The ex-wife of a the former actor, Ronald Reagan and President to be, Academy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, this Hollywood actress lived a full, eventful and distinguished career both on and off the screen.

Born Sarah Jane Mayfield on January 5^th 1917 in St Joseph, Missouri to Manning and Gladys Mayfield. Her father was a labouror and her mother worked as an office assistant. When Jane was 4 years old her father, whom her mother had divorced in 1921, died in 1922 after which her mother moved the family to Cleveland Ohio. Her mother had her officially adopted by Richard and Emma Fulks and it was at this point she took on the name, Fulks.

For a while Jane lived in California with her step mother but later moved back to Missouri where she attended Lafayette High School in St Joseph.

Jane’s career began in 1930’s when she moved back to Hollywood, California when she became a radio singer and supported herself as a switchboard operator and a manicurist until she was spotted and landed several bit roles in movies until eventually in 1936 she signed a contract with Warner Brothers and changed her name to Wyman.

During the early 40s she mainly appeared in comedies and melodramas and was finally noticed for her role as Ray Milland's girlfriend in The Lost Weekend. The Yearling, in which she starred with Gregory Peck saw her nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Ma Baxter.

Jane’s marriage to Ronald Reagan allegedly only came after Wyman attempted suicide over the actor's indecision regarding marriage. They were married on January 26, 1940 and they divorced on June 28, 1948. Together they had three children; Maureen Elizabeth Reagan , Michael Edward Reagan and Christine Reagan, a child that would die the day after her birth.

In the 1950’s Jane’s career took off when audiences took to her acting roles in soap operas such as the very popular So Big, Lucy Gallant, All That Heaven Allows and Miracle in the Rain.

Jane Wyman hosted television's "Fireside Theatre". She starred in many of the episodes and co-produced the series which ran from 1955-1958. During that time she also starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright and Frank Capra on Here comes the Groom in 1951.

In 1959 it fell upon Jane to replace Gene Tierney in Holiday for Lovers and in 1960 she appeared in Pollyanna

During the 1970’s Wyman went into semi-retirement and remained there until she made guest appearances on the successful series Charlie's Angels, with Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith and The Love Boat.

It was during the early 1980’s when Wyman's career enjoyed a resurgence as she was cast as the scheming Californian Angela Channing in the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest, which ran until1990. The series saw its initial ratings up as high as those of Dallas and Dynasty in the 90’s.

With Jane suffering a number of health problems in the 80’s such as abdominal surgery, she missed two episodes while her character simply "went missing" under mysterious circumstances. She was advised by her doctor to avoid work but she wanted to continue working and she completed the rest of the 1988-1989 season while her health was still deteriorating. Finally she was diagnosed with diabetes and a liver ailment and hospitalized. Once again 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 until 1990. Wyman ultimately appeared in 208 of the show's 227 episodes.

During her acting career Wyman had starred in 83 movies, two successful TV series, and was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning once.

After divorcing Reagan, Wyman married bandleader Frederick M. Karger on November 1, 1952 in Santa Barbara, California. Once again she divorced in 1954 but this time, not content to divorce the man once, she went on to marry him again in 1961 and divorced him in 1965.

After her divorce from Kargar, Wyman never remarried.

Apart from attending the funeral of her daughter Maureen in 2001 and the funeral of Ronald Reagan in 2004 Jane lived the final years of her life out of the public eye.

Jane died at her own home at the Rancho Mirage Country Club at the age of ninety in September 2007. As she had converted to the Catholic religion and was a member of the Dominican order of the Catholic church, she was buried in a nun's habit. She was interred at Forest Lawn.

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