What was Nancy Reagan's occupation before she devoted herself to helping Ronald Reagan's political career?

Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins; 1921-2016) was the wife of Ronald Reagan, who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was a Hollywood actress during the 1940s and 1950s, starring in movies such as, 'Donovan's Brain', 'Night Into Morning' and 'Hellcats of the Navy'.

In 1952, Nancy married Ronald Reagan and became First Lady of the United States in January 1981. Nancy played a role in a few of Reagan's diplomatic decisions and created the 'Just Say No' anti-drug campaign.

The Reagan's left the White House in 1989, and from 1994 onwards, Nancy devoted most of her time to caring for her husband who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Ronald Reagan died in 2004 and Nancy advocated for stem cell research until her death in 2016.

As an actress, she used the name Nancy Davis. She had roles in eleven movies between 1949 to 1956 before co-starring in 'Hellcats of the Navy' (1957) with Ronald Reagan. Her final movie was 'Crash Landing' in 1958, after which she appeared in television dramas until 1962.

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11 Comments

elizawheeler

She must have been a very strong woman. She took care of her husband through dementia before he died. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

marilynmitri

I suspect Nancy had a hand in Ronald Reagan's political decisions to a far greater extent than we realized, as Alzheimer's began to affect him. I remember once when they were about to board a plane, and he fumbled over a reporter's question. "We're doing the best we can", she said. He echoed her, "We're doing the best we can". It was sad .

John W Shreve

A lovely lady who had fun goofing on the press. She was very active in helping orphans and the elderly and when I got back from Vietnam, I visited a buddy who was a patient in the VA hospital in S.F. He said Mrs. Reagan came around twice to visit the vets and see if they were being taken care of. She could be a little dingy but had a great heart and cared about people.

John W Shreve

lucky57, The Devil condemns his own.

Mic Fenst

A lady who was constantly out of touch with reality.

Hazel

wok, it wasn't actually

William Laughlin

Claudia Heilke, You hit the nail on the head. The Reagans were not the saints so many make them out to be. Until Ronnie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and they realized stem cell research might lead to a cure for it, they opposed stem cell research. They also could have helped Rock Hudson get into a French hospital when he had AIDS, but refused his request. In fact, Saint Ronnie didn't even say the word, AIDS, publicly until after his 6th year in office. Reagan didn't give a thought to helping gay men, even though he had so many resources at his command. They were selfish people and the union-busting Reagan and his ridiculous "trickle-down economics" helped to usher in the decline of the middle class in the US. They were horrible people.

teacherchicky

They were so devoted to each other, right up until the end! She may have come off like a witch, lucky57 but she was kind and gracious to me BOTH times I met and had lunch with her and Ronnie! As I was just a child, they were being genuine because I couldn't even vote for them, so they obviously weren't after something from me!