For America, Nancy Reagan was the good wife

Born the only child of Broadway actress Edith Luckett and insurance salesman Kenneth Robbins, her mother later divorces and marries Chicago neurosurgeon Loyal Davis. Nancy Davis turns to acting after graduating from Smith, is put under contract to MGM but finds her name erroneously (and in retrospect rather ironically) on a "red" list. Producer Mervyn LeRoy - he had directed her in 1949's "East Side, West Side" - tells her to call Reagan, then president of the Screen Actors Guild, to fix the problem.

He did, and she would return the favor, becoming one of the most powerful first ladies in history and a moderating influence on Reagan's conservatism. She tells Judy Woodruff that Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko asked her whether her husband believed in peace. "I said, 'he does.' [Gromyko said] 'Then whisper it in his ear every night.' 'I will, but I'll also whisper it in yours.' "

MY SAY As the old joke goes, America has already had its first female president, and her name was Nancy. This portrait suggests this wasn't entirely a joke. The impact Nancy Reagan had on her husband and, by association, the world, has been fairly well documented. "The Role of a Lifetime" argues that we should be grateful. James Baker, then White House chief of staff, says she "was always in favor of a more centrist approach and thought we should deal with the Soviets."

This program is certainly sympathetic, but it also feels right. It doesn't struggle with interpretations, or spin, or a big think perspective on What It All Means. Best of all are the interviews. Nancy Reagan appears frail (she is 89) but also clear-eyed and gloriously unapologetic as only Nancy Reagan can be. Remember that noisy rumpus in the press when she spruced up the dowdy White House during the first term? Says she, "The White House had to have china, for heaven's sake."

BOTTOM LINE A terrific portrait, and a great birthday present.

GRADE A