Nancy and Ronald Reagan's Only Film Together: 'Hellcats of the Navy'

Former first lady Nancy Reagan died Sunday at the age of 94. She and her late husband President Ronald Reagan famously started their careers as actors in Hollywood before turning to politics. The only time they ever shared the screen was in the 1957 war movie Hellcats of the Navy, five years after they married in 1952. (Watch our video about it above.) In the World War II drama, Ronald Reagan plays a stalwart submarine commander tasked with cutting off Japanese supply lines, while Nancy Reagan (billed under her maiden name Nancy Davis) plays the nurse back home who pines for him.

Though Hellcats got an endorsement from real-life Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the critical reaction at the time was lukewarm, and it’s mostly remembered today as a fascinating glimpse at the future first couple as their screen careers were winding down.

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