As an actor, he never really made it to the top
By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service
If Ronald Reagan had not achieved political stardom, he would have best been remembered as a midlevel Hollywood actor and TV host.
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After Reagan parlayed his early radio career into a studio contract in the late 1930s, he became a capable — though seldom exceptional — actor, and built a career largely in "B" movies.
Reagan's unremarkable 1940 performance as George Gipp gave him a nickname and a slogan that he took into politics.
Reagan possessed angular good looks and an amiable, slightly off-kilter smile, but he came up short of that special charisma that makes someone a movie superstar. Clearly, he had it later in the political world.
Reagan earned plaudits for maximizing his talents primarily in just three films — "Brother Rat" (1938), "Kings Row" (1942) and "Hasty Heart" (1950).
In "Brother Rat," Reagan co-stars with Eddie Albert and Wayne Morris as three playful buddies at a Virginia military school. The trio was reunited for a sequel — "Brother Rat and a Baby."
In "Kings Row," Reagan stands out from the ensemble in a sweeping look at life in a Midwestern town before World War I. And in "Hasty Heart," Reagan delivers a sensitive portrayal in the story of a hospitalized soldier who discovers he has a short time to live.
And though Reagan's performance as George Gipp in "Knute Rockne, All American" (1940) wasn't exceptional, it did give the actor a memorable deathbed scene. His famous line in that film — "Win just one for the Gipper" — also lent the future governor and president a lifelong nickname and obvious political fodder.
Reagan also deserves some credit for his winning warmth and good humor in what could have been a disagreeable project — working opposite a chimp in the unjustly maligned campus comedy, "Bedtime for Bonzo."
The film spawned a sequel — "Bonzo Goes to College" — which Reagan was able to avoid.
His greatest impact in Hollywood, though, came behind the scenes. He was president of the powerful Screen Actors Guild during the turbulent days of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings.
His later acting career was restricted largely to television, where he was the host and occasional star of the western anthology series, "Death Valley Days."
His casual appearance in a cowboy hat, and his easy-going introductions of the show's episodes, are probably how many of us would have remembered Reagan if he hadn't been cast in later roles as California's governor and as president of the United States.
