Patti Davis
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Patricia Ann Davis (née Reagan; born October 21, 1952) is an American actress and author. She is the daughter of U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his second wife, Nancy Reagan.
Early life and education
Patricia Ann Reagan was born to Ronald and Nancy Reagan on October 21, 1952, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.[2] She is the older sister of Ron Reagan, and the younger adoptive sister of the late Michael Reagan as well as half-sister of the late Maureen Reagan. She went to grade school at the John Thomas Dye School in Bel Air, and graduated from the Orme School of Arizona in 1970.[3] She matriculated at Northwestern University, where she studied creative writing and drama. She then attended the University of Southern California for two years.[4] She changed her last name to her mother's maiden adopted name, Davis, in an effort to have an independent career.[5] She was active in the anti-nuclear movement before her father was elected president, and continued her activism through his term, stirring controversy and creating strife in the family. She has been a critic of the Republican Party, with which she has never been affiliated.[6]
Career
In the early 1980s, Davis acted in a few television shows before getting her first publishing deal. In 1986, she published her first novel, Home Front. She used elements of her own life to create a fictional story. The book became controversial, and she was widely criticized. Following her second novel Deadfall, she wrote an autobiography called The Way I See It, in which she revealed many family dramas and secrets. She has since spoken publicly about how she regrets the form, but not the content, of the critique she presented in the book.[7]
In the July 1994 issue of Playboy, Davis posed for the magazine with a full frontal pictorial.[8][9] This issue of the magazine also displayed Davis on its front cover. This issue is considered to be one of the magazine's most controversial covers. Davis has posed for other magazines such as More in 2011. Playboy also issued a VHS tape as a complement to the 1994 issue.[10]
When her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she began writing The Long Goodbye, which was published in 2004. During that time, she began writing for magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Newsweek and Time. Her original screenplay, Spring Thaw, became the 2007 Hallmark Channel movie Sacrifices of the Heart, starring Melissa Gilbert and Ken Howard.[11]
Personal life
In 1969, Davis applied to Ohio University and Northwestern to study journalism, and enrolled in the latter.
In the 1970s, she lived with Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon.[4] By this time, her mother had disowned her for living with Leadon as an unmarried couple. Together, Davis and Leadon co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which appeared on Eagles album One of These Nights.[12]
In the 1980s, she dated actor Timothy Hutton, and later had a two-year relationship with actor Peter Strauss.
In 2014, Davis expressed her frustration about having the Secret Service monitoring her dates, as they had time limits on evening dates, and monitored her and her partners' actions together. She said that this situation was part of why she rushed into her relationship with her future husband, Paul Grilley.[13] In 1984, she married Grilley, a yoga instructor and one of the founders of Yin Yoga. They divorced in 1990, without children. As of January 2026, Davis has never remarried.[4]
Davis is a vegetarian, and has disagreed with laws that outlaw the use of marijuana.[14]
She has no children.[15]
In 2011, she launched "Beyond Alzheimer's" at UCLA, which she still runs.[16][17]
In a September 2018, op-ed for the Washington Post, Davis wrote that she had been sexually assaulted nearly 40 years earlier by a studio executive. The op-ed was released the same week Christine Blasey Ford recounted an alleged sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Davis released the piece in support of Blasey Ford when she had been criticized for not remembering details of the alleged assault.[18][19][20]
After the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in October 2018, Davis penned an op-ed in the Washington Post, accused President Donald Trump of failing to provide solace to the nation in times of tragedy. She wrote, in part: "This president will never offer comfort, compassion or empathy to a grieving nation. It’s not in him. When questioned after a tragedy, he will always be glib and inappropriate. So I have a wild suggestion: Let’s stop asking him. His words are only salt in our wounds."[21][22] In August 2019, Davis wrote an editorial in the Washington Post condemning denigrating comments her father had made in jest about black Africans at the United Nations in a 1971 phone conversation with President Richard Nixon, which Nixon had taped. The tapes were publicly released the day prior. In the editorial, Davis wrote: "There is no defense, no rationalization, no suitable explanation for what my father said on that taped phone conversation."[23]
In October 2021, she expressed her disdain for John Hinckley Jr. being fully released following the assassination attempt of her father in 1981,[24] a view that contrasted with that of Michael Reagan, the adopted son of President Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman, who expressed forgiveness for Hinckley.[25][26]
After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, she voiced disdain for political violence and related the event to her own father's experience being shot and the emotional toll it took on her family.[27]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Curse of the Pink Panther | Michelle Chauvin | |
| 1985 | Cocaine Wars | Rosita | |
| 1989 | Tango & Cash | Reporter | |
| 1993 | The Last Party | Template:Screen reader-only | Documentary |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979, 1986 | The Love Boat | Brenda / Cindy | 2 episodes |
| 1979 | CHiPs | Receptionist | Episode: "The Watch Commander" |
| 1980 | Fantasy Island | Charmain | Episode: "My Fair Pharaoh/The Power" |
| 1980 | Vegas | Connie / Beth | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Nero Wolfe | Dana Groves | Episode: "Gambit" |
| 1981 | For Ladies Only | Sandy Green | Television film |
| 1982 | Hart to Hart | Laura Hampel | Episode: "To Coin a Hart" |
| 1982 | Romance Theatre | Jean | 5 episodes |
| 1983 | Night Partners | Janice Tyler | Television film |
| 1983 | Trapper John, M.D. | Janet Taylor | Episode: "All About Everett" |
| 1983, 1985 | Simon & Simon | Beth Carlisle / Diana | 2 episodes |
Bibliography
- Home Front. Crown, 1986 Template:ISBN. (quasi-novel)
- Deadfall. Crown, 1989. Template:ISBN. (novel)
- A House of Secrets. Carol, 1991. Template:ISBN. (quasi-novel)
- The Way I See It: An Autobiography. Putnam, 1992. Template:ISBN.
- Bondage. Simon & Schuster, 1994. Template:ISBN. (novel)
- Angels Don't Die: My Father's Gift of Faith. Harper Collins, 1995. Template:ISBN.
- The Long Goodbye. Knopf, 2004. Template:ISBN.
- Two Cats and the Woman They Own. Chronicle Books, 2006. Template:ISBN.
- The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us. Hay House, 2009. Template:ISBN.
- Till Human Voices Wake Us. CreateSpace, KDP, 2013. Template:ISBN. (novel)
- The Blue Hour. CreateSpace, KDP, 2013. Template:ISBN. (novel)
- The Wit and Wisdom of Gracie. Huqua Press, 2014. Template:ISBN
- The Earth Breaks in Colors. Huqua Press, 2014. Template:ISBN (novel)
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Scott, Vernon (March 7, 1994). "Patti Davis, registered Democrat and White House rebel during". United Press International. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Colacello, Bob (October 1, 2004). Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House--1911 to 1980. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7595-1267-2.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Orme mourns the passing of Honorary Trustee, President Ronald Reagan". The Orme School. 2004. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
- ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Podolsky, J.D. (May 18, 1992). "A Daughter's Lament". People. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Grove, Lloyd (February 3, 2011). "Patti Davis on Her Dad, Palin and Playboy". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davis, Patti (April 30, 2019). "Dear Republicans: Stop using my father, Ronald Reagan, to justify your silence on Trump "you were a frequent guest at our dinner table — and an unwelcome one to me"". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kornblum, Janet (November 16, 2004). "Reagan daughter's new leaf". USA Today. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Patti Davis - First Daughter, July 1994 Cover Model". Playboy. July 1994.(subscription required)
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."REAGANS' REBEL DAUGHTER BARES ALL IN PLAYBOY SPREAD". Deseret News. June 1, 1994. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis poses nude at 58". Oakland Press. May 19, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Moses, Marilyn (February 28, 2007). "Sacrifices of the Heart". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Patti Davis – Biography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Interview with Patti Davis". YouTube. January 31, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Weisman, Steven R. (August 15, 1984). "Reagan's Daughter Married on Coat". The New York Times. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Zeller, Terry (May 13, 2023). "Ronald Reagan's Kids & Grandkids: Meet The Late President's Family Here". Hollywood Life. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davis, Patti (February 6, 2012). "My Turn: Patti Davis on the chains that break, the links that form in Alzheimer's". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Various authors (December 3, 2013). "The UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program for Comprehensive, Coordinated, Patient-centered Care: Preliminary Data". National Center for Biotechnology Information.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fortin, Jacey (September 21, 2018). "Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan's Daughter, Tells Her Story of Sexual Assault". The New York Times. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Joyce, Kathleen (September 22, 2018). "Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan's daughter, says she's sexual assault survivor in op-ed defending Kavanaugh's accuser". Fox News. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Koning Beals, Rachel (September 22, 2018). "Op-ed from Reagan daughter Patti Davis reveals why she — and many victims — can't remember details of their sexual assault". Market Watch. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-stop-asking-trump-for-comfort-after-tragedies/2018/10/28/fb95ed66-daf5-11e8-b3f0-62607289efee_story.html
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Reagan's daughter: Trump lacks compassion". CNN. October 29, 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davis, Patti (August 1, 2019). "The Ronald Reagan who raised me would want forgiveness for his 'monkeys' remark". editorial. Washington Post.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davis, Patti (December 27, 2021). "John Hinckley is free, but shooting still haunts me". The Washington Post.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Hinckley, who shot Reagan in 1981, granted full freedom". Reuters. June 2, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hohmann, James (March 24, 2011). "Reagan daughter: Shooter's freedom unfair". Politico.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davis, Patti (July 14, 2024). "A Shooting Changes a Family. And It Can Change a Nation". The New York Times.
Further reading
- Reagan, Nancy. My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (1989), with William Novak. H. W. Brands Reagan: The Life (2015) p. 743 says "she wrote one of the most candid and at times self-critical memoirs in recent American political history."
External links
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- No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
- Patti Davis at IMDbTemplate:Edit at Wikidata
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- No openlibrary ID.
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