More than just the little lady

Jane Wyman died today, she was 93. The reason I mention it is that the headline reads: Reagan's First Wife Dies, as if that explains it all. Wyman won an Academy Award for her performances as Johnny Belinda, who was deaf and raped in the 1948 film--and its right there in the first paragraph of her obit, right next to the Oscar--which should have been enough. That was also the movie that the less successful Reagan cited as the reason for the end of their marriage. Reagan went on to become one of the few labor leaders to side with the bosses (ah those wonderful McCarthy days) and as president of these United States--but as an actor, he was a pretty good sports caster--in fact as a president., he was a pretty good sports caster.

But I digress.

Jane Wyman had a long career that culminated in 1980 in the CBS pot boiler Falcon Crest, not bad for a girl who started out as a brassy blonde in a 1930s musical. But when she dies, at the venerable age of 93, she is remembered as Reagan's First Wife. Maybe Jane didn't mind--she sure never said anything one way or the other. But it annoys me that a woman who had a long and relatively successful career can be identified at the end of her life as Somebody's First Wife. Somehow, I'd like to think that we have gotten past the point where a woman must be identified in some way with the men in her life. But I guess not.