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Nancy Davis Reagan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and the wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. She served as the First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. 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 starring Barbara Stanwyck. She played a child psychiatrist in the film noir Shadow on the Wall (1950) with Ann Sothern and Zachary Scott; her performance was called "beautiful and convincing" by New York Times critic A. H. Weiler. 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." In 1951, Davis appeared in Night into Morning, her favorite screen role, 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," while another noted critic, The Washington Post's Richard L. Coe, said Davis "is splendid as the understanding widow." MGM released Davis from her contract in 1952; she sought a broader range of parts, but also married Reagan, keeping her professional name as Davis, and had her first child that year. She soon starred in the science fiction 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. 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." Another reviewer, however, stated that Davis plays her part satisfactorily, and "does well with what she has to work with." 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. 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." Ronald Reagan biographer Lou Cannon nevertheless characterized her as a "reliable" and "solid" performer who held her own in performances with better-known actors. After her final film, Crash Landing (1958), Davis appeared for a brief time as a guest star in television dramas, such as the Zane Grey Theatre episode "The Long Shadow" (1961), where she played opposite Ronald Reagan, as well as Wagon Train and The Tall Man, until she retired as an actress in 1962.


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Born:
Jul 6, 1921 In New York, New York, U.S.A.
Movie/TV Credits:
67
First Appeared:
In the movie The Doctor and the Girl 1949-09-29
Latest Project:
Movie Cocaine Bear 2023-02-22
Known For
Poster of The Way I See It
Poster of The '80s: The Decade That Made Us
Poster of La Coupe Stanley à Montréal en 1993
Poster of Family Fundamentals
Filmography
Movie Cocaine Bear Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 2023-02-22
Movie Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy Self 2021-01-11
Movie The New Air Force One: Flying Fortress Self (archive footage) 2021-02-16
Movie The Way I See It Self (archive footage) 2020-09-18
Series First Ladies Self (archive footage) 2020-10-04
Movie Zappa Self (archive footage) 2020-11-27
Series The Reagans Self (archive footage) 2020-11-15
Series The Family Self (archive footage) 2019-08-09
Movie Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn Self (archive footage) 2019-09-29
Movie Reversing Roe Self (archive footage) 2018-09-01
Movie The Road to Mass Incarceration Self 2018-06-13
Movie Get Me Roger Stone Self (archive footage) 2017-04-23
Movie The Reagan Show Self (archive footage) 2017-04-22
Movie American Made Herself (archive footage) 2017-08-18
Movie Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web Herself (archive footage) 2017-08-21
Movie How to Win the US Presidency Self (archive footage) 2016-08-01
Movie 13th Self (archive footage) 2016-10-07
Movie The Making of Trump Self (archive footage) 2015-11-30
Movie Kill the Messenger Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 2014-10-09
Series The '80s: The Decade That Made Us Self (archive footage) 2013-04-14
Movie Our Nixon Self 2013-01-23
Movie The Presidents' Gatekeepers Self (archive footage) 2013-09-12
Movie The House I Live In Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 2012-10-05
Movie Reagan Self (archive footage) 2011-02-07
Movie Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime Herself/archival footage 2010-02-06
Movie How to Win the TV Debate Self (Archive Footage) 2010-04-12
Movie Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics Self (archive footage) 2010-11-09
Movie Casino Jack and the United States of Money Self (archive footage) 2010-05-09
Movie La Coupe Stanley à Montréal en 1993 Self (archive footage) 2008-01-01
Movie All the Presidents' Wives Self 2008-06-24
Movie Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven Self 2007-04-11
Series The Queen at 80 Unknown 2006-04-09
Movie Remembering Reagan at His Ranch (archive footage) 2004-06-22
Movie Stand-up Reagan Self (archive footage) 2004-09-07
Movie Family Fundamentals Self - First Lady (archive footage) 2002-05-26
Movie Reagan Self 1998-02-23
Movie Inside the White House Self (archive footage) 1996-01-01
Movie Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To (archive footage) 1990-06-04
Movie Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 1990-07-18
Movie The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special Herself 1988-09-15
Movie James Stewart: A Wonderful Life Self 1988-11-22
Movie Tyranny of the Status Quo: Politicians Self (Archival Footage) 1984-01-01
Movie Tyranny of the Status Quo: Beneficiaries Self (Archival Footage) 1984-01-01
Movie Tyranny of the Status Quo: Bureaucrats Self (Archival Footage) 1984-01-01
Movie The Chemical People 1983-11-02
Movie The Killing of America Self (archive footage) 1981-09-05
Series Diff'rent Strokes Unknown 1978-11-03
Series Apostrophes Self 1975-01-10
Series Great Performances Self 1971-01-28
Series 87th Precinct Unknown 1961-09-25
Series The Tall Man Unknown 1960-09-10
Movie Crash Landing Helen Williams 1958-07-01
Movie Hellcats of the Navy Nurse Lt. Helen Blair 1957-05-01
Movie The Dark Wave 1956-06-01
Series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre Amy Lawson 1956-10-05
Series Climax! Carol Peterson 1954-10-07
Series General Electric Theater Vicky Carlisle 1953-02-01
Movie Donovan's Brain Janice Cory 1953-09-30
Movie Talk About a Stranger Marge Fontaine 1952-04-18
Movie Shadow in the Sky Betty Hopke (as Nancy Davis) 1952-07-18
Movie It's a Big Country Miss Coleman 1951-11-20
Movie Night Into Morning Mrs. Katherine Mead 1951-06-08
Series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Helen 1951-10-05
Movie Shadow on the Wall Dr. Caroline Canford 1950-05-19
Movie The Next Voice You Hear... Mary Smith 1950-06-29
Movie The Doctor and the Girl Mariette Corday 1949-09-29
Movie East Side, West Side Helen Lee 1949-12-22