By 1962, Nancy Reagan had been married to fellow actor Ronald for a decade. The two began a relationship in 1949, following Reagan's divorce from Jane Wyman, after meeting through the Screen Actors Guild. In 1952, they tied the knot. The two continued their screen careers for the next ten years. Ronald, mostly, worked as a TV host and occasional actor on anthology series like General Electric Theater, The Dick Powell Show, and Death Valley Days.

Nancy's acting career was winding down. She continued to work under the screen name "Nancy Davis." Her final film role, in the airline disaster flick Crash Landing, hit theaters as a B-movie double-feature in 1958. But some smaller television roles continued to come her way, including parts on, naturally, General Electric Theater.

On the day after Christmas, in 1962, Wagon Train aired an episode called "The Sam Darland Story." Afternoon variety show host Art Linkletter was the main guest star with top billing — no wonder, he played Sam Darland. "Nancy Davis" received an "also starring" credit at the end of the episode:

In her final acting job, Nancy was surrounded by familiar TV faces, especially in the younger cast. Bill Mumy, three years before his household-name role in Lost in Space and one year following his mind-controlling turn on The Twilight Zone, garners the most screen time as orphan boy "Toddy."

But any fan of Leave It to Beaver will recognize Rusty Stevens, a.k.a. Beaver's pal Larry Mondello. But as those two young fellows were starting their careers, Nancy was saying goodbye. She retired from acting that year. Her only other television appearances would be as herself in her political life.

Albert Brooks would attempt to lure her (as well as Doris Day) out of retirement to play his mom in the 1996 movie Mother. Nancy declined (as did Doris, apparently). The role went to Debbie Reynolds. Nancy must have been satisfied to leave Wagon Train as her farewell to the profession.

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