Jane Wyman

Several sources have given her date of birth as January 4, 1914, which would mean she was one of the first (and one of the very few) actresses to make herself older. She is a serious convert to Roman Catholicism, attending Mass with good friend Loretta Young.

Jane Wyman was born Sarah Jane Mayfield on January 5, 1917, in St. Joseph, Missouri (she was also known later as Sarah Jane Fulks). When she was only eight years old, and after her parents filed for divorce, she lost her father prematurely. After graduating high school she attempted, with the help of her mother, to break into films, but to no avail.

Her name changed to "Jane Faulks" when she was unofficially "adopted" by the Faulks family, middle-aged neighbors of her single mother. Moved to So. California with Mrs. Faulks when she was widowed in 1928

In 1935, after attending the University of Missouri, she began a career as a radio singer, which led to her first name change to Jane Durrell.

In 1936 she signed a contract with Warner Bros. Pictures and that led to another name change, the more familiar one of Jane Wyman.

Under that name she appeared in "A" and "B" pictures at Warners, including two with her future husband, Ronald Reagan: Brother Rat (1938) and its sequel, Brother Rat and a Baby (1940).

In the early 1940s she moved into comedies and melodramas and gained attention for her role as Ray Milland's long-suffering girlfriend in The Lost Weekend (1945).

Holds the record for the longest screen kiss, with Regis Toomey in You're in the Army Now (1941), at 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

The following year she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Ma Baxter in The Yearling (1946), and won the coveted prize in 1949 as deaf-mute rape victim Belinda MacDonald in Johnny Belinda (1948).

Her Best Actress Oscar for Johnny Belinda (1948) makes her the only wife of a future U.S. President (Ronald Reagan) ever to win such an award.

She followed that with a number of appearances in more prestigious films, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950), Frank Capra's Here Comes the Groom (1951), Michael Curtiz's The Story of Will Rogers (1952) and the first movie version of The Glass Menagerie (1950).

She was Oscar-nominated for her performances in The Blue Veil (1951) and Magnificent Obsession (1954).

She starred opposite Bing Crosby in the musical Just for You (1952).

She also starred in the immensely popular So Big (1953), Lucy Gallant (1955), All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Miracle in the Rain (1956).

In addition to her extensive film career, she hosted TV's Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre (1955) and starred in most of the episodes of the show, which ran for three seasons.

She came back to the big screen in Holiday for Lovers (1959), Pollyanna (1960) and her final film, How to Commit Marriage (1969).

Was a spokesperson for the National Arthritis Foundation from the mid-1970s.

Was a very good friend of Aaron Spelling. She appeared on both of his shows: Charlie's Angels (1976) and The Love Boat (1977).

Was the recipient of the Charles B. Harding Award in 1977, which was the highest national award given by The Arthritis Foundation.

Although off the big screen, she became a presence on the small screen and starred in two made-for-TV movies, including The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel (1979).

In early 1981, in the 49th year of her career, she won the role of conniving matriarch Angela Channing Erikson Stavros Agretti in the movie "The Vintage Years", which was the unaired pilot for the prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest (1981), later in the year. For nine seasons she played that character in a way that virtually no other actress could have done, and became the moral center of the show.

The show was a ratings winner from its debut in 1981, and made stars out of her fellow cast members Robert Foxworth, Lorenzo Lamas, Abby Dalton and Susan Sullivan. At the end of the first season the story line had her being informed that her evil son, played by David Selby, had inherited 50% of a California newspaper company, and the conflicts inherent in that situation led to even bigger ratings over the next five years.

Wyman was nominated six times for a Soap Opera Digest Award, and in 1984 she won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series Drama. By the show's eighth season, however, she was emotionally drained and the strain of constantly working to keep up the quality of a hit show took its toll on her. In addition, there was friction on the set among cast members. All of these events culminated in her departure from the show after the first two episodes of the ninth season (her character was hospitalized and slipped into a coma) for health reasons. After a period of recuperation, she believed that she had recovered enough to guest-star in the last three episodes of the season (her doctor disagreed, but she did it anyway). She then guest-starred as Jane Seymour's mother on Dr.

Was hospitalized with a liver ailment and diabetes after she collapsed on the set of Falcon Crest (1981)'s ninth season. [20 February 1989].

In the late 1990s she purchased a home in Rancho Mirage, California, where she lived in retirement.

In 1991, she received the Golda Meir Award from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.

Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993) and three years later appeared in Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995).

Daughter, Maureen Reagan, was admitted to the John Wayne Cancer Institute for malignant melanoma. [11 December 2000]

Her daughter, Maureen Reagan (who died in August 2001), was a writer who also involved herself in political issues and organized a powerful foundation. Also, she placed her 3200-sq. -ft. Rancho Mirage condominium on the market.