Though this modest 2-story frame house with yellow siding at 149-40 Roosevelt Avenue near 149th Place remains unmarked by a plaque or medallion of any kind, this is the home where former First Lady Nancy Reagan spent the first two years of her life.
Ann Frances Robbins was born on 7/6/1921 at Sloane Hospital for Women in NYC to Kenneth Seymour Robbins and actress Edith Luckett. The two divorced in 1928 and when Edith married neurosurgeon Dr. Loyal Davis, 7-year old Ann “Nancy” took on his last name. The family moved to Chicago and Nancy Davis later attended Smith College in Massachusetts. She was bitten by the acting bug and made it to Broadway before embarking on a succession of B-films in the 1940s and 1950s, including “Hellcats of the Navy” with husband Ronald Reagan.
Nancy Davis met Ronald Reagan because of the Hollywood blacklist of suspected Communist sympathizers. In 1949, an actress with the same name appeared on “the list” and Davis enlisted the aid of Screen Actors Guild president Reagan. The two hit it off and were married until Reagan’s death in 2004.
7/10/14