Jane Wyman is one of the few  Hollywood  movie stars to have had an equally  successful  television  career. She was  at  the  height  of  her  film  career  in  the  mid­ 1950s when she launched her first television series , Jane Wyman Theater: Modeled after the successful  The Loretta Young Show, the prime-time filmed anthology series presented a different drama each week, with Wyman as host, producer, and sometimes actress. Between 1958 and 1980,  Wyman  appeared  occasionally as a guest star on television series and in made- for-TV movies. Then, in 1981, she scored another series success with her portrayal of ruthless matriarch Angela Channing on CBS's prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest.

     Wyman broke into movies in the early 1930s as a Goldwyn Girl and continued to play chorus girls until the mid- 1940s. By 1948, when she won the Best Actress Academy Award for Johnny Belinda, her image was that of a capable dramatic actress. In the early 1950s, her success continued with romantic comedies such as Here Comes the Groom (1951) and such melodramas as Magnificent Obsession (1954). She was considered a "woman's star," mature yet glamorous, a woman with whom middle-class, middle-aged women could identify. Amid speculation as to why a currently successful film star would want to do series television, Wyman started work on her own anthology drama series. According to her, television seemed like the right thing to do at that time. The movie industry was changing, and she wanted to try the new medium. Moreover, film roles for fortyish female stars were in short supply.

     Procter and Gamble's Fireside Theatre, a filmed an­thology series, had been a fixture on NBC since 1949, but by the end of the 1954-55 season, ratings had slipped. The show was overhauled in 1955 and became Wyman's series. Her production company, Lewman Productions (co-owned with MCA's Revue Productions), produced the series. As host, she was glamorous Jane Wyman. As producer, she chose the stories. As actress, she chose her occasional roles. Presentations were dramas or light comedies, with Wyman acting in about half of the episodes. The series carried on the tradition established by Fireside Theatre and The Loretta Young Show-filmed, half-hour anthology dramas that attracted substantial audiences, while critics praised live, 60- and 90-minute anthology dramas such as Studio One and Playhouse 90.

     Wyman's series was initially titled Jane Wyman Pre­sents the Fireside Theatre, but the title was later shortened to Jane Wyman Theater. (It was called Jane Wyman Presents when ABC aired reruns in  1963.) Like The Loretta Young Show, Wyman's series was rerun on network daytime schedules (to target women audiences) and in syndication. (The aspiring writer Aaron Spelling found work with Jane Wyman Theater and later became one of television's most successful producers.) Wyman also hosted a summer series that featured teleplays originally shown on other anthology dramas. This 1957 program was called Jane Wyman' s Summer Playhouse.

     In the years following the cancellation of Jane Wyman Theater, Wyman guest-starred on television programs, made a few feature films (with starring roles in two Disney films), and appeared in a made-for-TV movie. In 1971 Wyman guest-starred on an episode of The Bold Ones as Dr. Amanda Fallon. This production provided the basis for a series pilot but never became a series. In 1979 she received attention for her supporting role in the made-for-TV movie The Incredible Journey of Dr. Meg Laurel. She then made appearances on two of Aaron Spelling's series, The Love Boat and Charlie's Angels.

     The spotlight really returned in 1981. As the ex-wife of newly elected President Ronald Reagan, Wyman was sought out by the media. Her publicity value did not escape Lorimar Productions' Earl Hamner and CBS. Seeking to capitalize on their success with Dallas and Knots Landing, Lorimar and CBS launched Falcon Crest in 1981, with Wyman starring as a fe­ male  version  of  Dallas's  ruthless  and manipulative

     J.R. Ewing. For nine seasons, she portrayed Angela Channing, the powerful matriarch of a wealthy, wine­ making family. Wyman thus made a successful return to series television, but in a role quite different from her earlier work. As Angela Channing, she was not the likable, clean-cut woman she had so often portrayed in the past, but she played the part of Channing to perfection. In 1984 she won a Golden Globe Award for her Falcon Crest performances and was reported to be the highest-paid actress on television at that time.

     Jane  Wyman's  television  career  began in  the  mid­ l950s. after she had already achieved stardom in the movies. Like Loretta Young and Lucille Ball, she was one of the few film stars and one of relatively few women to have her own successful  television  series. She also was one of the few women to star in her own anthology drama series. Thirty years later, in  the 1980s, Wyman accomplished something even more.