Reagan pursued a career in acting in her youth, appearing in films such as Kissin' Cousins (1964) in which she featured alongside Elvis Presley.

While hospitalized for melanoma cancer towards the end of her life, Maureen was only floors away from her father who had suffered a severe fall.

Ronald Reagan used his connections at the FBI − established during his work as an anti-communist informant − to request the agency to investigate her romantic life.

The agency did so on condition that the FBI not be cited as a source, and reported that she was living with an older, married man who was a police officer.

At her funeral on August 19, 2001, Pierce spoke to the mourners at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, and recalled his friend's attitude to her illness.