1921: Ronald Reagan’s Wife Nancy was Also an Actress

On this day in 1921, Nancy Reagan, the wife of US President Ronald Reagan, was born.

She was born Anne Frances Robbins, but was already as a child commonly called Nancy, which is a diminutive of the name Anne. It is interesting that her mother was also an American actress, named Edith Luckett, who performed on Broadway and even starred in films.

Edith Luckett divorced Nancy’s father shortly after their daughter was born, and she later remarried, so Nancy got a stepfather named Loyal Davis. He was a prominent neurosurgeon and Nancy changed her name to Davis and referred to him as her father.

Nancy first began acting in films in 1940, when she was about 19 years old. It seems that her mother, who knew a considerable number of fellow actors, helped her to get a part on Broadway. She then moved to California and began working for Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Her film career began when she appeared in films “The Doctor and the Girl” with Glenn Ford and “East Side, West Side” starring Barbara Stanwyck.

Nancy met Ronald Reagan when she was 28 years old. He was about ten years older than her and was already divorced (his first wife was the actress Jane Wyman). Back then, Reagan was already the president of the American Screen Actors Guild. They got married in 1952, when she was 30 and he was 41 years old. They had two children, and Reagan had two from a previous marriage. It is interesting that both Reagan daughters became actresses, and both sons became radio hosts.

Nancy starred along with her husband Ronald Reagan in only one film. It is interesting that she even starred in a science fiction-horror film (Donovan’s Brain, in 1953). She permanently retired from acting in 1962, when she was about 40 years old. In 1967, her husband became governor of California and in 1981 the President of the United States, which made her the First Lady.