09-10-2007, 05:36 PM
Jane Wyman, Actress, Ronald Reagan's Ex-Wife, Dies
By Kathryn Harris
Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Jane Wyman, the Oscar-winning actress who was married in the 1940s to Ronald Reagan, then gained new fame starring in a television drama while he was in the White House, died today. She was at least 90.
Richard Adney, of Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary, told the Associated Press that Wyman died at her Palm Springs, California, home. AP gave her age as 93.
Wyman made almost 100 appearances in movies and television programs over seven decades, received four Oscar nominations as best actress and renewed her stardom in her late '60s on the television show ``Falcon Crest.''
She never shed her identity as the former wife of the late U.S. president. Her longtime agent, Robert Raison, told the New York Times in 1981 that Wyman had tired of being hounded for gossip about Reagan's personal life. Questions about Reagan were usually met with tight-lipped silence.
She broke that silence in 2004 after Reagan died, saying ``America has lost a great president and a great, kind and gentle man,'' according to AP.
By all accounts, it was Wyman who set her sights on marriage to Reagan in 1940 but wearied of his political zeal and initiated the divorce that was finalized in 1949. By then, her success in films had surpassed her husband's, with a best actress nomination for her 1946 role as Ma Baxter in ``The Yearling'' opposite actor Gregory Peck, and an Academy Award for her 1948 role as a deaf mute in ``Johnny Belinda.''
Move to TV
Wyman also received Academy nominations for her roles in ``Blue Veil'' in 1951 and ``Magnificent Obsession,'' the 1954 film that boosted Rock Hudson's career. She shocked the movie colony in 1955 with her move to television as host of ``Fireside Theatre,'' an NBC anthology series, which was later renamed ``The Jane Wyman Theatre.'' Reagan, by then her ex-husband, hosted the rival ``General Electric Theater'' on CBS in those years.
Biographers differ on the details of Jane Wyman's early life, except to agree that she was raised in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her birth date and parentage are matters of dispute that the actress -- who adopted her professional name in 1936 -- never publicly addressed.
Sarah Jane Mayfield
Anne Edwards, author of ``Early Reagan,'' concluded that Wyman was named Sarah Jane Mayfield and was born on Jan. 5, 1917, to Gladys Hope Christian and Manning J. Mayfield, a young couple that filed for divorce in 1921. Wyman was evidently placed in the care of a middle-aged couple, Richard and Emma Fulks. Following the death of Richard Fulks, his widow moved to Los Angeles with Sarah Jane to live with relatives.
Sarah Jane dropped out of Los Angeles High School by 1932, the same year she appeared in the chorus of ``The Kid From Spain.'' On April 8, 1933, she married Ernest Eugene Wyman, according to Edmund Morris, author of ``Dutch,'' the Ronald Reagan memoir.
Morris noted that she was barely 16, although she claimed to be three years older on the marriage certificate. She was divorced from Wyman in 1935, according to a Los Angeles Examiner clipping he found in archives at University of Southern California.
Warner Bros. Contract
Wyman adopted her professional name when she signed a contract with Warner Bros. in 1936 for $65 per week. By then, she had appeared in more than a dozen films without credit or identified as Sara Jane Fulks. Often cast as a fast-talking sidekick, Wyman's name appeared on screen for the first time for her role as a hatcheck girl in the 1937 ``Smart Blonde,'' the first in a series of girl reporter films.
On June 29, 1937, Wyman married Myron Futterman, a New Orleans clothing manufacturer. She divorced him on Dec. 5, 1938, several months after she first worked with Reagan in the film, ``Brother Rat.''
Reagan and Wyman were among the young actors invited to go on a vaudeville tour in 1939 with Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who took an interest in their romance and staged their wedding reception at her home on Jan. 26, 1940.
Reagan and Wyman were great favorites with fan magazines, as they permitted extensive coverage of their home life and first child, Maureen Elizabeth, born on Jan. 4, 1941. In 1945, the couple adopted an infant son, Michael Edward. Wyman went into premature labor with another daughter, Christine, who died nine hours after birth in 1947.
Boarding School
Wyman gradually won substantive roles that brought financial reward and acclaim. When she filed for divorce from Reagan, she sent 7-year-old Maureen to a Southern California boarding school, followed by son Michael when he turned 5.
In her 1989 memoir, ``First Father, First Daughter,'' Maureen Reagan described her mother as a person who could not be dissuaded once she made a decision. She cited Wyman's decision to have her children convert with her to Catholicism, and abrupt changes in Maureen's schooling.
Wyman married Fred Karger, a musical arranger and bandleader, in 1952, but divorced him in 1955. The two remarried in 1961, then divorced a second time.
Wyman took up landscape painting during the filming of ``Johnny Belinda'' on the northern California coast, and for a time sold her paintings in a gallery in Carmel, California, where she lived before she resumed fulltime work in 1981 as Angela Channing, the conniving and stylish vineyard owner on the CBS primetime drama, ``Falcon Crest,'' which aired until 1990.
Wyman's daughter Maureen died at age 60 in 2001. Survivors include son Michael, a radio talk show host.
The Jays gets 7
According to IMDB, she was born in 1914.
By Kathryn Harris
Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Jane Wyman, the Oscar-winning actress who was married in the 1940s to Ronald Reagan, then gained new fame starring in a television drama while he was in the White House, died today. She was at least 90.
Richard Adney, of Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary, told the Associated Press that Wyman died at her Palm Springs, California, home. AP gave her age as 93.
Wyman made almost 100 appearances in movies and television programs over seven decades, received four Oscar nominations as best actress and renewed her stardom in her late '60s on the television show ``Falcon Crest.''
She never shed her identity as the former wife of the late U.S. president. Her longtime agent, Robert Raison, told the New York Times in 1981 that Wyman had tired of being hounded for gossip about Reagan's personal life. Questions about Reagan were usually met with tight-lipped silence.
She broke that silence in 2004 after Reagan died, saying ``America has lost a great president and a great, kind and gentle man,'' according to AP.
By all accounts, it was Wyman who set her sights on marriage to Reagan in 1940 but wearied of his political zeal and initiated the divorce that was finalized in 1949. By then, her success in films had surpassed her husband's, with a best actress nomination for her 1946 role as Ma Baxter in ``The Yearling'' opposite actor Gregory Peck, and an Academy Award for her 1948 role as a deaf mute in ``Johnny Belinda.''
Move to TV
Wyman also received Academy nominations for her roles in ``Blue Veil'' in 1951 and ``Magnificent Obsession,'' the 1954 film that boosted Rock Hudson's career. She shocked the movie colony in 1955 with her move to television as host of ``Fireside Theatre,'' an NBC anthology series, which was later renamed ``The Jane Wyman Theatre.'' Reagan, by then her ex-husband, hosted the rival ``General Electric Theater'' on CBS in those years.
Biographers differ on the details of Jane Wyman's early life, except to agree that she was raised in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her birth date and parentage are matters of dispute that the actress -- who adopted her professional name in 1936 -- never publicly addressed.
Sarah Jane Mayfield
Anne Edwards, author of ``Early Reagan,'' concluded that Wyman was named Sarah Jane Mayfield and was born on Jan. 5, 1917, to Gladys Hope Christian and Manning J. Mayfield, a young couple that filed for divorce in 1921. Wyman was evidently placed in the care of a middle-aged couple, Richard and Emma Fulks. Following the death of Richard Fulks, his widow moved to Los Angeles with Sarah Jane to live with relatives.
Sarah Jane dropped out of Los Angeles High School by 1932, the same year she appeared in the chorus of ``The Kid From Spain.'' On April 8, 1933, she married Ernest Eugene Wyman, according to Edmund Morris, author of ``Dutch,'' the Ronald Reagan memoir.
Morris noted that she was barely 16, although she claimed to be three years older on the marriage certificate. She was divorced from Wyman in 1935, according to a Los Angeles Examiner clipping he found in archives at University of Southern California.
Warner Bros. Contract
Wyman adopted her professional name when she signed a contract with Warner Bros. in 1936 for $65 per week. By then, she had appeared in more than a dozen films without credit or identified as Sara Jane Fulks. Often cast as a fast-talking sidekick, Wyman's name appeared on screen for the first time for her role as a hatcheck girl in the 1937 ``Smart Blonde,'' the first in a series of girl reporter films.
On June 29, 1937, Wyman married Myron Futterman, a New Orleans clothing manufacturer. She divorced him on Dec. 5, 1938, several months after she first worked with Reagan in the film, ``Brother Rat.''
Reagan and Wyman were among the young actors invited to go on a vaudeville tour in 1939 with Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who took an interest in their romance and staged their wedding reception at her home on Jan. 26, 1940.
Reagan and Wyman were great favorites with fan magazines, as they permitted extensive coverage of their home life and first child, Maureen Elizabeth, born on Jan. 4, 1941. In 1945, the couple adopted an infant son, Michael Edward. Wyman went into premature labor with another daughter, Christine, who died nine hours after birth in 1947.
Boarding School
Wyman gradually won substantive roles that brought financial reward and acclaim. When she filed for divorce from Reagan, she sent 7-year-old Maureen to a Southern California boarding school, followed by son Michael when he turned 5.
In her 1989 memoir, ``First Father, First Daughter,'' Maureen Reagan described her mother as a person who could not be dissuaded once she made a decision. She cited Wyman's decision to have her children convert with her to Catholicism, and abrupt changes in Maureen's schooling.
Wyman married Fred Karger, a musical arranger and bandleader, in 1952, but divorced him in 1955. The two remarried in 1961, then divorced a second time.
Wyman took up landscape painting during the filming of ``Johnny Belinda'' on the northern California coast, and for a time sold her paintings in a gallery in Carmel, California, where she lived before she resumed fulltime work in 1981 as Angela Channing, the conniving and stylish vineyard owner on the CBS primetime drama, ``Falcon Crest,'' which aired until 1990.
Wyman's daughter Maureen died at age 60 in 2001. Survivors include son Michael, a radio talk show host.
The Jays gets 7
According to IMDB, she was born in 1914.
If the movie sucks, we can like make out if you like