Jane Wyman (born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American actress. A star of both movies and television, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress, four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 1960 she received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for both motion pictures and television. She was the first wife of actor and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
In the 1930s, Wyman was the quintessential “working actress.” Long before she became an Academy Award-winning dramatic powerhouse or the matriarch of Falcon Crest, she spent the decade paying her dues as a “contract player” at Warner Bros. During this era, she was often cast as a wisecracking, fast-talking blonde—a persona that was largely a studio creation and quite different from her later serious image.
She began as an extra and chorus girl, appearing in films like Gold Diggers of 1933 and Anything Goes (1936). During this time, she also briefly worked as a radio singer under the name Jane Durrell. In 1936, she signed with Warner Bros. Pictures, which required her to change her name to Jane Wyman. By the late 1930s, she moved from bit parts to leading roles in “B” movies, such as Public Wedding (1937) and Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite (1939).
In 1938, while filming Brother Rat, she met fellow actor Ronald Reagan. They became engaged near the end of the decade and married in January 1940.
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