reagan's mom? >> really big shoes to fill. there wasn't a lot about nelly. there was plenty on youtube to search for ronald reagan, embodying a physical attribute and for nelly, there wasn't that kind of -- >> she died in 1962, she was not a public figure. >> most of my research and most things i found out about her were from reagan's hand. reading his autobiography. some biographies that were written about reagan that his mother found her way into the story, god and ronald reagan actually was the most poignant part of the research because it was the most information about her and the impact she had on his life, what she instilled in him as a young boy. he really carried with him through his life. >> what were some of those things. did you start out with essentially a blank slate, you're going to learn about nelly reagan, what did you learn about her and what came of that? >> i learned she was the youngest of 7 children, her mother passed when she was 17 and her and her father had a sort of very strained relationship and she fell into the arms of jack reagan,

let's talk a little bit about the young ronald reagan and his mother, his mother nelly reagan and amanda i'd invite you to -- what was it like preparing to be ronald reagan's mom? [laughter] >> they're really big shoes to fill. there wasn't a lot about nellyto to -- in terms of -- i think for dennis there was plenty on youtube to search for ronald reagan and be able to embody a physical attribute and then work from the outside in and for nelly, there wasn't that kind of -- >> she died in 1962. she was not a public figure. >> correct. >> so most of my research and most of the things that i found out about her were from reagan's hand, it was -- reading autobiography and some biographies that were written about reagan that mother found her ways into the story. god and ronald reagan actually was the most poignant part of the researching because it was most information about her and also really the impact that she had on his life and what she instilled in him as a young boy she really carried with him for his life. >> so what were some of those things? did you start out with essentially a bla