JANE WYMAN

'Jane Wyman' (born 'Sarah Jane Mayfield' on January 5, 1917 in Saint Joseph, Missouri) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated American actress.
Wyman's career spanned several decades. Her most prolific appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s, and included her best known film roles in ''Johnny Belinda'' and ''Magnificent Obsession'' opposite Rock Hudson. Wyman became known to new generations in the 1980s, not only for her leading role as the malevolent matriarch Angela Gioberti Channing on the hit prime-time soap opera ''Falcon Crest'', but also because of her prior marriage to former actor Ronald Reagan, who was then President of the United States.

Contents

Early life

Career

Early career

Recognition and acclaim

Legendary character actress

Television work

Early television work

''Falcon Crest''

Personal life

Marriages and children

Recent activities

Quotes

Academy Awards and Nominations

Filmography

Television Work

References

External links

Early life

Wyman was born Sarah Jane Mayfield. Although her birthdate has been widely reported for many years as having occurred on January 4 1914, research by biographers and geneaolgists indicates that she was born on January 5 1917 ^[1][2][3],^[4][5]. The most likely reason for the 1914 date is Miss Wyman adding to her age when beginning her career as a minor in order to work legally. Her parents were Manning J. Mayfield, the Chief of Detectives of Saint Joseph, and Gladdys Hope Christian. In 1921, her parents divorced. Her father died unexpectedly the following year. She assumed the name 'Sarah Jane Fulks' in honor of her neighbors, who unofficially adopted her after her father died.
In 1928, she moved to southern California, where her mother tried to start an acting career. When that was unsuccessful, she turned to her daughter as an alternative but neither were able to find work. The two moved back to Missouri in 1930, where Sarah Jane attended Lafayette High School in Saint Joseph. That same year she began a radio singing career, calling herself "Jane Durrell", and possibly added years to her birthdate to work legally since she would have been underage.

Career

Early career

After Jane left Lafayette in 1932, she returned to Hollywood, obtaining small parts in ''The Kid from Spain'' (as a "Goldwyn Girl") (1932), ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936) and ''Cain and Mabel'' (1936). After legally changing her last name from 'Durrell' to 'Wyman', she began her career as a contract player with Warner Brothers in 1936, the same year she graduated from the University of Missouri. Her big break came the following year, when she received her first big role in ''Public Wedding'', and her movie career took off.

Recognition and acclaim

In 1939, Wyman was cast in her first starring role, in ''Torchy Plays With Dynamite''.
Wyman finally gained critical notice in the film noir ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 for ''The Yearling'' (1946), and won an Academy Award in 1948 for her role as the deaf-mute rape victim in ''Johnny Belinda'' (1948). She was the first Oscar winner to earn the award without speaking a line of dialogue in the sound era.
In an amusing acceptance speech, perhaps poking fun at some of her long-winded counterparts, Wyman took her statue and said, "I won this by keeping my mouth shut, and that's what I'm going to do now."
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), with Frank Capra on ''Here Comes the Groom'' (1951) and with 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 came back to the big screen after her anthology series to replace the ailing Gene Tierney in ''Holiday for Lovers'' (1959), ''Pollyanna'' (1960), ''Bon Voyage!'' (1962), and her final big screen movie ''How to Commit Marriage'' (1969).

Legendary character actress

Wyman was also one of Hollywood's most sought-after and top-notch character actresses of all time, beginning in 1955. Her first guest-starring role was on an episode of ''General Electric Theatre''. This one shot appearance led to other roles such as: ''Summer Playhouse'', ''Lux Playhouse'', ''Washington Desilu Playhouse'', ''Checkmate'', ''The Investigators'', two guest appearances on ''Wagon Train'', she served as hostess of ''The Bell Telephone Hour'', ''Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre'', ''The Sixth Sense'', ''Insight'', among many others. In the late 1970s she appeared on an episode of Charlie's Angels, playing a psychic, and on an episode of The Love Boat she played a nun.

Television work

Early television work

In the 1950s, Wyman hosted an anthology television series, ''Jane Wyman Theater'', for which she was nominated for an ''Emmy Award'' in 1957. During her tenure as host, however, ratings steadily declined, and the show ended after three seasons.
She was also cast in two unsold pilots during the 1960s and 1970s. After those pilots were not picked up, Wyman went into semi-retirement and remained there for most of the 1970s.

''Falcon Crest''

Wyman's career enjoyed a resurgence when she was cast as the scheming Californian vintner and matriarch Angela Channing in the primetime soap opera ''Falcon Crest'', which ran from 1981 to 1990. The series was created by Earl Hamner, who had created the hit series The Waltons a decade earlier. Ex-husband Ronald Reagan apparently encouraged Wyman to take the role, after actress Barbara Stanwyck had turned it down. In its first season, ''Falcon Crest'' was a ratings hit, behind ''Dallas'' but initially ahead of rival soap ''Dynasty''. 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. That same year, she won the Golden Globe for "Best Performance By an Actress in a TV Series". At one time, Wyman was believed to have been the highest paid actress on television.
Later in the show's run, Wyman suffered several health problems. In 1986, she had abdominal surgery which caused her to miss two episodes while her character simply "went missing" in mysterious circumstances for this duration. 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 was still deteriorating. Months later in 1989, Wyman collapsed on the set and was hospitalized 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 being comatose in a hospital bed). Going 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 208 of the show's 227 episodes.
Co-starring on the show were a couple of familiar actors, Robert Foxworth as Angela's nephew, Chase Gioberti, and Susan Sullivan in the role as Chase's wife and Angela’s niece, later daughter-in-law, Maggie Gioberti Channing. A strong connection and respect for each other developed between Wyman & Sullivan during the show's long run. Sullivan said of her mentor, "Jane was a very strong influence." She also commented about Wyman's determination to stay on FC, "Jane is the most professional person I have ever worked with. I have seen her battle through illness and fatigue and still keep working. She says 'Let's get this done. We have a job to do,' and everyone gets behind her. She is always willing to help younger actors. She gave instructions nicely and with humour. She once said to me, 'You can tell anybody anything if you do it with humor.' She ruled the set with a kind and intelligent hand." Jane's health problem in 1989, caused Sullivan to pay Wyman a visit to the hospital to see the ailing actress, as she prayed and asked Jane to go back to work, when better. A year later David Selby and Ana-Alicia also joined the cast of the hit show, as Angela's conniving son, Richard Channing and as Angela's selfish granddaughter-in-law and Lance's first wife, Melissa Agretti Cumson. Before then, the show cast a then unknown actor, martial artist, family friend, future action hero of the 1990s and reality show participant, who's of Mediterranean and Norwegian descent, Lorenzo Lamas, in the role of Angela's playboy grandson and henchman, Lance Cumson. Like her on-going relationship with Sullivan's, there was also a strong connection between Wyman & Lamas, as they played evil relatives fighting against each other throughout the series's run. Her friendship with Lorenzo Lamas's family began in the 1950s when her Lorenzo's father Fernando Lamas guest-starred on Wyman's anthology series, when Lorenzo was only 3 mos. old. A little over two decades later, Wyman suggested to him that he should try out for the part in Falcon Crest, and he did, which made his father feel very proud of him. In 1983, Jane and actress Abby Dalton were invited to Lamas’s & Kathleen’s wedding, and were very proud of him. Lamas said of his old friend and acting coach, "She never actually pressured changes, but people on the set felt compelled to listen." Lorenzo also said, "Working with Jane Wyman is something that I will never forget. She is a consummate professional. She set the tone for every other actor who did that show. After nine seasons she never made a fuss about a bigger trailer. She stayed in the same little 16 x 16 room that we all did and never complained. Jane was such a professional and such a class act. She was like a grandmother to me." The last thing that Lamas was asked after he'd been scolded or had been afraid of his on-screen grandmother on the set, he said, "I remember the first time I came on the set with a new tattoo, It was like 1982 or 1983. We had come back from the hiatus and we were shooting up in Napa. She saw this tattoo at a distance and yelled, 'Lorenzo Lamas, you get over here!' I walked over there and she said, 'What the hell have you done to yourself?' I said, 'I got a tattoo.' She looked at me, shook her finger at my nose and said, 'You are an actor, young man. You are not a person who goes and gets tattoos. You better learn from that!' Back in the day, nobody had tattoos [on shows] but ex-cons and pirates. I didn't learn much from that lesson because I went out and got more and more. Now they have to cover them up [on B&B]." The shocking 1982 death of Lorenzo's father, Fernando, continued to grew the relationship stronger as Wyman was one of the people to hear about this, while they were working, real hard on the second season of ''Falcon Crest''. Outside of work, she even sent Lamas her condolences throughout his difficult time. Seven years later in 1989, Lamas was even more shocked when his longtime friend was hospitalized with liver ailment and diabetes at a Los Angeles hospital, and even paid a visit to see her, while the ninth and final season was airing.
After Falcon Crest, Wyman only acted once more, playing Jane Seymour's screen mother in a 1993 episode of Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman. Following this, Wyman retired from acting permanently. Wyman had starred in 83 movies, two successful TV series, and was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning once.

Personal life

Marriages and children

She married Myron Futterman on June 29, 1937, and they divorced on November 1, 1938. It has been rumored that on April 8, 1933, she married Ernest Eugene Wyman (or Weymann). According to American geneaologist William Addams Reitwiesner, however, it appears more likely that Jane Wyman adopted her professional surname from her foster mother, Emma Fulks, who was previously married to a Dr. M.F. Weyman and by whom she had several children who lived with Jane Wyman in her youth.
In 1938, Wyman co-starred with Ronald Reagan in ''Brother Rat'' (1938), and its sequel ''Brother Rat and a Baby'' (1940). The two were married (her second or third marriage, and his first) on January 26, 1940, and divorced on June 28, 1948. She and Reagan had three children; Maureen Elizabeth Reagan (1941 - 2001), Michael Reagan (adopted, born March 18, 1945), and Christine Reagan (stillborn June 26, 1947).
Following her divorce from Reagan, Wyman married bandleader Frederick Karger on November 1, 1952, and they divorced in December 1955. They later remarried on March 11, 1961, and divorced a second time in 1965. Wyman never remarried, and after her conversion to Roman Catholicism, both she and best friend Loretta Young obtained special indults from their bishop to receive communion because of their divorces.

Recent activities

Jane Wyman has lived in seclusion for a number of years because of declining health including arthritis and diabetes. She is rarely seen in public, with the exception of attending the funerals of her daughter, Maureen Reagan, and her close friend, Loretta Young. She also attended President Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004.
During her retirement, she purchased a house in Rancho Mirage, California in 1997, so that she could continue living a quiet life and attend honorable charity events.
On April 16, 2003, she moved to a retirement home in Palm Springs, California.

Quotes

Jane: "The opportunity for brotherhood presents itself everytime you meet a human being." (Source: us.imdb.com)
Jane on winning the 1949 Academy Award for Leading Actress in a Movie: "I won this award for keeping my mouth shut, so I think I'll do it again now." (Source: A Tribute to Falcon Crest).
Jane: "I guess I just don't have a talent for it, some women just aren't the marrying kind - or anyway, not the permanent marrying kind, and I'm one of them." (Source: A Tribute to Falcon Crest).
Jane on her ex-husband's, Ronald Reagan's death: "America has lost a great president and a great, kind gentleman." (Source: USAtoday.com).
Jane on her final appearance in the last season of ''Falcon Crest'': "I wanted to tie up the show, mention everyone who was gone - the grandfather, Melissa, Cole and Maggie, so that the loyal audience we had wouldn't feel cheated they they had been taken in a different direction by the producers that they didn't understand (and frankly, I didn't either). It was a wonderful experience, but I wasn't sorry to see it end because of the way it was going. The first six years of the show were marvelous, then they started tampering with it. I get so much mail from people saying they can't understand what happened." (Source: A Tribute to Falcon Crest).

Academy Awards and Nominations

★ 1955 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - ''Magnificent Obsession''

★ 1952 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - ''The Blue Veil''

★ 1949 - Won Best Actress in a Leading Role - ''Johnny Belinda''

★ 1947 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - ''The Yearling''
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.

Filmography

★ ''The Kid from Spain'' (1932) ★ ''Elmer, the Great'' (1933) ★ ''All the King's Horses'' (1934) ★ ''College Rhythm'' (1934) ★ ''King of Burlesque'' (1935) ★ ''Rumba'' (1935) ★ ''George White's 1935 Scandals'' (1935) ★ ''Stolen Harmony'' (1935) ★ ''Anything Goes (film)'' (1936) ★ ''The Sunday Round-Up'' (1936) (short subject) ★ ''Bengal Tiger'' (1936) (role unconfirmed) ★ ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936) ★ ''Stage Struck'' (1936) ★ ''Cain and Mabel'' (1936) ★ ''Here Comes Carter'' (1936) ★ ''Polo Joe'' (1936) ★ ''Gold Diggers of 1937'' (1936) ★ ''Smart Blonde'' (1937) ★ ''Ready, Willing and Able'' (1937) ★ ''The King and the Chorus Girl'' (1937) ★ ''Slim'' (1937) ★ ''The Singing Marine'' (1937) ★ ''Public Wedding'' (1937) ★ ''Little Pioneer'' (1937) (short subject) ★ ''Mr. Dodd Takes the Air'' (1937) ★ ''Over the Goal'' (1937) ★ ''The Spy Ring'' (1938) ★ ''He Couldn't Say No'' (1938) ★ ''Fools for Scandal'' (1938) ★ ''Wide Open Faces'' (1938) ★ ''The Crowd Roars'' (1938) ★ ''Brother Rat'' (1938) ★ ''Tail Spin'' (1939) ★ ''The Kid from Kokomo'' (1939) ★ ''Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite'' (1939) ★ ''Kid Nightingale'' (1939) ★ ''Private Detective'' (1939) ★ ''Brother Rat and a Baby'' (1940) ★ ''An Angel from Texas'' (1940) ★ ''Flight Angels'' (1940) ★ ''My Love Came Back'' (1940) ★ ''Gambling on the High Seas'' (1940) ★ ''Tugboat Annie Sails Again'' (1940) ★ ''Honeymoon for Three'' (1941) ★ ''Bad Men of Missouri'' (1941)

★ ''You're in the Army Now'' (1941) ★ ''The Body Disappears'' (1941) ★ ''Sports Parade: Shoot Yourself Some Golf'' (1942) (short subject) ★ ''Larceny, Inc.'' (1942) ★ ''My Favorite Spy'' (1942) ★ ''Footlight Serenade'' (1942) ★ ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943) ★ ''Make Your Own Bed'' (1944) ★ ''The Doughgirls'' (1944) ★ ''Crime by Night'' (1944) ★ ''Hollywood Canteen'' (1944) ★ ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945) ★ ''One More Tomorrow'' (1946) ★ ''Night and Day'' (1946) ★ ''The Yearling'' (1946) ★ ''Cheyenne'' (1947) ★ ''Magic Town'' (1947) ★ ''Johnny Belinda'' (1948) ★ ''A Kiss in the Dark'' (1949) ★ ''It's a Great Feeling'' (1949) (cameo) ★ ''The Lady Takes a Sailor'' (1949) ★ ''Stage Fright'' (1950) ★ ''The Glass Menagerie'' (1950) ★ ''Three Guys Named Mike'' (1951) ★ ''The Screen Director'' (1951) (short subject) ★ ''Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards'' (1951) (short subject) ★ ''Here Comes the Groom'' (1951) ★ ''The Blue Veil'' (1951) ★ ''Starlift'' (1951) (cameo) ★ ''The Story of Will Rogers'' (1952) ★ ''Just for You'' (1952) ★ ''Three Lives'' (1953) (short subject) ★ ''Let's Do It Again (1953 film)'' (1953) ★ ''So Big'' (1953) ★ ''Magnificent Obsession'' (1954) ★ ''Hollywood Mothers and Fathers'' (1955) (short subject) ★ ''Lucy Gallant'' (1955) ★ ''All That Heaven Allows'' (1955) ★ ''Miracle in the Rain'' (1956) ★ ''Holiday for Lovers'' (1959) ★ ''Pollyanna'' (1960) ★ ''Bon Voyage!'' (1962) ★ ''How to Commit Marriage'' (1969) ★ ''Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick'' (1996) (documentary) ★ ''Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's'' (1997) (documentary)

Television Work

★ ''Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre'' (1955 - 1958)

★ ''Summer Playhouse'' (host in 1957)

★ ''The Failing of Raymond'' (1971)

★ ''Amanda Fallon'' (1973) (unsold TV pilot)

★ ''The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel'' (1979)

★ ''Falcon Crest'' (1981 - 1990)

References

1. Book: ''Early Reagan: The Rise to Power'' by Anne Edwards, 1987
2. Book: ''The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies'' by Daniel Bubbeo, 2002
3. Book: ''Ronnie and Nancy'' by Bob Colacello, 2004
4. [1] Website of geneaologist Willam Addams Reitweiesner
5. http://www.ancestry.com

External links

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