Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman
Name	Jane Wyman
Caption	Wyman in 1946
Birth name	Sarah Jane Mayfield
Birth date	5 January 1917
Birth place	St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.
Death date	10 September 2007
Death place	Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer, philanthropist
Years active	1932–1993
Spouse	Myron Futterman (1937–1938), Ronald Reagan (1940–1949), Fred Karger (1952–1955; 1961–1965)
Children	3, including Maureen Reagan
Awards	Academy Award for Best Actress (1949), Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (1949), Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1983)

Jane Wyman was an acclaimed American actress whose career spanned over six decades in film and television. She rose to prominence during the Golden Age of Hollywood, winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Johnny Belinda and later achieving great success on the ABC drama series Falcon Crest. Known for her versatility, she transitioned from light comedic roles in the 1930s to powerful dramatic performances, becoming one of the era's most respected stars.

Early life and education

Born Sarah Jane Mayfield in St. Joseph, Missouri, her early life was marked by tragedy following the death of her father and her mother's subsequent move to Cleveland. She was raised primarily by adoptive parents in Los Angeles, where she attended Los Angeles High School and showed an early aptitude for performing. To support her family during the Great Depression, she began working as a dancer in Los Angeles nightclubs and as a MGM chorus girl, which led to her discovery by Warner Bros. talent scouts. She adopted the stage name Jane Wyman and began taking small roles in films while studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Career

Wyman's early career consisted of uncredited bit parts and supporting roles in B-movies and comedies, often at Warner Bros., such as My Man Godfrey. Her breakthrough came with a leading role in the Universal Pictures musical The Doughgirls. She gained wider recognition for her performance in the Billy Wilder film The Lost Weekend, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her dramatic prowess was fully realized in The Yearling, earning her first Academy Award nomination. The pinnacle of her film career was winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying a deaf-mute rape victim in Johnny Belinda, a role for which she also received a Golden Globe Award. She continued starring in successful films like The Glass Menagerie and Magnificent Obsession opposite Rock Hudson. In the 1980s, she successfully transitioned to television, starring as the formidable matriarch Angela Channing on the CBS prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest, a role for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award.

Personal life

Wyman was married three times, most notably to future President of the United States Ronald Reagan from 1940 to 1949; they had two children, Maureen Reagan and the late Michael Reagan, and adopted a third. Her other marriages were to businessman Myron Futterman and composer Fred Karger, whom she married twice. A noted philanthropist, she was a longtime supporter of the American Cancer Society and served on the board of the John Wayne Cancer Institute. A devout Roman Catholic, she was also a dedicated Republican activist following her divorce from Reagan. She maintained a residence in Palm Springs, California, and was an avid painter in her later years.

Filmography

A selected filmography includes *Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), *Brother Rat (1938), *The Lost Weekend (1945), *The Yearling (1946), *Johnny Belinda (1948), *The Glass Menagerie (1950), *The Blue Veil (1951), *Magnificent Obsession (1954), *All That Heaven Allows (1955), and *Pollyanna (1960). Her television work is dominated by her role on Falcon Crest (1981–1990).

Awards and nominations

Wyman received an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for Johnny Belinda. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for The Yearling, The Blue Veil, and Magnificent Obsession. For her work on Falcon Crest, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1983 and received three Golden Globe nominations. She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received the Women in Film Crystal Award.

Legacy

Jane Wyman is remembered as a consummate professional who mastered both comedy and drama during Hollywood's studio era. Her Oscar-winning performance in Johnny Belinda is considered a landmark in the portrayal of disability on screen. Her later success on Falcon Crest proved her enduring appeal and adaptability to new media. As a philanthropist and a pioneering woman in the entertainment industry, she left a significant mark beyond her filmography. Her life and career remain a subject of study for film historians and are frequently documented in works about classical Hollywood cinema.

Category:American film actresses Category:Academy Award-winning actresses Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners