Jane Wyman

b. Sarah Jane Mayfield Fulks, 4 January 1914, St. Joseph, Missouri, USA, d. 10 Sept 2007, Rancho Mirage, California, USA. After faltering at her 1st attempt to break right into movies, Wyman ultimately became a music group singer. Another try in Hollywood brought moderate success with little roles in a number of 30s movies including musicals and comedies with music: Ruler Of Burlesque (1935), Cain And Mabel (1936), Silver Diggers Of 1937, The Ruler AS WELL AS THE Chorus Female, Mr Dodd Will take THE ENVIRONMENT, The Singing Sea and Ready, Ready And Capable (all 1937), the last mentioned film mostly appreciated for the series where chorus young ladies dance in the tips of a huge typewriter. The 40s started in quite similar method with Wyman playing minimal roles in my own Preferred Spy (1942), an attribute for Kay Kyser and his comedy-dance music group (not really the similarly entitled 1951 Bob Wish film), and Footlight Serenade (1942), which starred Betty Grable and in addition highlighted John Payne and Phil Silvers. Wyman was also among the countless display screen and stage performers who congested into Hollywood Canteen (1944) as well as the Cole Porter biopic, ALL THE TIME (1945). It had been in 1945 that Wyman broke through into stardom with leading jobs in dramas like the Shed Weekend (1945), The Yearling (1946), that she was Oscar-nominated as Greatest Celebrity, and Johnny Belinda (1948), this time around earning an Oscar. She was wedded (1940-48) to Ronald Reagan and both had been among many who produced guest performances in It’s AN EXCELLENT Sense (1949), as do their little girl, Maureen Reagan. Wyman’s 50s movies included Here Shows up The Bridegroom (1951, with Bing Crosby), Starlift (1951, which acquired guest performances by many Warner Bros. players), SIMPLY FOR You (1952, once again co-starring with Crosby) and everything That Heaven Allows (1955). Her film profession dwindled in the first 60s but she continued to be in the general public eye due to television looks, notably in the series Falcon Crest (1981).