Nancy Reagan Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Acting career == [[File:Publicity Shot of Nancy Davis.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Davis, {{circa}} 1949–50]] In 1940, a young Davis had appeared as a [[National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis]] volunteer in a memorable short subject film shown in movie theaters to raise donations for the crusade against [[Poliomyelitis|polio]]. ''The Crippler'' featured a sinister figure spreading over playgrounds and farms, laughing over its victims, until finally dispelled by the volunteer. It was very effective in raising contributions.<ref>{{cite book |last= Oshinsky |first= David M. |title= Polio: An American Story |year= 2005 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= New York |page= [https://archive.org/details/polioamericansto00oshi/page/68 68] |url= https://archive.org/details/polioamericansto00oshi/page/68 |isbn= 978-0-19-515294-4 }}</ref> Following her graduation from college, Davis held jobs in Chicago as a sales clerk in [[Marshall Field's]] department store and as a nurse's aide.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> With the help of her mother's colleagues in theatre, including [[ZaSu Pitts]], [[Walter Huston]], and [[Spencer Tracy]],<ref name="nyt-lw" /> she pursued a professional career as an actress. She first gained a part in Pitts' 1945 road tour of ''[[Ramshackle Inn]]'',<ref name="Nancy Reagan: Her Life & Times" /><ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> moving to New York City. She landed the role of Si-Tchun, a [[lady-in-waiting]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1771 | title=Lute Song | publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]] | access-date=October 18, 2007}}</ref> in the 1946 Broadway musical about the Orient, ''[[Lute Song (musical)|Lute Song]]'', starring [[Mary Martin]] and a pre-fame [[Yul Brynner]].<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> The show's producer told her, "You look like you could be Chinese."<ref>Reagan, Nancy (1989), p. 85.</ref> After passing a [[screen test]],<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> she moved to California and signed a seven-year contract with [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.]] (MGM) in 1949;<ref name="Nancy Reagan: Her Life & Times" /> she later remarked, "Joining Metro was like walking into a dream world."<ref>Reagan, Nancy (1989), p. 88.</ref> Her combination of attractive appearance—centered on her large eyes—and somewhat distant and understated manner made her hard at first for MGM to cast and publicize.<ref name="metzger-32">Metzger, Robert Paul (1989), pp. 31–32.</ref> Davis appeared in eleven feature films, usually [[typecasting (acting)|typecast]] as a "loyal housewife",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?participantId=45332%7C115968&afiPersonalNameId=null|title=Biography for Nancy Davis|access-date=October 17, 2007 |publisher=Turner Broadcasting System, Inc|year=2007}}</ref> "responsible young mother", or "the steady woman".<ref name="cannon-gov">Cannon, Lou (2003), pp. 75–76.</ref> [[Jane Powell]], [[Debbie Reynolds]], [[Leslie Caron]], and [[Janet Leigh]] were among the actresses with whom she competed for roles at MGM.<ref name="metzger-32" /> [[File:Nancy Reagan - 1950.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Davis in 1950]] Davis' film career began with small supporting roles in two films that were released in 1949, ''[[The Doctor and the Girl]]'' with [[Glenn Ford]] and ''[[East Side, West Side (1949 film)|East Side, West Side]]'' starring [[Barbara Stanwyck]].<ref name="The Films of Nancy Reagan" /> She played a [[Child and adolescent psychiatry|child psychiatrist]] in the [[film noir]] ''[[Shadow on the Wall (1950 film)|Shadow on the Wall]]'' (1950) with [[Ann Sothern]] and [[Zachary Scott]]; her performance was called "beautiful and convincing" by ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' critic A. H. Weiler.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/05/19/archives/another-view-of-psychiatrists-task.html| title=Another View of Psychiatrist's Task | author=A. H. Weiler (credited as "A. W.") | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=May 19, 1950 | access-date=October 18, 2007}}</ref> She co-starred in 1950's ''[[The Next Voice You Hear...]]'', playing a pregnant housewife who hears the voice of God from her radio. Influential reviewer [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote that "Nancy Davis [is] delightful as [a] gentle, plain, and understanding wife."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/06/30/archives/the-screen-in-review-the-next-voice-you-hear-dore-schary-production.html| title='The Next Voice You Hear ... ', Dore Schary Production, Opens at Music Hall | author=Bosley Crowther | newspaper=The New York Times | date=June 30, 1950 | access-date=October 18, 2007 |author-link=Bosley Crowther}}</ref> In 1951, Davis appeared in ''[[Night into Morning]]'', her favorite screen role,<ref>Reagan, Nancy (1989), p. 91.</ref> a study of bereavement starring [[Ray Milland]]. Crowther said that Davis "does nicely as the fiancée who is widowed herself and knows the loneliness of grief",<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/06/11/archives/the-screen-in-review-night-into-morning-starring-ray-milland-as-a.html | title='Night Into Morning,' Starring Ray Milland as a Bereaved Professor, at Loew's State | author=Bosley Crowther | newspaper=The New York Times | date=June 11, 1951 | access-date=October 18, 2007 |author-link=Bosley Crowther}}</ref> while another noted critic, ''[[The Washington Post]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[Richard L. Coe]], said Davis "is splendid as the understanding widow".<ref>{{cite news|title='Night Into Morning' Is Almost Excellent |author=Richard L. Coe |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=June 9, 1951 |author-link=Richard L. Coe }}</ref> MGM released Davis from her contract in 1952;<ref name="metzger-33">Metzger, Robert Paul (1989), p. 33.</ref> she sought a broader range of parts,<ref>Wills (1987), p. 184.</ref> but also married Reagan, keeping her professional name as Davis, and had her first child that year.<ref name="metzger-33" /> She soon starred in the science fiction film ''[[Donovan's Brain (film)|Donovan's Brain]]'' (1953); Crowther said that Davis, playing the role of a possessed scientist's "sadly baffled wife", "walked through it all in stark confusion" in an "utterly silly" film.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/01/21/archives/the-screen-in-review-donovans-brain-sciencefiction-thriller-has.html| title=' Donovan's Brain,' Science-Fiction Thriller, Has Premiere at the Criterion Theatre | author=Bosley Crowther | newspaper=The New York Times | date=January 21, 1954 | access-date=October 20, 2007 |author-link=Bosley Crowther}}</ref> In her next-to-last movie, ''[[Hellcats of the Navy]]'' (1957), she played nurse Lieutenant Helen Blair, and appeared in a film for the only time with her husband, playing what one critic called "a housewife who came along for the ride".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.toptenreviews.com/scripts/eframe/url.htm?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dvdtalk.com%2Fdvdsavant%2Fs808hell.html|title=Hellcats of the Navy, review one|access-date=October 17, 2007|publisher=Kleinman.com Inc|last=Erickson|first=Glenn|year=2003|archive-date=May 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510134001/http://www.toptenreviews.com/scripts/eframe/url.htm?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dvdtalk.com%2Fdvdsavant%2Fs808hell.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another reviewer, however, stated that Davis plays her part satisfactorily, and "does well with what she has to work with".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/hellcatsnavy.php |title=Hellcats Of The Navy, review two |access-date=October 17, 2007 |publisher=DVDVerdict |last=Harper |first=Erick |year=2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218212614/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/hellcatsnavy.php |archive-date=February 18, 2008 }}</ref> [[File:Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan aboard a boat in California 1964.jpg|thumb|right|Nancy and Ronald Reagan aboard a boat, 1964]] Author [[Garry Wills]] has said that Davis was generally underrated as an actress because her constrained part in ''Hellcats'' was her most widely seen performance.<ref name="cannon-gov" /> In addition, Davis downplayed her Hollywood goals: promotional material from MGM in 1949 said that her "greatest ambition" was to have a "successful happy marriage"; decades later, in 1975, she would say, "I was never really a career woman but [became one] 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."<ref name="cannon-gov" /> Ronald Reagan biographer [[Lou Cannon]] nevertheless characterized her as a "reliable" and "solid" performer who held her own in performances with better-known actors.<ref name="cannon-gov" /> After her final film, ''[[Crash Landing (1958 film)|Crash Landing]]'' (1958), Davis appeared for a brief time as a guest star in television dramas, such as the ''[[Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre|Zane Grey Theatre]]'' episode "The Long Shadow" (1961), where she played opposite Ronald Reagan, as well as ''[[Wagon Train]]'' and ''[[The Tall Man (TV series)|The Tall Man]]'', until she retired as an actress in 1962.<ref name="The Films of Nancy Reagan">{{cite web |url= http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/nancy/films.asp |title= Nancy Reagan > Her Films |access-date=March 8, 2007 |publisher= Ronald Reagan Foundation|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070812232914/http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/nancy/films.asp |archive-date = August 12, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> During her career, Davis served for nearly ten years on the board of directors of the [[Screen Actors Guild]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sag.org/ronald-reagan|title= Screen Actors Guild Presidents |access-date=March 8, 2007 |publisher= Screen Actors Guild}}</ref> Decades later, [[Albert Brooks]] attempted to coax her out of acting retirement by offering her the title role opposite himself in his 1996 film ''[[Mother (1996 film)|Mother]]''.<ref name="peo012797" /> She declined in order to care for her husband, and Debbie Reynolds played the part.<ref name="peo012797">{{cite news|url=http://www.albertbrooks.com/1997/01/to-the-top/ |title=To The Top |author=Lambert, Pat |magazine=[[People (American magazine)|People]] |date=January 27, 1997 |access-date=January 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707005647/http://www.albertbrooks.com/1997/01/to-the-top/ |archive-date=July 7, 2012 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page