Nancy Reagan

Before she met Ronald Reagan, Nancy had affairs with several Hollywood actors like Peter Lawford and Clark Gable.

Nancy was said to have a bad relationship with her children. She was often seen to be fighting and quarreling with her children and stepchildren.

Nancy Reagan was born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921 in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Her father was a farmer turned car salesman. Her mother was actress and radio presenter, Edith Prescott Luckett.

Her father’s family was once very prosperous but became poor by the time of her birth. Nancy spent the first two years of her life in a two-story house in New York City. Her parents separated shortly after her birth and divorced in 1928.

The separation parents hit her adversely and she was raised by her Aunt in Virginia for six years. Due to lack of money, Nancy’s mother used to travel all over USA in search of acting roles. In an interview given after she grew up, Nancy told that she used to yearn for her mother during the stay with her aunt.

Her mother married Loyal Edward Davis, a Chicago-based neurosurgeon. Nancy got well with her stepfather. Nancy’s stepfather adopted her in the year 1935. At the time of adoption, her name was formally changed to Nancy Davis.

She went to Girl’s Latin School of Chicago and graduated in the year 1939. Nancy later attended the Smith College in Massachusetts and graduated in the year 1943 with a major in English and Drama.

While in college, she showed keen interest in acting. In the year 1940, she appeared in a short film by National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis shot for the purpose of raising donations to fight polio.

After her graduation, Nancy worked as a sales clerk and as a Nurse’s aide. With the aid of her mother’s colleagues in theatre, she got roles in some of the famous plays of her time like ‘Ramshackle Inn’ and ‘Lute Song’.

She cleared a screen test with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. in the year 1949 and entered into a nine year contract with the studio. During her contract period with MGM, she appeared in eleven feature films. She mostly got small roles of a loyal wife and had to aggressively compete with other famous actresses of the time.

Nancy’s career as a major actress began in 1949 when she got supporting roles in two films, viz. ‘The Doctor and the Girl’ and ‘East Side, West Side’. In 1951, she got another major role in the movie ‘Night into Morning’.

In early 1950s, Nancy’s career faced a big challenge when her name figured on the Hollywood Blacklist. The Blacklist was created to warn the Hollywood studios regarding communist sympathizers and omit them from any future roles.

The political fortunes of Ronald Reagan started to rise when he was elected as the governor of California in the year 1967.

During the governorship of Ronald Reagan, Nancy was appreciated as a ‘model first lady’ for her style, glamour, and youthfulness by the Los Angeles Times.

After serving two terms as the governor, Ronald Reagan began his quest for the office of the President of the USA. She took the conventional role of a candidate’s wife by organizing luncheons, parties, and talks with citizens.

Reagan lost his first bid for Republican Nomination in 1976. But he again contested in 1980 and won the election.

Immediately after moving into the White House, she announced that the executive mansion was in a bad shape and needed repairs. She was heavily criticized for spending extravagantly on her house at the time when the country was going through a recession.