Hi Friends,
Not many of us know that President Reagan (40th US President 1981-89) was a divorcee and even less know that his first wife was an Academy Award winner named Jane Wyman.
Reagan was a strong American president and his attractive persona makes Bush (both father and son) appear like wall-paper. He was a natural orator who was especially famous for his “Evil empire” pronouncement of the Soviet Union and was justified in being credited with the break-up of the Communist bloc and the subsequent collapse of the Berlin Wall.
The main reason why Reagan’s first marriage remains private must be that his first wife Jane Wyman decided that “it's bad taste to talk about ex-husbands and ex-wives” and refused to cash-in by writing a “kiss and tell” book of her marriage to a President of the USA.
There are still people of principle in the world and money still cannot buy everything!
Cheers
Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan
Actress, ex-wife of Reagan
Won Academy Award for role in 'Johnny Belinda,' starred in TV's 'Falcon Crest'
September 11, 2007
BY BOB THOMAS
LOS ANGELES -- Jane Wyman won an Oscar for her role as a deaf rape victim in the film ''Johnny Belinda,'' and she'll probably be best remembered for her portrayal of a power-mad winery owner in TV's ''Falcon Crest.''
But her greatest distinction may have been refusing to kiss and tell about her love life, most especially her marriage to future President Ronald Reagan.
Ms. Wyman died Monday at her Palm Springs home, son Michael Reagan said. Ms. Wyman's age was listed as 93 in several reference books, however other sources, including the official family Web site, say she was 90.
''I have lost a loving mother, my children Cameron and Ashley have lost a loving grandmother, my wife Colleen has lost a loving friend she called Mom, and Hollywood has lost the classiest lady to ever grace the silver screen,'' Reagan said in a statement.
Ms. Wyman's film career started in the 1930s and stretched from the ''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 vintner who maintained her grip with a steely will on CBS' ''Falcon Crest.''
Her marriage in 1940 to fellow Warner Bros. contract player Ronald Reagan was celebrated in the fan magazines as one of Hollywood's ideal unions. While he was in uniform during World War II, her career ascended, signaled by her 1946 Oscar nomination for ''The Yearling.''
She and Reagan divorced in 1948, the year she won an Oscar for ''Johnny Belinda.'' Reagan reportedly cracked to a friend: ''Maybe I should name Johnny Belinda as co-respondent.''
'Not because I'm bitter'
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 actress 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.''
Warner Bros. signed Ms. Wyman to a long-term contract in 1936. In 1937, Ms. Wyman married a wealthy manufacturer of children's clothes, Myron Futterman, in New Orleans. The marriage was reported as her second, but an earlier marriage was never confirmed. She divorced him in November 1938, declaring she wanted children and he didn't.
The actress became entranced by Reagan and romance ensued.
They were married on Jan. 26, 1940. The following year she 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.
In Reagan's autobiography An American Life, the index shows only one mention of Ms. Wyman, and it runs for only two sentences.
Their daughter Maureen died in August 2001 after a battle with cancer.
In 1952 Ms. Wyman married Fred Karger, a studio music director. They divorced, later remarried and divorced the second time in 1965.
AP
3 comments:
There are more than a few who are "MONEY CANNOT BUY". Many of these people are small people who are not normally captured by media.
Just look around, most girls married for love and not for money. Many normal workers work for their wages; few would betray their colleagues even when incentives are given by the management; just look at our parents, they stick together for decades not for money but for their commitment...
Only some top people in our country keep talking about money, money and money...
Tell that to the MIW who think money can buy good politicians.
Jane Wyman was already famous in her right. There was no need for her to write a kiss and tell book. People who are trying to strike it rich are the likelier ones to kiss and tell.
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