The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage

By: Anne Edwards

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Synopsis: "One evening in mid-February 1952 Edith Luckett Davis and . Dr. Loyal Davis, parents of thirty-year-old Hollywood contract player Nancy Davis, were sitting down to eat dinner at their Scottsdale, Arizona, home when the telephone rang. Edith answered it. Ronald Reagan, a forty-one-year-old divorced movie star of waning celebrity, and father of two, was on the line. "He asked me for Dr. Loyal Davis and I said who wants to speak to him and he said Ronald Reagan," Edith, a onetime touring road actress known for her out-front responses, recalled. "I thought what the hell's he doing calling Loyal? I didn't know what it was for. I said, 'Just a minute.' I went in and said to Loyal, 'Ronald Reagan wants to speak to you.' And he said, "Me?" And I said, 'Get to that phone 'cause I want to know what in hell he wants.' Anyway, Loyal went to the phone. He said, 'That's interesting.[in answer to Reagan's admission that he wanted to marry Nancy]. Are you sure you can [support her]? Yes [when Reagan asked if he approved].' And they talked and after [they hung up] Loyal said to me, 'He wants to marry Nancy.' And I said, 'Oh, go on!' He said, 'No, I'm not kidding. He wants to marry Nancy.' And I said, 'That's very exciting, very exciting.' 'Then she called and I said, 'Why in hell is that man calling your father for this?' And she said ..."