03/04/1952 AD married

The couple wed at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley, in a simple and hastily arranged ceremony designed to avoid the press; the marriage was her first and his second.

The only people in attendance were fellow actor William Holden (the best man) and his wife, actress Brenda Marshall (the matron of honor).

Nancy was likely already pregnant during the ceremony; the couple's first child, Patricia Ann Reagan (later better known by her professional name, Patti Davis), was born less than eight months later on October 21, 1952.

Their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan (later better known as Ron Reagan) was born six years later on May 20, 1958. Reagan also became stepmother to Maureen Reagan (1941–2001) and Michael Reagan (b. 1945), her husband's children from his first marriage to Jane Wyman.

During her Hollywood career, Davis dated many actors, including Clark Gable, Robert Stack, and Peter Lawford; she later called Gable the nicest of the stars she had met. On November 15, 1949, she met Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild. She had noticed that her name had appeared on the Hollywood blacklist. Davis sought Reagan's help to maintain her employment as a guild actress in Hollywood and for assistance in having her name removed from the list. Ronald Reagan informed her that she had been confused with another actress of the same name.

The two began dating and their relationship was the subject of many gossip columns; one Hollywood press account described their nightclub-free times together as "the romance of a couple who have no vices". Ronald Reagan was skeptical about marriage, however, following his painful 1949 divorce from Jane Wyman, and he still saw other women.

After three years of dating, they eventually decided to marry while discussing the issue in the couple's favorite booth at Chasen's, a restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Los Angeles, CA

Lattitude: 34.05° N
Longitude: 118.25° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

Events in 1952 MORE