Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman (WY-MEN; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and philanthropist. Her career spanned more than seven decades. She was the winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for the 1948 film Johnny Belinda. She was also the first wife of actor Ronald Reagan (later the 40th president of the United States). They married in 1940 and divorced in 1949. Wyman's professional career began at age 16 in 1933, when she signed with Warner Bros. Wyman followed common practice at the time when she added three years to her age. A popular contract player, she frequently played the leading lady, her roles including starring alongside William Hopper in Public Wedding (1937), Ronald Reagan and Eddie Albert in Brother Rat (1938) and its sequel Brother Rat and a Baby (1940), Dennis Morgan in Bad Men of Missouri (1941), Marlene Dietrich in Stage Fright (1950), and Sterling Hayden in So Big (1953). She was also featured opposite Rock Hudson in Magnificent Obsession (1954) and All That Heaven Allows (1955), both directed by Douglas Sirk. She was a three-time winner of a Golden Globe Award. She achieved continuing success in the television soap opera Falcon Crest (1981–1990), in which Wyman played the lead role of villainous matriarch Angela Channing.

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