the Reagan Administration State Department to promote the idea of the President forming first a personal relationship with the new Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev when he assumed power in 1985. She did so she recalled, simply because it made no sense to her that the two leaders were not at least in open dialogue with one another.

The resulting friendship and then political negotiations resulted in the 1987 INF Treaty, which called for a mutual destruction of intermediate range nuclear missiles. The treaty proved to be a crowning moment for the Administration and was later considered by many to be an important step in the end of Soviet communism and the shift to democracy of several Soviet satellite nations. Nancy Reagan's devotion to seeing this through, as well as other aspects of her husband's legacy were made all the more dramatic in light of the fact that she underwent breast cancer surgery and shortly thereafter endured the death of her mother, all just prior to the treaty signing. Post-Presidential Life: After publishing her memoirs entitled My Turn, in 1989, she established the Nancy Reagan Foundation, to support educational drug prevention after-school programs; it merged with the Best Foundation for a Drug-Free Tomorrow, out of which emerged the Nancy Reagan Afterschool Program, a drug prevention and life-skills program for youth. When her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, they together let their name in support of the Ronald & Nancy Reagan Research Institute in Chicago, Illinois for research into the illness, an affiliate of the National Alzheimer’s Association.

Over the next decade her public activities were largely limited to the Los Angeles area, since she was the primary caregiver to the former president. One notable exception was the 1996 Republican National Convention in nearby San Diego, California, thus making her only the second former First Lady - and the first of her party - to do so (see "Post-Presidential Life" for Eleanor Roosevelt). After former President Reagan's death in June 2004, she became an outspoken public advocate for stem cell research, a scientific effort that promised hope for patients of Alzheimer's and other illnesses, despite the fact that her view was in direct opposition to that of the incumbent Republican president. She resides in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan has remained highly active in both public and private. She engages in a full life with her friends and family in California, despite a 2008 fall requiring hospitalization, from which she fully recovered. She has grown especially close to her daughter Patti Davis, as poignantly recounted in the latter’s 2009 book, The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us.

Nancy Reagan’s primary focus as a presidential widow has been to bring public attention to the legacy of her late husband. In July of 2007, Mrs. Reagan accepted the government of Poland’s most distinguished honorary recognition, the Order of the White Eagle, which was given in memory of her husband. Two years later, she was awarded an honorary degree from Ronald Reagan’s alma mater, Eureka College. In June of 2009, she returned to Washington, D.C. for the unveiling ceremony of a statue of former President Reagan that was placed in the U.S. Capitol Building. She has been especially active in planning for his 2011 centennial, seated with President Obama in the White House as he signed the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act. She also presided over a ceremony marking the 2010 unveiling of a US postage stamp to be issued in commemoration of the centennial, and has helped to plan the Reagan Library’s numerous events for the centennial year. As a former First Lady of the United States and yet a symbol of her late husband’s party, Mrs. Reagan has also successfully managed bipartisanship with party loyalty.

She fondly asserted the personal friendship that had existed between her and President Reagan and Senator Edward Kennedy, following his August 2009 death, despite their political differences. She also praised President Obama for his decision to reverse a Bush Administration federal funding ban on stem cell research. During her June 2009 trip to Washington, she was welcomed by the incumbent First Lady Michelle Obama for lunch in the family dining room in the private quarters, marking their first meeting. Two of the earliest 2008 presidential candidates’ debates among those vying for the Republican nomination were hosted by Nancy Reagan at the Reagan Library, in May 2007 and January 2008. She attended both events, but followed the tradition of her late husband in not endorsing any one candidate during the primaries. She then publicly endorsed and appeared with the party’s presumed nominee for President, John McCain, whom she had known since her incumbency as First Lady, when he had first been elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona. During the 2010 mid-term elections, the former First Lady endorsed two women Republican candidates for state and national office from California, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorini, who ran for Governor and U.S.

Senate, respectively. Encouraging the presidential library to again serve as a venue for debates, she attended one held there in late 2011 among 2012 Republican presidential candidates. She continues to attend important Library events, notably those with speakers active in political life and the media. Death: The Hollywood Movie Star who became First Lady: Nancy Reagan’s Film Career The Hollywood Movie Star who became First Lady: Nancy Reagan’s Film Career by Carl Anthony on February 28, 2014 The future First Lady Nancy Davis [Reagan] posing for a Hollywood publicity still. (RRPL) The broadcast of the annual Academy Awards for Motion Pictures this coming Sunday, March 2, 2014, offers an opportunity to consider an often neglected period in the career of one of history’s most important First Ladies, Nancy Reagan. Edie Luckett, Nancy Reagan’s mother, during her theatrical career (Make-Believe, Leamer) Born far from the glamorous hills of Hollywood with which she would come to be so closely associated in the working-class neighborhood of Flushing, Queens in New York City, this First Lady’s legals born as Anne Frances Robbins on July 5, 1921.

Nancy Reagan might well have been born in a theatrical trunk, however, given the nature of her mother’s active professional life as a theatrical actress. Following her separation from Nancy’s birth father Kenneth Robbins, Edith Luckett returned to the theatrical profession which had gainfully employed many of her own family in the late 19th century in the Washington, D.C. area. Edie counted many friends who went on to become legendary movie actors like Katherine Hepburn and Claudette Colbert, who then took her daughter under their wings. Even Nancy Reagan’s godmother was the famously exotic actress Alla Nazimova. Since Edie’s work meant she was not just in New York for a show’s run but often traveling the nation as part of touring companies, Nancy Reagan matured into adolescence in the care of her maternal aunt in Bethesda, Maryland. Nancy Davis in her high school production of a play called First Lady. (My Turn, Reagan) While living apart from her mother created anxiety, being so close to Washington permitted the future First Lady to at least attend the annual Easter Egg Roll contest on the White House lawn during the years that Grace Coolidge hosted the event.

Following Edith’s 1928 divorce from Ken Robbins, marriage a year later to Chicago neurosurgeon Loyal Davis and his 1935 adoption of her daughter, Nancy Davis enrolled at the Girls Latin School in the Windy City. There she performed in many of the school plays, including one called First Lady. Upon graduation, Nancy Davis went on to attend Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts. While at Smith, Nancy Davis continued her interest in acting, involving herself in the school’s theatrical productions, including a World War II show called The Factory Follies, which referenced the famous Rosie the Riveters of the era. Nancy Davis (center) in a World War II theatrical review at Smith College known as the Factory Follies (AP) She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in dramatic arts. The future First Lady was still in college, however, when she made her very first appearance on film, performing in a National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis fundraising short film short shown across the nation’s movie theaters. In the short, Nancy Davis played a volunteer in the fight against polio, a public service effort with incumbent First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt then serving as an honorary chair of the organization which her husband had helped foster.

In 11945, two years after graduating from Smith College, Nancy Davis followed her mother’s footsteps in the limelight, cast in a small role in the touring company of Ramshackle Inn, starring Edith Davis’s friend, the legendary actress Zasu Pitts. A year later, she won a role in the Broadway musical Lute Song, which starred Mary Martin and Yul Brynner. Nancy Davis as a stage actress, in emulation of her first theatrical co-star, comedic actress Zasu Pitts, a friend of her mother’s. (Make-Believe, Leamer) With many theatrical works being filmed for the earliest television show series in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Nancy Davis appeared in another production of Ramshackle Inn for television broadcast, as well as one called Broken Dishes. It was that latter TV appearance which led to her being flown out to the state she would always love as her home, California, bidden there to make a screen test for Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios. Mrs.

Davis told her friend Spencer Tracey about the exciting prospect and he then phoned legendary director George Cukor who, along with Howard Keel, worked with Nancy Davis in producing a screen test which resulted in a contract. “Joining Metro,” said Nancy Reagan, “was like walking into a dream world.” On her first day at the MGM studios, she admitted to being “nervous and gullible.” Nancy Davis’s East Side, West Side scene with Barbara Stanwyck which the young actress filmed in one take and impressed the big star. (greatoldmovies.blogspot.com) The new starlet was struck, recalling how she would report to work some mornings only to find she was seated in the makeup room beside stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner. In the MGM lunchroom, she ate alongside the likes of big-name stars such as Fred Astaire, Lana Turner, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, Gene Kelly, and Esther Williams. Usually typecast as a youthful mother, she auditioned for many other roles in competition with leading stars of the era. With unnerving frequency, however, Debbie Reynolds got the part. “I was beside myself with excitement.

Not only was Metro the greatest studio in Hollywood,” she wrote, “but I was finally earning a regular paycheck…” A poster advertising Nancy Davis’s appearance in The Next Voice You Hear. Over the years, Nancy Reagan would make a total of eleven feature films, appearing with bold-faced names such as Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Ray Milland, Ann Sothern, James Whitmore, Cyd Charisse, and Glenn Ford. During her first year on contract, her first two film roles The Doctor and the Girl and East Side, West Side were as a supporting cast member. A year later, in 1950, she was cast in two films which won her good reviews. The New York Times called her Shadow on the Wall depiction of a child psychiatrist “beautiful and convincing” and the newspaper declared her co-starring role as an expectant mother to whom God speaks through the radio in The Next Voice You Hear to be “delightful.” Nancy Davis with Ray Milland in Night after Morning. Of all her movie roles, Mrs. Reagan’s own favorite was that of a fiancée whose intended husband dies, in the 1951 film Night into Morning.

Both the New York Times and Washington Post film critics detected authenticity in the emotions she conveyed on screen. The Times declared that she “knows the loneliness of grief,” while the Post critiqued that she “is splendid as the understanding widow.” Nancy Davis outside her Hollywood bungalow apartment. (RRPL) It was not then publicly known that, in real life, Nancy Davis had been engaged to a young man during her college years who had, in fact, been killed in an accident which thus altered the course of her personal life. “I loved the work, although it was a lot less glamorous than people think,” Mrs. Reagan later candidly reflected. She also addressed why she made the choices she did during her life at the time: “I was never really a career woman but only because I hadn’t found the man I wanted to marry. I couldn’t sit around and do nothing, so I became an actress.” The Reagans at the 1960 Screen Actors Guild annual membership meeting. (Corbis) Even her initial 1949 press release upon signing with MGM had explicitly stated that a “successful happy marriage” had always been her personal priority.

Once working steadily as a professional actress, however, she had every hope she would eventually receive offers for a wider range of roles. “I think I could have gone on and made a good career for myself,” she later reflected. She was likely less compulsive about “making it big in pictures” than most of her peers at the time because within a year of arriving in Hollywood, she met the president of the Screen Actors Guild, fellow actor Ronald Reagan. Nancy Reagan with Lew Ayres in Donovan’s Brain. After they married in March 1952, the new Mrs. Reagan went on to serve on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors for a decade. Released from her MGM contract that year, she went on to make three more feature films at other studios, the first being a science fiction movie called Donovan’s Brain. The poster for Hellcats of the Navy, the feature film which co-starred the Reagans. Her role as a nurse in the 1957 film Hellcats of the Navy is perhaps her most famous because her co-star was her husband. While the script was panned, her performance was not, one critic noting that Mrs.

Reagan “does well with what she has to work with.” Before making her last motion picture, 1958’s Crash Landing, Nancy Reagan had already begun a second phase of her Hollywood career, guest-starring in a number of television theatrical dramas including four episodes of General Electric Theater, which her husband hosted. In one of those GE Theater episodes Nancy Reagan’s co-star was Ronald Reagan. The name of it? A Turkey for the President. The President and Mrs. Reagan enjoyed watching Hollywood classic films in the White House movie theater. (RRPL) The year 1962 marked the last time Mrs. Reagan acted professionally on camera, doing episodes of four series that year, Wagon Train, 87th Precinct, and The Dick Powell Theater. Five years later she would be serving as the Golden State’s First Lady during Reagan’s two terms as governor and within twenty years, Nancy Reagan was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. It was not the end of offers to star in a feature film, however.

Just seven years after she left the White House, director and actor Albert Brooks approached the former First Lady to consider starring as the lead in his 1996 movie Mother. Nancy Reagan turned down the offer. And Debbie Reynolds got the part. The Feature Film Roles of Nancy Davis Reagan 1949 The Doctor and the Girl as Mariette Esmond 1949 East Side, West Side as Helen Lee 1950 Shadow on the Wall as Dr. Caroline Canford 1950 The Next Voice You Hear as Mary Smith 1951 Night Into Morning as Katherine Mead 1951 It’s a Big Country as Miss Coleman 1952 Talk About a Stranger as Marge Fontaine 1952 Shadow in the Sky as Betty Hopke 1953 Donovan’s Brain as Janice Cory 1957 Hellcats of the Navy as Helen Blair 1958 Crash Landing as Helen Williams Nancy Reagan had a fascinating life. Here are some things you may not know about her. - Vox Nancy Reagan had a fascinating life. Here are some things you may not know about her.

Getty Images/Getty Images Former first lady Nancy Reagan died Sunday of congestive heart failure at the age of 94. She was known for many things: her style and grace, her "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign, her bizarre obsession with astrology following an assassination attempt on her husband Ronald Reagan, and her advocacy for stem cell research as the "long goodbye" of Alzheimer's slowly took her husband away from her. But there's a lot more to Nancy Reagan than that. Here are some things you may not know about this remarkable woman: She was a film actress who was more interested in being a wife and mother than having a career Born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921, Nancy Davis was the daughter of actress Edith Luckett and the adopted stepdaughter of Luckett's second husband Loyal Davis. Nancy Davis followed in her mother's footsteps and worked as a film actress for a while, but gave that up soon after getting married and having children.

Her biographical information submitted to MGM in 1949 said her "greatest ambition" was to have a "happy, successful marriage." She said in later interviews that she thought she was "born to be married." She met Ronald Reagan that same year and married him in 1952. She had vowed not to be a working wife, and only reluctantly took a low-budget sci-fi film role in 1953 because they needed the money. They had two children, Patti Davis and Ronald Reagan Jr. But she still had major influence over her husband's career Lou Cannon's obituary in the New York Times paints a fascinating portrait of Nancy Reagan as a woman whose biggest goal in life really did seem to be being a good wife and supporting her husband. But in Mrs. Reagan's case, "supporting her husband" also meant providing key advice on staffing and strategy. Without her, said longtime aide and close friend of the Reagans Michael K. Deaver, "there would have been no Governor Reagan, no President Reagan." She was part of the planning for Mr. Reagan's successful campaign for California governor from the start.

She had key influence over the staff for her husband's presidential campaigns, first his unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination in 1976 and then his successful bid for president in 1980. She recommended first hiring, then firing, John P. Sears as Reagan's presidential campaign manager, and had a hand in hiring Sears's replacements — first William J. Casey, then finally Stuart Spencer, who shepherded the campaign to victory. Her most critical role probably came in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal. She helped oust the White House chief of staff whom she blamed for ineptness during the scandal, and convinced her husband to apologize to the nation. That March 1987 speech was credited for turning around Mr. Reagan's poor approval ratings. If it wasn't for the "Red Scare" in Hollywood, Nancy and Ronald Reagan may never have met As Cannon recounts , Nancy Davis took the initiative in meeting her future husband while she was trying to clear her name of communist sympathies.

(Which is possibly the best-ever meet-cute for a couple who would later become such idols of American conservatism.) In an apparent case of mistaken identity, another "Nancy Davis" who worked in "leftist theater" signed a 1949 brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn the contempt convictions of two blacklisted screenwriters who had refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. This was potentially career-ending publicity. So Nancy insisted on setting up a meeting with Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild, in order to clear her name. She ended up becoming smitten with Reagan, who was still getting over his ex-wife. After some on-and-off dating, the couple married in March of 1952. She had a complicated role in the AIDS crisis As BuzzFeed News's Chris Geidner reported last year , the 1985 death of Hollywood legend Rock Hudson from AIDS complications fundamentally changed the national conversations on the disease. What's less known is that Nancy Reagan refused to help Hudson after his publicist begged her to intervene and convince a French military hospital to treat him.

The hospital was believed to have special treatment that could help, but Hudson, who was in Paris when he collapsed, was refused because he didn't live in France. Mrs. Reagan declined the request, apparently because she didn't want it to seem like the administration was playing favorites with friends or celebrities. She agreed with White House staffer Mark Weinberg's advice that, "This is probably not the [last] time we’re going to get a request like this and we want to be fair and not do anything that would appear to favor personal friends." But Hudson's death nine weeks later seemed to shake Mrs. Reagan. She apparently did a lot behind the scenes to convince her husband that he needed to fund AIDS research and do more about the crisis. Mr. Reagan was infamously slow to do anything about AIDS; he cut funding for it initially, and only spoke officially about the crisis in 1987 after thousands had died. Was this article helpful? Nancy Davis Reagan | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Nancy Davis Reagan Originally a Broadway actress, Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

She served as First Lady from 1981 to 1989, remembered for her passionate advocacy for decreasing drug and alcohol abuse. "My life really began when I married my husband," says Nancy Reagan, who in the 1950's happily gave up an acting career for a permanent role as the wife of Ronald Reagan and mother to their children. Her story actually begins in New York City, her birthplace. She was born on July 6, 1921. When the future First Lady was six, her mother, Edith--a stage actress--married Dr. Loyal Davis, a neurosurgeon. Dr. Davis adopted Nancy, and she grew up in Chicago. It was a happy time: summer camp, tennis, swimming, dancing. She received her formal education at Girls' Latin School and at Smith College in Massachusetts, where she majored in theater. Soon after graduation she became a professional actress. She toured with a road company, then landed a role on Broadway in the hit musical Lute Song. More parts followed. One performance drew an offer from Hollywood. Billed as Nancy Davis, she performed in 11 films from 1949 to 1956.

Her first screen role was in Shadow on the Wall. Other releases included The Next Voice Your Hear and East Side, West Side. In her last movie, Hellcats of the Navy, she played opposite her husband. She had met Ronald Reagan in 1951, when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. The following year they were married in a simple ceremony in Los Angeles in the Little Brown Church in the Valley. Mrs. Reagan soon retired from making movies so she "could be the wife I wanted to be...A woman's real happiness and real fulfillment come from within the home with her husband and children," she says. President and Mrs. Reagan have a daughter, Patricia Ann, and a son, Ronald Prescott. While her husband was Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, she worked with numerous charitable groups. She spent many hours visiting veterans, the elderly, and the emotionally and physically handicapped. These people continued to interest her as First Lady. She gave her support to the Foster Grandparent Program, the subject of her 1982 book, To Love A Child. Increasingly, she has concentrated on the fight against drug and alcohol abuse among young people.

She visited prevention and rehabilitation centers, and in 1985 she held a conference at the White House for First Ladies of 17 countries to focus international attention on this problem. Mrs. Reagan shared her lifelong interest in the arts with the nation by using the Executive Mansion as a showcase for talented young performers in the PBS television series "In Performance at the White House." In her first year in the mansion she directed a major renovation of the second- and third-floor quarters. Now living in retirement in California, she continues to work on her campaign to teach children to "just say no" to drugs. In her book My Turn, published in 1989, she gives her own account of her life in the White House. Through the joys and sorrows of those days, including the assassination attempt on her husband, Nancy Reagan held fast to her belief in love, honesty, and selflessness. "The ideals have endured because they are right and are no less right today than yesterday." The biographies of the First Ladies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The First Ladies of the United States of America,” by Allida Black. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association.

Question: Whose second marriage was to actress Nancy Davis?
Answer: RONALD REAGAN