- Paula Raymond, Crisis, 1949. Nancy was determined to be Cary Grant’s wife in the thriller. And she had a good chance as her lover Benjamin Thau, none other than MGM’s casting director. He arranged a test with new auteur Richard Brooks. Metro production chief Dore Schary called it: “The worst screentest in the history of Hollywood.” At the time, Nancy’s only real fame was being the God-daughter of the silent lesbian star, Alla Nazimova… and being the finest (free) fellatrice in town. Working her way down – via Marlon Brando, producer Norman Krasna, Peter Lawford, Robert Stack, Spencer Tracy, Robert Walker – to her ultimate goal: Ronald Reagan. So she becme America’s First Lady when her Ronnie was elected the 40th U S President during 1981-1989. (No, really!)
- Anne Baxter, All About Eve, 1950.
- Celeste Holm, All About Eve, 1950.
- Debbie Reynolds, Mother, 1997. Albert Brooks, the wannabe West Coast Woody Allen, wanted a casting coup. When his agent’s sister suggested meeting the ex-First Lady, producer Scott Rudin feared a headline-making stunt “and probably a bad movie.” Brooks read scenes with Nancy, who had not filmed since Crash Landing, 1957. “This is going to kill me for the rest of my life,” she said. “But I can’t do this.” She knew her place (and heart) was with her husband,, ex-President Ronald Reagan, stricken with Uncle Al – Alzheimer’s disease. He died in 2004. She bowed out with the kind of smile that Joan Didion once called “a study in frozen insincerity.”
Birth year: 1921Death year: 2016Other name: Nancy ReaganCasting Calls: 4