Jane Wyman had a distinguished career with one Oscar win, several nominations, and Emmy awards for her work on the TV series Falcon Crest. It has been suggested that the fact that her ex-husband Ronald Reagan became president had a lot to do with her late-in-life success -- even this book makes that point -- but the book also makes clear that Wyman had quite a body of work and a long list of achievements that would have made her a major Hollywood figure no matter whom she was married to.
This book goes on a bit too much about Reagan, which is not necessary considering the life and career enjoyed by Wyman. But it also looks at Wyman's other marriages, her toiling as a contract player in numerous forgettable movies where she was the wise-crackng blonde, then her emergence as a serious player in such films as Johnny Belinda, Miracle in the Rain, The Blue Veil, All That Heaven Allows and others. Many were surprised that Wyman, who continued making (mostly minor) movies, fled to television for her own anthology series a la Loretta Young, when her movie career was going much, much better than Young's. Wyman, however, felt that her type of picture was on its way out. The series, Jane Wyman Theatre, lasted several seasons.
Wyman had two children via Reagan, Maureen and Michael (who was adopted), upon whom Wyman would use a riding crop when he misbehaved, although he apparently never held it against her. Wyman's show Falcon Crest, in which she was excellent as the scheming Angela Channing, lasted for nearly a decade. Her last credit was on an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. A conservative Republican like her ex-husband (whom she probably divorced because she found his constant yakking about politics boring beyond belief), Wyman refused to play "ax murderers or lesbians" (!) when she was offered scripts with same. Wyman was a private woman, and the book has no major interviews with insiders who knew her well. Still, it manages to be a good read.
Verdict: Solid if sometimes superficial study of a very talented movie star. ***.
2 comments:
I have become a bigger and bigger fan of Wyman’s work over the years. She was not as flamboyant and tempestuous as Bette or Joan or Stanwyck or as beautiful as Lana or Marilyn or Garbo but was the ideal Everywoman archetype. She really was a fine actress, and she is very satisfying in every performance...my favorites are All That Heaven Allows and Magnificent Obsesion with Rock, Johnny Belinda, of course, and I love her in Hitchcock’s Stage Fright with Marlene Dietrich.
- Chris
I think you've summed her up and her comparison to other female stars beautifully, Chris. She was one of the most talented ladies in Hollywood, and she kept her gift right up until she was winning Emmys for "Falcon Crest" in her dotage.
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