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Letter to the editor

Actor Jane Wyman dies

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 11, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Jane Wyman, an Academy Award winner and Ronald Reagan's first wife, died Monday (Sept. 10, 2007).

Ms. Wyman died early Monday at her Palm Springs home, said Richard Adney of Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary in Cathedral City. Her age is listed as 93 in several reference books; other sources say she was 90.

Ms. Wyman's film career spanned from the 1930s, including Gold Diggers of 1937, to 1969's How to Commit Marriage, co-starring Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason.

From 1981 to 1990, she played Angela Channing, a Napa Valley winery owner who maintained her power with a steely will on CBS' Falcon Crest.

Her marriage in 1940 to fellow Warner Bros. contract player Reagan was celebrated in the fan magazines as one of Hollywood's ideal unions.

The couple divorced in 1948, the year she won the Oscar for her portrayal of a victimized deaf-mute woman in Johnny Belinda. Reagan reportedly cracked to a friend: "Maybe I should name Johnny Belinda as co-respondent."

After Reagan became governor of California and then president of the United States, Ms. Wyman kept a decorous silence about her ex-husband, who had married actor Nancy Davis. In a 1968 newspaper interview, Ms. Wyman explained the reason: "It's not because I'm bitter or because I don't agree with him politically. I've always been a registered Republican. But it's bad taste to talk about ex-husbands and ex-wives, that's all. Also, I don't know a damn thing about politics."

A few days after Reagan died on June 5, 2004, Ms. Wyman broke her silence, saying: "America has lost a great president and a great, kind and gentle man."

In 1941, Ms. Wyman gave birth to a daughter, Maureen. They later adopted a son, Michael. They also had a daughter who was born several months premature in June 1947 and died a day later.

Their daughter, Maureen, died in August 2001 after a battle with cancer.

After 40 films at Warner Bros., Ms. Wyman achieved her first acting challenge with Johnny Belinda. Her acceptance speech for the best-actress Oscar was brief: "I accept this award very gratefully for keeping my mouth shut once. I think I'll do it again."

[Last modified September 11, 2007, 06:57:29]