Born Anne Frances Robbins in a troubled home in New York City, the future first lady was adopted and gained a new last name from her stepfather, Dr. Loyal Davis, a Chicago physician.
Anne Davis went by the nickname Nancy as she grew up and graduated from Smith College in 1943, did some acting on the Broadway stage and broke into the movies when MGM's George Cukor gave her a bit part in 1949's "East Side, West Side." The studio changed her first name to Nancy.
After the name Nancy Davis was printed in a newspaper letter supporting blacklisted scriptwriters, she sought the help of the Screen Actors Guild to make it clear that she was not that Nancy Davis and that the listing had been a mistake. Ronald Reagan was the president of the guild, who helped her make sure the studios and public made that distinction.
They married in March 1952, and together purchased a home at 1251 Amalfi Drive, in Pacific Palisades, where they lived until a move to Sacramento in 1966. They had two children together, Patti and Ron Jr., and she also helped raise Ronald Reagan's two children with his first wife, Jane Wyman.
"Hellcats Of the Navy" in 1957 was the only movie they appeared together in, but she continued to act in TV and minor movie roles. But her biggest role turned out to be as Ronald Reagan's adviser, counselor and fierce protector when he was in public life, and later, serving as his chief caregiver after he became stricken by Alzheimer's disease. Reagan died in June 2004.
Nancy Reagan received public praise as a classy and elegant first lady, but also some blistering criticism, particularly for a $200,000 set of White House China that was purchased with donated funds during an economic recession. But she also showed the ability to poke fun at herself. Known for her elegant gowns and always-proper -- and expensive -- attire, she attended the 1982 Gridiron Dinner in a typically fashionable outfit.
While members of the media performed a satirical skit about her taste in clothing, Nancy Reagan excused herself and changed into a gaudy polka-dot blouse, a red housedress and Hawaiian print skirt, along with yellow rubber rain boots, then took the stage and sang "Secondhand Clothes," set to the tune of "Secondhand Rose."
In October 1987, the Nancy Reagan underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer, and she later went on television from the White House to promote cancer awareness and mammograms.
In 1989, at the end of Reagan terms in Washington, the couple retired to a house in Bel Air: the street number was changed from 666 to 668 at the request of Nancy Reagan, who was superstitious and who had made use of a psychic to help guide her husband during his presidency.
The Reagans traveled between Bel Air and their ranch at Rancho del Cielo, in the mountains above Santa Barbara. The ranch was sold when the ex-president was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994.
Alzheimer's awareness became Nancy Reagan's new campaign, along with burnishing her husband's name and reputation.
Nancy Reagan made one of her last public appearances at the centennial of her husband's birth, in February 2011, on the sun-drenched western porch of the Reagan Library. The Pacific Ocean was on the western horizon, his grave to her side.
She died on March 6th, 2016 of a congestive heart attack. God bless her soul.
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