"After September 11, I got to understand a little bit of his deep love for this country." -- Patti Davis
Patti Davis (born Patricia Ann Reagan on October 21, 1952 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress and author. She is the daughter of former President of the United States Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. Davis was called the "black sheep" of the Reagan children, and her many conflicts with her parents have been well publicized.
She is the older sister of Ron Reagan, the half-sister of the late Maureen Reagan, and has an adopted half-brother Michael Reagan.
"America had taken my father from me. And over most of the years of his illness, I gradually started feeling this support system from this country who-people grieving along with us.""And as far as false hope, there is no such thing. There is only hope or the absence of hope-nothing else.""Christopher Reeve understood that... everything begins with hope. His vision of walking again, his belief that he would be able to in his lifetime, towered over his broken body.""Even if the Bush Administration had flung open the gates to stem-cell research years ago, we would not be at the point of offering treatment today. Christopher Reeve would still have been taken from us. But we would be closer.""I did what most writers do when something happens that's overwhelming, fascinating, moving, all of that. I didn't know what else to do about it except write about it.""I felt that the best I could do for my father, and the best I could do for myself, and my mother and my family was to stay open to the experience, and learn whatever I could at every step of the way as it was going on.""I had this odd sibling rivalry with America.""Laura Bush went on national television during the week of my father's funeral and spoke out against embryonic stem cell research, pointing out that where Alzheimer's is concerned, we don't have proof that stem-cell treatment would be effective.""My father started growing very quiet as Alzheimer's started claiming more of him. The early stages of Alzheimer's are the hardest because that person is aware that they're losing awareness. And I think that that's why my father started growing more and more quiet.""Some people, when they die, leave so much life behind that we wonder how they did it.""The memories stayed with him for so long, and stayed vivid. And it didn't matter to me that he'd already repeated that before. I could hear it forever.""You know, if you hang around this earth long enough you really see how things come full circle."
Like her brother Ron, she is known for holding liberal viewpoints, which clashed often with her famously conservative father. For example during his presidency it was already known to the press that she held a pro-choice viewpoint on abortion, supported gay rights,, and opposed nuclear weapons.
Davis attended Northwestern University from 1970-71. She was romantically involved with Bernie Leadon of the Eagles for a time in the 1970s. They cowrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which appeared on the Eagles' One of These Nights album despite the objections of the rest of the Eagles, especially Don Henley.
Davis made a number of supporting acting appearances in the late 1970s and early 1980s, guest starring on shows such as The Love Boat, CHiPs, Nero Wolfe and Fantasy Island. She also was the first actress to play Marissa Mallory on the syndicated soap opera Rituals before Janice Heiden took over the role for the remainder of the run.
She married her yoga instructor, Paul Grilley, in 1984. They divorced in 1990. In 1994, she posed nude for the July issue of Playboy.
Davis later reconciled with her parents, especially as they coped with her father's Alzheimer's disease and was seen prominently as she supported her mother during her father's lengthy public funeral in 2004. She wrote books that portrayed her family in a more positive light, portraying her father as deeply religious. She was active in the Reagan family's actions against John Hinckley and the controversial CBS miniseries The Reagans.
Davis also published columns and articles in a number of newspapers and magazines and wrote the screenplay for the Hallmark Channel movie Sacrifices of The Heart.
