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Jane Wyman dies at 90

Jane Wyman - Star of the 1940s & 50s
Jane Wyman - Star of the 1940s & 50s

Jane Wyman, award-winning actor and former wife of Ronald Reagan, has died. She was 90.

Ms Wyman died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California.

She was born Sarah Jane Mayfield in Missouri in 1917 though many sources give her birthdate as 1914.

In January 1940, when they were both actors, she wed Ronald Reagan in California but their marriage ended in divorce in June 1948.

She was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s, and was higly sought-after as a character actor.

Her best known film roles included a deaf-mute rape victim in Johnny Belinda, for which she won an Oscar in 1948, and Magnificent Obsession (1954) with Rock Hudson, for which she was also nominated.

She starred in 83 movies, two successful TV series (perhaps the better known was Falcon Crest, which ran throughout the 1980s), and was nominated for an Academy Award four times in total.

In recent years, Jane Wyman had lived in seclusion because of declining health including arthritis and diabetes.