Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins July 6, 1921) was the First Lady of the United States of America from 1981 to 1989. Her husband, Ronald Reagan, was the 40th President of the United States.

Born Anne Frances Robbins in Flushing, New York to Kenneth Seymour Robbins and his actress wife, Edith Luckett. While her parents divorced in 1928, they were separated for some time before then^{[citation needed]}. Nancy was raised by her aunt and uncle for part of her childhood, as her mother traveled the country to pursue acting jobs^{[citation needed]} and Nancy had no contact with her father during this time. In 1929, her mother married Dr. Loyal Davis, a neurosurgeon. Dr. Davis adopted Nancy, and she grew up in Chicago. Nancy's godmother was Russian-born silent film star Alla Nazimova, who was friends with her mother from the theater world^{[citation needed]}. She received her formal education at Girls' Latin School and at Smith College in Massachusetts, where she majored in theater.^{[citation needed]}

Soon after graduation she became a professional actress using the stage name Nancy Davis, and toured with a road company, before landing a role in the Broadway theatre stage musical Lute Song starring Mary Martin^{[citation needed]}. It was her only Broadway show, but she continued performing in smaller theaters. One performance drew an offer from Hollywood^{[citation needed]}.

She eventually signed on as a contract player at MGM Studios. Davis appeared in 11 feature films, beginning in 1949, when she appeared in minor roles in two feature films: The Doctor and the Girl starring Glenn Ford and East Side, West Side starring Barbara Stanwyck. She played a psychiatrist in the film noir Shadow on the Wall (1950) with Ann Sothern and Zachary Scott. Her first co-starring lead role (opposite James Whitmore who got first billing) was in the religious drama The Next Voice You Hear ... (1950). She then starred in the 1953 science fiction film Donovan's Brain. In her second to the last movie, Hellcats of the Navy (1957), she shared the screen for the only time with her husband. After her final film, the airplane disaster movie Crash Landing, released in 1958, she appeared in television dramas such as Wagon Train until 1962, after which she retired as an actress.

In most of her roles, Nancy Davis portrayed decent, godly, morally incorruptible characters, whose overall unremarkableness limited her visibility as an actress ^{[citation needed]}. Critics have praised her performance was in The Next Voice You Hear ..., where she plays a surprisingly rationalist 1950s housewife who hears the voice of God from her radio. Nancy's favorite screen role was that from East Side West Side^{[citation needed]}.

She also served on the Screen Actors Guild Board for nearly 10 years, during which time she would marry Ronald Reagan, who was president of the guild. [2]

She met Ronald Reagan in 1951 while he was president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Another actress by the same name had appeared on the Hollywood blacklist, and Nancy had concern about possible confusion with the other actress. So, Nancy Davis was put in contact with Reagan to help maintain her employment as a SAG actress in Hollywood, and for help in getting her name off this list. On March 4,1952, they were married in a simple ceremony in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles in the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley. Their best man was William Holden. "My life really began when I married my husband," she would later say. [3]

The Reagans had two children born from their marriage. Their daughter, Patricia Ann Reagan (best known as Patti Davis, her professional name), was born on October 21,1952, seven months after the couple's wedding. Their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan, was born on May 20, 1958. Nancy Reagan is also stepmother to Michael Reagan and the late Maureen Reagan, the children of her husband's first marriage to actress Jane Wyman.

Reagan was First Lady of California from 1967 to 1975, during her husband's two terms as governor.

She attracted controversy at the start of her stint when she moved out of the Governor's Mansion in Sacramento, after fire officials had described it as a "firetrap"^{[citation needed]}, and into a wealthy suburb^{[citation needed]}. This move was perceived by many as snobbery, but Mrs. Reagan has said that she did it for the good of her family. ^{[citation needed]}

As California's First Lady, she visited veterans, the elderly, and the handicapped, and worked in conjunction with a number of charitable groups. [4] She began her involvement with the Foster Grandparent Program, which she would continue once in Washington. [5]

As First Lady, Reagan drew controversy early on by announcing the purchase of $200,000 worth of new china for the White House — albeit paid for by a private foundation — at a time when the nation was undergoing a recession; together with her taste for expensive fashion, it gave her an image of being out-of-touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans. She attempted to deflect some of this criticism in 1982 at the Gridiron Dinner when she self-deprecatingly donned a baglady costume and sang "Second-Hand Rose".[6]

On March 30, 1981, Nancy Reagan was in the White House, when the cheif usher rushed up to her. "There's been a shooting," he said. "Everyone is alright, and your husband is not hurt." Mrs. Reagan briskly got into a car, and sped off to George Washington University Medical Hospital, where she found her husband laying on a bed in the operating room. Mrs. Reagan described that moment in her memoirs: "I had seen emergency rooms before, but I had never seen one like this-with my husband in it." It turns out President Reagan was shot, and seriously wounded. Mrs. Reagan waited until the operation was over, and was finally relieved when the doctor told her that the bullet was removed, and the President would live. On April 12, Mrs. Reagan escorted President Reagan back home, to the White House. From that moment on, she sought, in every way possible, to protect her husband from harm.

Nancy Reagan was known for the adoring look she fastened upon her husband during his speeches and appearances. Although most political spouses do this to some extent, Nancy's was so focused and attentive that it was given the nickname "The Gaze". [7] [8]

Behind the scenes, though, Nancy Reagan had some influence in White House operations, especially over personnel matters and her husband's image and legacy. [9]. She became close friends with Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post, having been introduced by their mutual friend Truman Capote, and throughout her later years in the White House met for weekly lunches with Graham and Post editorial page editor Meg Greenfield.

Mrs. Reagan is remembered for conservative fashions emulated by many women of the time, as well as her championing role with participating in the campaign against juvenile drug use. She launched the "Just Say No" Drug Awareness Campaign while First Lady. Still today, there are thousands of "Just Say No" clinics around the country, aimed at helping and rehablilitating children and teens with drug problems.

Mrs. Reagan has been strongly criticized for her personal use of astrology and her attempts to woo her husband's policy using it. She had a personal astrologer named Joan Quigley during her time as First Lady; Reagan called on her astrologer, particularly after the 1981 assassination attempt, when she felt compelled to protect her husband from death in every way possible.

When it was revealed that Mrs. Reagan influenced the White House time schedule of her husband. Days were color-coded according to the astrologer's advice (classified as "good" days, "neutral" days, or "days that should be avoided), it became an embarrassment. The White House Chief of Staff, Donald Regan, finally grew frustrated with this regimen, creating friction between Regan and the First Lady. The famous incident was that while the two were talking on the telephone, Regan became so angry that he hung up on the First Lady. When word got out to the President that Regan had treated his wife that way, he demanded Regan's resignation, which eventually came in 1987. ^{[citation needed]}

In October 1987, Nancy Reagan was discovered to have breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy.

In 1983, Reagan, along with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and philanthropists Barbara and Marvin Davis, appeared as herself in an episode of the primetime soap opera Dynasty^{[citation needed]}. In addition, Reagan appeared as herself in an episode of the popular sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to underscore her support for her "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign.^{[citation needed]}

Nancy Reagan currently resides in the wealthy suburb of Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, where she had lived with her husband until his death on June 5, 2004.^[1] She has also urged President George W. Bush to support embryonic stem cell research, in the hopes that such research would lead to a cure for Alzheimer's disease. She has not been notably successful in changing the President's opinion and openly refused to support his campaign for a second term.^{[2] [3]}

Since 1994, when her husband disclosed that he suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, Mrs. Reagan has presented the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to one notable person, from anywhere in the world, whom "embodied President Reagan's lifelong belief that one man or woman truly can make a difference." On February 6, 2007, Mrs. Reagan presented the award to Former President George H.W. Bush. Other notable recipients include Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, and Rudy Guiliani. [10]

Nancy Reagan and her husband were jointly awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor on May 16, 2002 at the Capitol Building, being only the third President and First Lady to recieve it. Mrs. Reagan was on hand to receive the medal on behalf of herself and her husband. ^[4]

Reagan was briefly hospitalized in 2005 after she slipped and fell in her hotel room in London, while visiting Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles.^[5]

Mrs. Reagan was among those who attended the National Funeral Service for Gerald Ford in the Washington National Cathedral on January 2, 2007. She mourned her husband in 2004 in the same cathedral.

• During her time as First Lady, her Secret Service code name was "Rainbow."^[6]
• Melanie Chartoff and Terry Sweeney are known for doing accurate yet disparaging impersonations of Nancy Reagan on their respective sketch comedy shows (Chartoff on "Fridays" and Sweeney on "Saturday Night Live").^{[citation needed]}

• Nancy Davis at IMDb
• White House profile
• Nancy Reagan profile at NNDB