Jane Wyman (born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 - September 10, 2007) was an American singer, dancer, film/television actress and philanthropist, whose career spanned seven decades. She had also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows, and as a panelist on several game shows.

Wyman's 61-year acting career began in 1932. She signed up with Warner Bros. at age 19, where she played the leading lady in most of her movies. As a popular contract player, her roles included 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). She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Johnny Belinda (1948), and was a three-time winner of a Golden Globe. 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. She was also the first wife of Ronald Reagan; they married in 1940 and divorced in 1949.

Early life

The youngest of three children, Jane Wyman was born Sarah Jane Mayfield in St. Joseph, Missouri. Although her birthdate has been widely reported for many years as January 4, 1914, research by biographers and genealogists indicates she was born on January 5, 1917. The most likely reason for the 1914 year of birth is that she added to her age so as to be able to work and act while still a minor. She may have moved her birthday back by one day to January 4 so as to share the same birthday as her daughter, Maureen (January 4, 1941 - August 8, 2001). The 1920 census, though, has her at three and living in Philadelphia. After Wyman's death, a release posted on her official website confirmed these details.

Her parents were Manning Jefferies Mayfield (Jan. 12, 1895-Jan. 21, 1922), a meal-company laborer, and Gladys Hope Christian Mayfield (Jun. 8, 1895-Dec. 1960), a doctor's stenographer and office assistant.

In October 1921, her mother filed for divorce, and her father died unexpectedly the following year at age 27. After her father's death, her mother moved to Cleveland, Ohio, leaving her to be reared by foster parents, Emma (1866-1951) and Richard D. Fulks (1862-1928), the chief of detectives in Saint Joseph. She took their surname unofficially, including in her school records and, apparently, her first marriage certificate.

Her unsettled family life resulted in few pleasurable memories. Wyman later said, "I was raised with such strict discipline that it was years before I could reason myself out of the bitterness I brought from my childhood." In 1928, aged 11, she moved to southern California with her foster mother, but it is not known for certain if she attempted a career in motion pictures at this time, or if the relocation was because some of Fulks' children also lived in the area. In 1930, the two moved back to Missouri, where Sarah Jane attended Lafayette High School in Saint Joseph. That same year, she began a radio singing career, calling herself "Jane Durrell" and adding years to her birthdate to work legally, as she would have been underaged.

Career

Beginnings

After dropping out of Lafayette in 1932, at age 15, she returned to Hollywood, taking on odd jobs as a manicurist and a switchboard operator, before obtaining small parts in such films as The Kid from Spain (as a "Goldwyn Girl"; 1932), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Cain and Mabel (1936). After changing her name from Jane Durrell to Jane Wyman, she began her career as a contract player with Warner Bros. in 1936. Her big break came the following year, when she received her first starring role in Public Wedding.

Recognition and acclaim

In 1939, Wyman starred in Torchy Plays With Dynamite. In 1941, she appeared in You're in the Army Now, in which Regis Toomey and she had the longest screen kiss in cinema history: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

Wyman finally gained critical notice in the film noir The Lost Weekend (1945). She was nominated for the 1946 Academy Award for Best Actress for The Yearling (1946), and won two years later for her role as a deaf-mute rape victim in Johnny Belinda (1948). She was the first person in the sound era to win an acting Oscar without speaking a line of dialogue. In an amusing acceptance speech, perhaps poking fun at some of her long-winded counterparts, Wyman took her statue and said only, "I accept this, very gratefully, for keeping my mouth shut once. I think I'll do it again." The Oscar win gave her the ability to choose higher-profile roles, although she still showed a liking for musical comedy. She worked with such directors as Alfred Hitchcock on Stage Fright (1950), Frank Capra on Here Comes the Groom (1951), and Michael Curtiz on The Story of Will Rogers (1952). She starred in The Glass Menagerie (1950), Just for You (1952), Let's Do It Again (1953), The Blue Veil (1951) (another Oscar nomination), the remake of Edna Ferber's So Big (1953), Magnificent Obsession (1954) (Oscar nomination), Lucy Gallant (1955), All That Heaven Allows (1955), and Miracle in the Rain (1956). She replaced the ailing Gene Tierney in Holiday for Lovers (1959), and next appeared in Pollyanna (1960), Bon Voyage! (1962), and her final big screen movie, How to Commit Marriage (1969).

Television

Her first guest-starring television role was on a 1955 episode of General Electric Theater, a show hosted by her former husband Ronald Reagan. This appearance led to roles on Summer Playhouse, Lux Playhouse, Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Checkmate, The Investigators, and Wagon Train. She guest-starred in 1959 on The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford on NBC. She was hostess of The Bell Telephone Hour and Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre. She had telling roles in both The Sixth Sense and Insight, among other programs.

She hosted an anthology television series, Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theater, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1957. The ratings steadily declined, however, and the show ended after three seasons. She was later cast in two unsold pilots during the 1960s and 1970s. After those pilots were not picked up, Wyman went into semiretirement and remained there for most of the 1970s, although she did make guest appearances on Charlie's Angels and The Love Boat.

Falcon Crest

In the spring of 1981, Wyman's career enjoyed a resurgence when she was cast as the scheming Californian vintner and matriarch Angela Channing in The Vintage Years, which was retooled as the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. The series, which ran from December 1981 to May 1990, was created by Earl Hamner, who had created The Waltons a decade earlier. Also starring on the show was an already established character actress, Susan Sullivan, as Angela's niece-in-law, Maggie Gioberti, and the relatively unknown actor Lorenzo Lamas as Angela's irresponsible grandson, Lance Cumson. The on- and off-screen chemistry between Wyman and Lamas helped fuel the series' success. In its first season, Falcon Crest was a ratings hit, behind other 1980s prime-time soap operas, such as Dallas and Knots Landing, but initially ahead of rival Dynasty. Cesar Romero appeared from 1985 to 1987 on Falcon Crest as the romantic interest of Angela Channing.

For her role as Angela Channing, Wyman was nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award five times (for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role and for Outstanding Villainess: Prime Time Serial), and was also nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1983 and 1984. Her 1984 Golden Globe nomination resulted in a win for Wyman, who took home the award for Best Performance By an Actress in a TV Series. Later in the show's run, Wyman suffered several health problems. In 1986, she had abdominal surgery which caused her to miss two episodes (her character simply "disappeared" under mysterious circumstances). In 1988, she missed another episode due to ill health and was told by her doctors to avoid work. However, she wanted to continue working, and she completed the rest of the 1988-1989 season while her health continued to deteriorate. Months later in 1989, Wyman collapsed on the set and was hospitalized due to problems with diabetes and a liver ailment. Her doctors told her that she should end her acting career. Wyman was absent for most of the ninth and final season of Falcon Crest in 1989-1990 (her character was written out of the series by making her comatose in a hospital bed following an attempted murder).

Against her doctor's advice, she returned for the final three episodes in 1990, even writing a soliloquy for the series finale. Wyman ultimately appeared in almost every episode until the beginning of the ninth and final season, for a total of 208 of the show's 227 episodes. After Falcon Crest, Wyman acted only once more, playing Jane Seymour's screen mother in a 1993 episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Following this, she retired from acting permanently. Wyman had starred in 83 movies and two successful TV series, and was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning once.

Lorenzo Lamas said in a 2012 interview with Highlight Hollywood, when, to honor Jane Wyman's loss, 5 years prior, he talked about his on- and off-screen chemistry with his lifelong friend, next to his real-life parents: "It was our first day of filming and Jane already knew my dad and my mom. So ours was an instant friendship." He also added about the ease that put him right away, when she welcomed him: "There was no fear inside of me. I was lucky in that regard." Lamas, then said publicly: "I was born the day my dad was to appear on Jane’s live TV show. That night my mom went into labor with me and had an emergency C-section." When he got word from the hospital, where he had to see his father, leaving Wyman to do most of the show, with other castmates, he then said: "When I came on set that first day I told her, 'My father left you without a second act the day I was born, but you don’t have to worry, I won’t leave you without a second act.' And Jane replied. 'You’re goddamned right you won’t leave me without a second act!" Laughing, he recalled: "That set the tone for our relationship." She was the only one who helped him with a dialogue issue, for which he approached: "It was a very dramatic scene and I was trying to read the words in a very dramatic way. When we were rehearsing it, she told the crew: 'Let’s take a break.'" He recalled how Jane called him over to her chair and said: “Lorenzo, you’re a fine actor. You can do this. You don’t need to read the words like they are bigger than life. Just read them as they are written on the page." That advice paid off: "We were then able to get the scene shot." He also revealed: "Out of respect for Jane, they would always film her close-ups first and then swing the camera around to do the other actors close-ups. She liked to finish her work early." He was also honest about her work ethic: "Jane was always on time and knew her lines, no matter if it was 8 pages of dialogue or 15 pages. We only needed one rehearsal and then we would shoot it.” From everybody else, she also encouraged the same level of professionalism, who also worked on the show: "To this day, I have taken Jane’s level of professionalism and applied it to my own career. Working with Jane gave me that for the rest of my life, and I will always be grateful." Lamas was also asked if his on-screen, TV surrogate grandmother was very good in preventing actors from being dismissed in their own work: "It was Jane’s show and I think more than once she defended me. There were times I honestly felt they could have easily written me out of the series because my storylines sometimes were just not that substantial." Nearly like Wyman, Lamas was the only one to appear in every episode of the series, especially the pilot: "I believe Jane was single-handedly responsible for my remaining with the show to the end." Off- the Falcon Crest set, Lamas knew there were a lot of backstage feuds and speculations about her battle with co-stars, while making outrageous demands of what she really wanted. He indicated that: "Jane didn’t demand any preferential treatment and she never asked for anything that anybody else didn’t have themselves." He also described as to how each dressing room was exactly the same size, and how they were all on wheels, all of these were connected with doors: "We had our privacy while we were in makeup, but we were all together. All of the guest stars from Lana Turner to Kim Novak were given the same things, too. Nobody was ever ‘special’ just because of whom they were." He also called to the attention: "If anyone on our show could have demanded a Winnebago it would have been Jane. But she never did. That wasn’t her at all. She always felt the show was bigger than she was and she never had an ego. She treated everyone with respect and kindness. She never acted like a spoiled diva in any way." In receiving the tattoo from his father, whom he lost at the beginning of the second season, he said: "Between our first and second season my father passed away. After his death, I got my first tattoo of a winged horse, a Pegasus, on my shoulder blade as a tribute to him." He also admitted when he came back to work, after the summer hiatus, "I was filming a scene where I was to jump into the pool, get out and talk with Jane." When he was at the rehearsals with Wyman, he wore a robe, when it pointed directly towards the camera, she was the first to notice about that tattoo that he wore: "Immediately Jane stopped the scene and walked over to me. ‘Lorenzo, what the hell did you do to yourself?'" He then told her about the tattoo that she didn't approve of: "Your father wouldn’t have wanted you to do that! You’re an actor not an ex-convict!" After his real-life confrontation with Jane, he later said: "I felt bad afterward!" He later said about the poker games she used to play with her other crew: "There were about 8 different people from Harry Harris and Reza Badiyi and several others Jane would just pass the lunch time playing cards with." He added to the fact in which most people didn't know about her: "Other than her box of Vanilla Wafers, I don’t recall ever seeing Jane eat anything except what we were eating in our scenes at the dining room table, when we would have them. She was 85 pounds, skinny as a rail, and smoked like a chimney. And, that was Jane." And for real, before he lost his surrogate grandmother, who was (of course) bedridden, whose butler heard the message from him: "She told me that she loved me very much and appreciated that I had taken the time to call." That was something he had for the rest of his life, after the cancelation of Falcon Crest, both he and Wyman were actually friends for life, until her death, but more than that, he praised her as his favorite mentor: "Jane Wyman was the grandmother I never had.

Personal life

Marriages

Wyman married four times.

Myron Martin Futterman

Wyman married Myron Martin Futterman (1900-1965), a dress manufacturer, in New Orleans on June 29, 1937. As Wyman wanted children but Futterman did not, they separated after only three months of marriage and divorced on December 5, 1938.

Ronald Reagan

In 1938, Wyman co-starred with Ronald Reagan in Brother Rat (1938), and its sequel Brother Rat and a Baby (1940). They were engaged at the Chicago Theatre, and married on January 26, 1940, at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Church, Glendale, California. She and Reagan had three children; Maureen Elizabeth Reagan (1941-2001), their adopted son Michael Edward Reagan (born March 18, 1945), and Christine Reagan (born prematurely on June 26, 1947, and died later the same day). This event soured their marriage irreparably. Wyman stated that their break-up was due to a difference in politics (Ronald Reagan was still a Democrat at the time). She filed for divorce in 1948; the divorce was finalized in 1949. Ronald Reagan is the only U.S. president to have been divorced, and Wyman was the first and only former wife of a United States president. Although she remained silent during Reagan's political career, she told a newspaper interviewer in 1968 that this was not because she was bitter or because she didn't agree with him politically. "I've always been a registered Republican. But it's bad taste to talk about former husbands and former wives, that's all. Also, I don't know a damn thing about politics."

In spite of her divorce, she still voted for her former husband in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections, according to her former personal assistant.

Fred Karger

Following her divorce from Reagan, Wyman married German-American Hollywood music director and composer Frederick M. "Fred" Karger (1916-1979) on November 1, 1952, at El Montecito Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara. They separated on November 7, 1954, and were granted an interlocutory divorce decree on December 7, 1954; the divorce was finalized on December 30, 1955. They remarried on March 11, 1961, and Karger divorced her again on March 9, 1965. According to The New York Times report of the divorce, the bandleader charged that the actress "had walked out on him." Wyman had a stepdaughter, Terry, from Karger's first marriage to Patti Sacks.

Wyman, who had converted to Catholicism in 1953, never remarried. She was a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California.

Later life

After Falcon Crest ended, Wyman made a guest appearance on the CBS series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and then completely retired from acting, spending her retirement painting and entertaining friends. A recluse, Wyman made only a few public appearances in her last years in part due to suffering from diabetes and arthritis, although she did attend her daughter Maureen's funeral in 2001 after the latter's death from cancer. (Ronald Reagan was unable to attend due to his Alzheimer's disease.) She also attended the funeral of her long-time friend Loretta Young in 2000. Wyman broke her silence about her former husband upon his death in 2004, attending his funeral and issuing an official statement that read, "America has lost a great president and a great, kind, and gentle man."

Death

Wyman died at the age of 90 at her Rancho Mirage home on September 10, 2007. Wyman's son, Michael Reagan, released a statement saying:

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.

Wyman reportedly died in her sleep of natural causes. A member of the Dominican Order (as a lay tertiary) of the Roman Catholic Church, she was buried in a nun's habit. She was interred at Forest Lawn Mortuary and Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.

Filmography

Box office ranking

For several years, film exhibitors voted Wyman as among the most popular stars in the country:

• 1949 - 25th (US), 6th (UK)
• 1952 - 15th most popular (US)
• 1953 - 19th (US)
• 1954 - 9th (US)
• 1955 - 18th (US)
• 1956 - 23rd (US)

Television

Radio appearances

Awards and nominations

Wyman has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; one for motion pictures at 6607 Hollywood Boulevard and one for television at 1620 Vine Street.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]