In 1949, in Hollywood, California, a young actress named Nancy Davis found herself blacklisted. This was entirely a mistake, caused by her sharing a name with another actress. She called up a former beau, Clark Gable, and asked him for help. Gable spoke to the President of the Screen Actor's Guild, Ronald Reagan, and the issue was swiftly resolved. [1] Ms. Davis rekindled her relationship with Clark Gable in 1952, after his marriage to Sylvia Ashley ended, and they would be married in 1954. [2]
In 1953, Ronald Reagan attended a party celebrating the 76th birthday of actor Charles Coburn. At the party, he began talking with Marilyn Monroe. [3] The two found they had much in common. They had both starred opposite chimpanzees in movies--Reagan in 1951's Bedtime for Bonzo and Monroe in 1952's Monkey Business. More significantly, they had both been divorced in the past. After the party, they began spending more time together. Over time, their friendship blossomed into romance.
1953 was significant for Reagan for another reason as well: he was hired to be the host of General Electric Theater. As part of his job, Reagan was required to give speeches at GE factories, and he was exposed to the right-wing views of GE executive Lemuel Boulware. However, although Reagan found some of Boulware's ideas sensible, he found those views balanced in his personal life by the more liberal Marilyn. [4]
When Darryl F. Zanuck was casting for his historical epic, The Egyptian, Marilyn wanted the role of Nefer, a courtesan. Zanuck initially turned her down, but after Regan lobbied on Marilyn's behalf, Zanuck cast her in the part. [5] Part of Zanuck's initial unwillingness to cast Marilyn in the role may have been due to the reputation she had begun to develop on the set of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where she stayed up all night rehearsing her dance numbers, causing her to be exhausted during the day, then due to stage fright had to be escorted from her trailer to the set by her co-star, Jane Russell. However, Marilyn's time with Reagan appeared to have changed her, as she made an effort to appear on set both on time and well-rested. [6] Conflicts between Zanuck and Marilyn's acting coach, Natasha Lytess, were resolved when Marilyn fired Lytess. [7] When the film was released in 1954, critics praised her performance. More significantly, Zanuck expressed an interest in working with her again, in larger roles. Marilyn, who had wanted to be taken more seriously as an actress, threw herself into her career.
To be continued . . . .
[1] In OTL, Nancy went directly to Ronald Reagan. Nancy described their meeting as, if not exactly love at first sight, "pretty close."
[2] In OTL, Nancy described Clark Gable as the nicest of the stars she had ever met. I think it's reasonable to postulate that in TTL they might start their relationship again once he was no longer married, especially given the help he provided her in clearing her name.
[3] Reagan and Monroe were photographed together at the party in OTL. Unlike in OTL, there's no photograph that also has Nancy in the picture in TTL.
[4] In OTL, Reagan was married to Nancy, who also leaned to the right politically, and Reagan's own views began to shift rightward.
[5] In OTL, Zanuck cast his mistress, Bella Darvi, in the role, and Marilyn instead worked on River of No Return, directed by Otto Preminger.
[6] In OTL, and in TTL, it was said that Reagan's strength as an actor was that he showed up on time and sober. In TTL, some of that work ethic rubbed off on Marilyn.
[7] In OTL, Marilyn did not fire Lytess, who clashed with Otto Preminger on the set of River of No Return, making the entire shoot miserable.