Ronald Reagan

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  • RONALD REAGAN


    Information from IMDb


    Date of Birth
    6 February 1911, Tampico, Illinois, USA


    Date of Death
    5 June 2004, Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA (pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease)


    Birth Name
    Ronald Wilson Reagan


    Nickname
    The Gipper
    The Great Communicator
    The Teflon President
    Dutch
    Ronnie


    Height
    6' 1" (1.85 m)


    Spouse
    Nancy Davis (4 March 1952 - 5 June 2004) (his death) 2 children
    Jane Wyman (26 January 1940 - 28 June 1948) (divorced) 3 children


    Trivia
    Father of Ron Reagan and Patti Davis with Nancy Davis.


    William Holden was the best man at his wedding to Nancy Davis in 1952.


    40th president of the United States (20 January 1981 - 20 January 1989).


    Governor of California. Term of service: 2 January 1967 - 6 January 1975.


    President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and 1959-1960.


    Graduate of Eureka College (1932).


    Son of John Edward Reagan and Nelle Clyde Wilson Reagan.


    Was a sports announcer in Des Moines, Iowa, before becoming an actor in 1937.


    Member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.


    Was presented with George Gipp's letterman's sweater by the University of Notre Dame football team on January 18, 1989, two days before leaving the White House, and his two-term Vice President, George Herbert Walker Bush, became President.


    Was portrayed on "Saturday Night Live" (1975) by at least eight different actors: Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Charles Rocket, Harry Shearer, Robin Williams, Joe Piscopo, Phil Hartman, and Kevin Nealon.


    Father of Maureen Reagan and Michael Reagan with Jane Wyman.


    Daughter, with first wife - actress Jane Wyman - Maureen Reagan died on Wednesday, August 8th, 2001, of malignant melanoma (skin cancer) at her Sacramento, California area home.


    Younger brother of Neil Reagan (1908-1996).


    When he was a young man, he had a part-time job as a lifeguard. He once had to retrieve an old man's dentures at the bottom of the pool and did so without hesitating.


    On Thursday, October 11th, 2001, he became the oldest ex-president in U. S. history, surpassing the previous record-holder, of John Adams.


    While President of the USA, his Secret Service codename was "Rawhide".


    Awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal for ending the "Cold War" against Russia, along with his wife Nancy Davis, for fighting substance abuse among American youths. [May 16th 2002]


    When Reagan's long-time friend and first Hollywood agent, studio mogul Lew Wasserman, died on 3 June 2002, AP reported that their friendship was the subject of a controversial book called "Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA and the Mob" (1988). The book reviewed the federal investgation into the Reagan- Wasserman relationship and charges that alleged payoffs were made in the 1950s by Wasserman's mammoth MCA agency to Reagan and some of his fellow officers of the Screen Actors Guild. Ultimately, Reagan was cleared in the inquiry.


    Because of his battle with Alzheimer's disease, he was unaware that his daughter Maureen had died. Wife Nancy understandably chose not to tell him.


    Was the first guest of honor on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, in 1973.


    Although he was 30 when the United States entered World War II, he volunteered for military service. He was turned down for combat duty due to his poor eyesight.


    For two weeks in 1954, Reagan opened as a stand-up comic at the Ramona Room of the Hotel Last Frontier in Las Vegas, Nevada.


    Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1989.


    On Tuesday, March 14, 1972, during his second term as governor of the Golden State, expunged the criminal record of Merle Haggard, granting him a full pardon.


    Influenced by the Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver (1976), John Hinckley - the son of a prominent Republican family from Colorado - tried to assassinate Reagan in 1981 in order to impress actress Jodie Foster. Foster had won her first Oscar nomination for the film, in which Robert De Niro's eponymous character, 'Travis Bickle', tried to assassinate a liberal Democratic presidential candidate to impress Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), the woman he is obsessed with. Hinckley was acquitted by a jury on reasons of insanity and (as of 2010) remains incarcerated in a psychiatric facility.


    He was the first president to beat the "zero factor." Before him, every president elected in a year ending in zero (beginning with 1840) had died in office.


    Originally was a very liberal member of the Democratic Party, but eventually converted to the Republican Party in 1962, when he was fifty-one. He gave a highly acclaimed speech in support of Barry Goldwater during the 1964 Presidential election.


    At the time of his death, he was the longest-living President of the United States, at age 93 years and 120 days, equaling 34,088 days. This record was broken by former President Gerald Ford on Monday, November 12th, 2006. Their age difference, in days alone, was only 45 days. Ronald Reagan's lifetime lasted 34,088 days, and Gerald Ford's lifetime lasted 34,133 days. Only 45 days differ in the two oldest Presidents' lifetimes.


    Amidst the panic at the hospital after Reagan's assassination attempt, a Secret Service agent was asked information for Reagan's admission forms. The intern asked for Reagan's last name. The agent, who was quite surprised at the question, responded "Reagan". The intern then asked for Reagan's first name. The agent, again surprised, responded "Ronald". The intern didn't look up, instead he unassumingly asked for Reagan's address. The agent paused for a few moments in great surprise before saying "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue". That got the intern's attention.


    Became the first president to have a state funeral in Washington, D.C. since Lyndon Johnson in 1973.


    Had a photographic memory.


    In 1978, after having served as governor of California but before running for President, Reagan came out against The Briggs Initiative, a ballot initiative introduced by a right-wing Republican state senator named John Briggs, which would have made it illegal for homosexuals to be employed as teachers in the California school system. Reagan strongly and vocally opposed the measure, saying that it infringed upon basic human rights and bordered on being unconstitutional. He is largely credited for turning public opinion against the measure and it was defeated in the election.


    He never actually broadcast Cubs games, he re-created them from telegraph reports while working for Des Moines radio station WHO in the 1930s. He demonstrated the technique of making it sound like he was actually at the games to Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray when he made a guest appearance during part of a Cubs telecast in the 1980s.


    He was offered, a role, in animation, of a guest appearance and an off screen voice, on "The Simpsons" (1989), but refused their offer.


    In the film, American Beauty (1999), the Fitts family (Chris Cooper, Allison Janney and Wes Bentley) can be seen watching one of Reagan's wartime films, This Is the Army (1943).


    He played Chicago Cubs hurler Grover Cleveland Alexander in the film, The Winning Team (1952). He also served temporarily, as a broadcaster for WGN Radio, which broadcasts Cubs baseball games.


    A month after his death, items from the 40th president's funeral, burial and week-long public viewing were selling fast on the online auction site eBay. The company has sold 780 pieces of Reagan funeral memorabilia since June 11, 2004 for a total of $66,000. The items range from programs (sold for up to $1,525 each) from the interment at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley to gratitude cards given to mourners who visited his casket.


    Pictured on a 60¢ memorial postage stamp issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands 4 July, 2004, the first memorial to be issued in his honor.


    The first President since Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve two full terms in office.


    The former President was buried at his presidential library in Simi Valley, California.


    Only United States President to have appeared in a shirt advertisement.


    Pictured on a USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamp issued 9 February 2005. When the first-class letter rate was raised to 39¢ in January 2006, the US Postal Service received an unprecedented number of requests to reissue the stamp at the higher value. The 39¢ postage stamp was issued on 14 June 2006, using the same design as the earlier stamp.


    He was the first former American president to die in the 21st Century.


    Rumored studio publicity claimed that he was scheduled to play Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942); however, this was never the case.


    His first bid for the Presidency was actually in 1968, when he finished 3rd in the balloting at the GOP national convention behind Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. As the Constitution, in practical terms, forbids the president and vice president from being from the same state (a rule that binds the electoral college), Reagan was not considered for the vice presidency when Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973. Besides, though Reagan supported his fellow Californian Nixon for president, the two were never close. In 1976, he challenged incumbent Gerald Ford (the man whom Nixon appointed Vice President to replace Agnew) for the Republican nomination, won several primaries, but narrowly lost the nomination at the convention. Though Ford confided in people he was considering a run for the presidency in 1980 to forestall Reagan's ascendancy, he never did and Reagan won the nomination and the presidency.


    Received more electoral votes than any other president in history, winning by 525 (out of 538) in his 1984 re-election campaign when he racked up 49 of 50 states in beating Jimmy Carter's vice president Walter Mondale.


    Was considered to be the most conservative United States President since Herbert Hoover.


    He was the only United States President (as of 2005) to have been a member of a union (the Screen Actors Guild).


    Member of the Eureka College cheerleading squad.


    His last public appearance was at Richard Nixon's funeral in April 1994.


    Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS).


    knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, received an honorary British knighthood, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. This entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters GCB, but did not entitle him to be known as "Sir Ronald Reagan". [15 June 1989]


    During the 1980 Presidential campaign, incumbent President Jimmy Carter publicly criticized Reagan for launching his campaign with a speech on states' rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site of the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers immortalized in the film Mississippi Burning (1988). Carter, a former governor of the Deep South state of Georgia who had run as a racial moderate in 1970, claimed that the phrase 'states' rights' was a 'code word' for segregation, as Southerners opposed to federally mandated segregation claimed that federal intervention into the local laws and mores of their states by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were unconstitutional abrogations of the rights of their states to police themselves. Reagan, who had used his opposition to state equal housing laws to defeat Governor Edmund G. Brown in 1965, disavowed any racist intent and the issue was ignored by most voters and pundits. When Carter persisted in trying to portray the affable Reagan as a racist, the strategy boomeranged against the incumbent President and made him seem petty and petulant.


    After his presidency he and Nancy Davis moved to 666 St. Cloud Road in Bel Air, California which Ronald lived in until his death. Nancy had the address changed from 666 to 668 due to the fact 666 is known as the devil's number. The house is down the street from 805 St. Cloud Road, the house used in the TV show "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990).


    While as an actor he is thought of mostly as a Western/Action-Adventure star, his two best-remembered lines were from straight dramatic roles and delivered while he was flat on his back in bed, his character either dying or horribly crippled: "Win just one more for the Gipper!" in A Modern Hero (1940) and "Where's the rest of me?" in Kings Row (1942).


    His famous nickname "The Great Communicator", was not earned but was requested. Reagan asked for it during his farewell address in 1989.


    His state funeral service took place on the 25th anniversary of the death of his close friend and ally John Wayne.


    Spent World War II making Army training films for Hal Roach Studios.


    Reagan and his wife Nancy were close friends of Rock Hudson, whose death in 1985 spurred the President to provide funds for AIDS research.


    His closest friend in Hollywood was Robert Taylor.


    Reagan was the first "true blue" conservative to win the Republican nomination and be elected President since Calvin Coolidge in 1924.


    Underwent hip replacement surgery in January 2001.


    The only US President to get a divorce.


    Although Reagan did not formally become a Republican until 1962, he never endorsed a Democrat after Helen Gahagan 1950 and voted for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. He also actively campaigned for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election.


    Continued to play golf with several friends including Bob Hope and Kevin Costner until 1996.


    The oldest man to serve as US President, being 69 when he was elected in 1980 and 77 when he left office in 1989.


    Emceed the first PATSY Awards show (1951) where Francis the Talking Mule was the very first winner. PATSY is an acronym for: Picture Animal Top Star of the Year.


    As Captain in the U.S. Army, Reagan signed Major Clark Gable's discharge papers in June 1944.


    Of Irish decent, his grandfather Micheal Regan immigrated to the United States from Ballyporeen, Ireland in the 1860's. Ballyporeen, a tiny rural farming town in County Tipperary is located in the south-central part of the country and it's inhabitants are frequently referred to as "Midlanders". The Regan's were one of three primary families or "clans" that populated St. Mary's Parish in the village of Ballyporeen. The Ronald Reagan Visitors Centre was built down the street from St. Mary's Church following his visit to his ancestral home in the mid-1980's. Ironically, the spelling of the family name Regan was changed to Reagan after immigrating to the United States.


    Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 446-452. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.


    Honored world champion surfer David Nuuhiwa with a gold medal for Merit.


    Although Reagan advertised cigarettes during his time in Hollywood, he is believed never to have taken up the habit in real life. Some early photographs show him holding a pipe, but it never seems to have been lit. In later life he was very anti-smoking, especially since his best friend Robert Taylor died of lung cancer at the age of 57, and his older brother Neil Reagan lost a vocal chord in cancer surgery.


    Only US President to head a labor union (as president of the Screen Actors Guild 1947-52/1959-60).


    To date (2009), first (and only) divorced US President (from Jane Wyman in 1948).


    Longtime friend of Fess Parker.


    Both of his children with Nancy Davis, Ron Reagan and Patti Davis, became liberal Democrats.


    The first US President since John F. Kennedy to die before his predecessor.


    Erroneously attributed the "Ten Cannots" to Abraham Lincoln during the 1992 Republican National Convention ("You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong, etc.") Though Lincoln has been widely and inaccurately credited with the list, it was actually written by Reverend William J.H. Boetcker in 1916, over fifty years after Lincoln's assassination. Maryland Lieutenant Governor (and future RNC chairman)Michael Steele made the same mistake during his speech to the 2004 Republican Convention.


    Pictured on a nondenominated 'forever' USA commemorative postage stamp issued 10 February 2011, four days after the 100th anniversary of his birth. The original issue price was 44¢.


    Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman had a daughter Christine who was born June 26, 1947 and lived 9 hours.


    As a child, Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, hated political talk so much that whenever politics came up at the dinner table she would deliberately fall out of her seat. This always changed the topic.


    Salary
    Prisoner of War (1954) $30,000
    Swing Your Lady (1938) $200/week
    The Radio Murder Mystery (1937) $200/week


    Mini Biography-1
    Ronald Reagan is, arguably, the most successful actor in history, having catapulted from a career as a Warner Bros. contract player and later television star into the governorship of California and two terms as President of the United States. As president, his folksy oratory skills earned him the sobriquet "The Great Communicator" while his his movie-star charisma helped him avoid responsibility for breaches of the public trust that might have resulted in impeachment for a lesser mortal. For that intrepid skill, being able to deflect the muck of partisan politics and the detritus left in the wake of his administration's own insalubrious activities, his reign became known as "The Teflon Presidency." His starlight remained strong even to the end of his term, when his contract with the American people lapsed, and it renewed itself before he shuffled off this mortal coil, hailed as the man who lifted the Iron Curtain.


    The young Reagan was a staunch admirer of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (even after he evolved into a Republican) and was a Democrat in the 1940s, a self-described 'hemophilliac' liberal. He was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947 and served five years during the most tumultuous times to ever hit Hollywood. A committed anti-communist, Reagan not only fought more-militantly activist movie industry unions that he and others felt had been infiltrated by communists, but had to deal with the investigation into Hollywood's politics launched by the House Un-Amercan Activities Committee in 1947, an inquisition that lasted through the 1950s. The House Un-American Activities Committee investigations of Hollywood (which led to the jailing of the "Hollywood Ten" in the late '40s) sowed the seeds of the McCarthyism that racked Hollywood and America in the 1950s.


    In 1950, U.S. Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas (D-CA), the wife of "Dutch" Reagan's friend Melvyn Douglas, ran as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate and was opposed by the Republican nominee, the Red-bating Congresman from Whittier, Richard Nixon. While Nixon did not go so far as to accuse Gahagan Douglas of being a communist herself, he did charge her with being soft on communism due to her opposition to the House Un-Amercan Activities Committee. Nixon tarred her as a "fellow traveler" of communists, a "pinko" who was "pink right down to her underwear." Gahagan Douglas was defeated by the man she was the first to call "Tricky Dicky" because of his unethical behavior and dirty campaign tactics. Reagan was on the Douglases' side during that campaign.


    The Douglases, like Reagan and such other prominent actors as Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, were liberal Democrats, supporters of the late Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, a legacy that increasingly was under attack by the right after World War II. They were NOT fellow-travelers; Melyvn Douglas had actually been an active anti-communist and was someone the communists despised. Melvyn Douglas, Robinson and Henry Fonda - a registered Republican! - wound up "gray-listed." (They weren't explicitly black-listed, they just weren't offered any work.) Reagan, who it was later revealed had been an F.B.I. informant while a union leader (turning in suspected communists), was never hurt that way, as he made S.A.G. an accomplice of the black-listing.


    Reagan's career sagged after the late 1940s, and he started appearing in B-movies after he left Warners to go free-lance. However, he had a eminence grise par excellence in Lew Wasserman, his agent and the head of the Music Corp. of America. Wasserman, later called "The Pope of Hollywood," was the genius who figured out that an actor could make a killing via a tax windfall by turning himself into a corporation. The corporation, which would employ the actor, would own part of a motion picture the actor appeared in, and all monies would accrue to the corporation, which was taxed at a much lower rate than was personal income. Wasserman pioneered this tax avoidance scheme with his client James Stewart, beginning with the Anthony Mann western Winchester '73 (1950) (1950). It made Stewart enormously rich as he became a top box office draw in the 1950s after the success of "Winchester 73" and several more Mann-directed westerns, all of which he had an ownership stake in.


    Ironically, Reagan became a poor-man's James Stewart in the early 1950s, appearing in westerns, but they were mostly B-pictures. He did not have the acting chops of the great Stewart, but he did have his agent. Wasserman at M.C.A. was one of the pioneers of television syndication, and this was to benefit Reagan enormously. M.C.A. was the only talent agency that was also allowed to be a producer through an exemption to union rules granted by S.A.G. when Reagan was the union president, and it used the exemption to acquire Universal International Pictures. Talent agents were not permitted to be producers as there was an inherent conflict of interest between the two professions, one of which was committed to acquiring talent at the lowest possible cost and the other whose focus was to get the best possible price for their client. When a talent agent was also a producer, like M.C.A. was, it had a habit of steering its clients to its own productions, where they were employed but at a lower price than their potential free market value. It was a system that made M.C.A. and Lew Wasserman, enormously wealthy.


    The ownership of Universal and its entry into the production of television shows that were syndicated to network made M.C.A. the most successful organization in Hollywood of its time, a real cash cow as television overtook the movies as the #1 business of the entertainment industry. Wasserman repaid Ronald Reagan's largess by structuring a deal by which he hosted and owned part of "General Electric Theater" (1953), a western omnibus showcase that ran from 1954 to 1961. It made Reagan very comfortable financially, though it did not make him rich. That came later.


    In 1960, with the election of the Democratic President John F. Kennedy, the black and gray lists went into eclipse. J.F.K. appointed Helen Gahagan Douglas Treasurer of the United States. About this time, as the civil rights movement became stronger and found more support among Democrats and the Kennedy administration, Reagan - fresh from a second stint as S.A.G. president in 1959 - was in the process of undergoing a personal and political metamorphosis into a right-wing Republican, a process that culminated with his endorsing Barry Goldwater for the Reublican presidential nomination in 1964. (He narrated a Goldwater campaign film played at the G.O.P. Convention in San Francisco.) Reagan's evolution into a right-wing Republican sundered his friendship with the Douglases. (After Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980, Melvyn Douglas said of his former friend that Reagan turned to the right after he had begun to believe the pro-business speeches he delivered for General Electric when he was the host of the "G.E. Theater.")


    In 1959, while Reagan was back as a second go-round as S.A.G. president, M.C.A.'s exemption from S.A.G. regulations that forbade a talent agency from being a producer was renewed. However, in 1962, the U.S. Justice Department under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy successfully forced M.C.A. - known as "The Octopus" in Hollywood for its monopolistic tendencies - to divest itself of its talent agency.


    When Reagan was tipped by the California Republican Party to be its standard-bearer in the 1965 gubernatorial election against Democratic Governor Pat Brown, Lew Wasserman went back in action. Politics makes strange bedfellows, and though Wasserman was a liberal Democrat, having an old friend like Reagan who had shown his loyalty as S.A.G. president in the state house was good for business. Wasserman and his partner, M.C.A. Chairman Jules Styne (a Republican), helped ensure that Reagan would be financially secure for the rest of his life so that he could enter politics. (At the time, he was the host of "Death Valley Days" on TV.)


    According to the Wall Street Journal, Universal sold Reagan a nice piece of land of many acres north of Santa Barbara that had been used for location shooting. Reagan then converted the property into a small fortune by selling off most of the land, keeping only a small percentage for his own ranch. Reagan, who was now rich, could afford to throw his cowboy hat into the ring. Pulling himself up by his own boot-spurs (with a little help from his friends), Reagan won the governorship and began what is surely the greatest comeback for any actor in history, surpassing even that of Marlon Brando in 'The Godfather' (1972). For while "The Godfather" comeback meant that Marlon Brando was again a superstar, Reagan's comeback from B-movie actor and TV-series host culminated with him headlining the Free World. It's an act that cannot be topped!


    "All the world's a stage," Shakespeare famously wrote, "And all the men and women merely players./They have their exits and their entrances,/And one man in his time plays many parts,/His acts being seven ages." Ronald Reagan played many roles in his life's seven acts: radio announcer, movie star, union boss, television actor-cum-host, governor, right-wing critic of big government and President of the United States. While historians still debate his ultimate legacy as Chief Executive and First Magistrate, the fact is this amiable man played the biggest and most important role ever limned by a actor, and pulled it off with grace and aplomb as befits a great headliner.
    IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood


    Mini Biography-2
    Ronald Reagan was a successful Hollywood actor who was president of the Screen Actors Guild, then turned politician and served two terms as Governor for California, then two terms as President of the United States of America.


    He owned a 688 acre ranch in the Santa Ynes valley, north of Santa Barbara that had been used for location shooting Hollywood movies. The Reagans sold most of the ranch, then converted the rest of it, about 200 acres, into a magnificent estate overlooking the valley and the Pacific Ocean. The Rancho del Cielo became President Reagan's much needed counterpoint to the buzz of Washington, D.C. There, in a setting both rugged and serene, the Reagans could spend time alone or receive political leaders such as the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, and others.


    Reagan is best known to the world for his one-liners, the most famous of them was addressed to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. "Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall" said Reagan standing in front of the Berlin Wall. That call made an impact on the course of human history.
    IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov


    Personal Quotes
    [at the Berlin Wall, 1987]: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!


    The best view of government is seen on a rear view mirror as one is driving away from it.


    [in the 1980 campaign]: Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.


    [1964]: I love three things in life: drama, politics and sports and I'm not sure they always come in that order.


    [1980]: I remember some of my own views when I was quite young. For heaven's sake, I was even a Democrat!


    [to his wife after the assassination attempt]: Honey, I forgot to duck.


    [to his doctors prior to going in the surgery room after being shot]: I hope all of you are Republicans.


    [semi-consciously, to the nurse who hauled him on the gurney]: Does Nancy know about us?


    [1980]: I know what it's like to pull the Republican lever for the first time, because I used to be a Democrat myself, and I can tell you it only hurts for a minute and then it feels just great.


    [1985]: I've been criticized for going over the heads of the Congress. So, what's the fuss? A lot of things go over their heads.


    America is too great to dream small dreams.


    [from the Alzheimer's letter]: I now begin the journey that will lead me to the sunset of my life. I know that for America, there will always be a bright dawn ahead.


    Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.


    You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.


    Government is not the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem!


    [in a 1984 debate, referring to Walter Mondale]: I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.


    All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.


    Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal.


    [on Vietnam]: I have a feeling that we are doing better in the war than the people have been told.


    [Carmel, CA, June 1990]: You may think this a little mystical, and I've said it many times before, but I believe there was a Divine Plan to place this great continent here between the two oceans to be found by peoples from every corner of the earth. I believe we were preordained to carry the torch of freedom for the world.


    I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency - even if I'm in a Cabinet meeting.


    [During a microphone check on August 11 1984, unaware that he was being broadcast]: My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.


    Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.


    They say hard work never hurt anybody, but I figure why take the chance.


    Well, I learned a lot....I went down to Latin America to find out from them and (learn) their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries.


    We are trying to get unemployment to go up and I think we're going to succeed.


    When I go in for a physical, they no longer ask how old I am. They just carbon-date me.


    [from a 1950s interview]: Nobody ever 'went Hollywood.' They were already that way when they got here. Hollywood just brought it out in them.


    Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards.


    Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.


    Tonight is a very special night, although at my age, every night is a special night.


    [His opinion of the Klingon warriors he saw during a visit to the set of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1987)]: I like them. They remind me of Congress.


    [During his re-election campaign in 1984America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make your dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about.


    [confirming his 1984 re-election victory to the crowd chanting, 'Four more years']: I think that's just been arranged.


    A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.


    I don't know how anybody could be in politics if they *hadn't* been an actor!


    I can't do a damn thing until I'm elected!


    If I could paraphrase a well-known statement by Will Rogers that he never met a man he didn't like, I'm afraid we have some people around here who never met a tax they didn't like.


    [at the 1980 presidential debate, when Jimmy Carter accused him of opposing Medicare]: There you go again.


    [from his Presidential Farewell Address]: I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.


    [on Bill Clinton]: This fellow they've nominated claims he's the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, let me tell you something: I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine. And governor, you're no Thomas Jefferson.


    Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.


    If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.


    The taxpayer: that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.


    No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.


    [Notre Dame University. 17 May, 1981]: The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain Communism, it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.


    Film is forever. I've been trapped in some film forever myself.


    Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to understand that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.


    It isn't that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't so.


    The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."


    Freedom and Security go together.


    Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way. Speech at the Republican National Convention, Aug. 17, 1992.


    I know in my heart that man is good, and that what's right will always - eventually - triumph. And that there's purpose and worth to each and every life.


    Status quo, you know is Latin for "the mess we're in".


    [To Warren Beatty] I don't know how anybody can serve in public office without being an actor.


    Filmography
    1996 Talking with David Frost (TV series) – Five Presidents (1996)
    1964-1965 Death Valley Days (TV series)
    Bear River Smith / Charles Poston / David Farragut / …
    – A City Is Born (1965) … Charles Poston
    – No Place for a Lady (1965) … William Burt
    – The Lawless Have Laws (1965) … Lt. Col. Martin Burke
    – Temporary Warden (1965) … Warden Hume
    – No Gun Behind His Badge (1965) … Bear River Smith
    In all 8 episodes »
    1964 Kraft Suspense Theatre (TV series)– A Cruel and Unusual Night (1964)… Judge Howard R. Stimming
    1964 The Killers ...Jack Browning
    1963 Wagon Train (TV series) – The Fort Pierce Story (1963) … Capt. Paul Winters
    1963 Heritage of Splendor (short) ...Narrator
    1954-1962 General Electric Theater (TV series)
    Paul Miller / Allan Richards / Captain Jeremy Davis / …
    – My Dark Days: Part 2 (1962) … Paul Miller
    – My Dark Days: Part 1 (1962) … Paul Miller
    – Shadow of a Hero (1962) … Frank Foster
    – The Wall Between (1962) … Sam Miller
    – Money and the Minister (1961) … Rev. Theodore Carlisle
    In all 34 episodes »
    1961 The Dick Powell Show (TV series) – Who Killed Julie Greer? (1961) … Rex Kent
    1961 The Young Doctors ...Narrator (voice)
    1961 Zane Grey Theater (TV series) – The Long Shadow (1961) … Maj. Will Sinclair
    1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson (TV series) – The Way Home (1960) … Alan Royce
    1957 Hellcats of the Navy ...Cmdr. Casey Abbott (Captain, USS Starfish)
    1956 General Electric Summer Originals (TV series) ...– Jungle Trap (1956)
    1955 Tennessee's Partner ...Cowpoke
    1954 Cattle Queen of Montana ...Farrell
    1953-1954 The Ford Television Theatre (TV series)
    Lieutenant Commander Masterson / Steve Wentworth
    – Beneath These Waters (1954) … Lieutenant Commander Masterson
    – And Suddenly, You Knew (1953) … Steve Wentworth
    – The First Born (1953)
    1954 Prisoner of War ...Webb Sloane
    1953-1954 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV series)
    – The Edge of Battle (1954)
    – The Jungle Trap (1954)
    – The Doctor Comes Home (1953)
    1953-1954 Lux Video Theatre (TV series)
    Guest Host / Merle Fisher
    – A Place in the Sun (1954) … Guest Host
    – Message in a Bottle (1953) … Merle Fisher
    1953 The Revlon Mirror Theater (TV series) ...– Next Stop Bethlehem (1953)
    1953 The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (TV series)– Gracie Sees a Hold-Up/Johnny Velvet (1953) … Ronald Reagan
    1953 Medallion Theatre (TV series) – A Job for Jimmy Valentine (1953)
    1953 Law and Order ...Frame Johnson
    1953 Tropic Zone ...Dan McCloud
    1952 Hollywood Opening Night (TV series) – The Priceless Gift (1952)
    1952 She's Working Her Way Through College ...Professor John Palmer
    1952 The Winning Team ...Grover Cleveland Alexander
    1952 Hong Kong ...Jeff Williams
    1951 Bedtime for Bonzo ...Prof. Peter Boyd
    1951 The Last Outpost ...Capt. Vance Britten
    1951 Storm Warning ...Burt Rainey
    1951 The Big Truth (short) ...Host/Narrator
    1950 Nash Airflyte Theatre (TV series) – The Case of the Missing Lady (1950) … Tommy Blunt
    1950 Louisa ...Harold 'Hal' Norton
    1949 The Hasty Heart ...Yank
    1949 The Girl from Jones Beach ...Bob Randolph - Robert Benerik
    1949 Night Unto Night ...John Galen
    1949 John Loves Mary ...John Lawrence
    1947 The Voice of the Turtle ...Sergeant Bill Page
    1947 That Hagen Girl ....Tom Bates
    1947 Stallion Road ....Larry Hanrahan
    1943 This Is the Army ...Johnny Jones (as Lt. Ronald Reagan)
    1943 The Rear Gunner (short) ...Lt. Ames
    1943 Cadet Classification (short) ....Narrator
    1943 For God and Country (short) ...Father Michael O'Keefe
    1942 Beyond the Line of Duty (short) ...Narrator (voice)
    1942 Desperate Journey ...Flying Officer Johnny Hammond
    1942 Juke Girl ...Steve Talbot
    1942 Mister Gardenia Jones (documentary short) ...John Jones Jr. (aka Gardenia 'Deany' Jones)
    1942 Kings Row ...Drake McHugh
    1941 Nine Lives Are Not Enough ...Matt Sawyer
    1941 International Squadron ...Jimmy Grant
    1941 Million Dollar Baby ...Peter 'Pete' Rowan
    1941 Two-Gun Cupid ...Gilbert 'Gil' Jones
    1940 Santa Fe Trail ...George Custer
    1940 Tugboat Annie Sails Again ...Eddie Kent
    1940 A Modern Hero ...George Gipp
    1940 Murder in the Air ...Brass Bancroft, aka Steve Swenko and Steve Coe
    1940 An Angel from Texas ...Marty Allen
    1940 Baby Be Good ...Dan Crawford
    1939 Smashing the Money Ring ...Lt. 'Brass' Bancroft
    1939 The Angels Wash Their Faces ...Pat Remson
    1939 Hell's Kitchen ...Jim Donohue
    1939 Naughty But Nice ...Ed 'Eddie' Clark
    1939 Code of the Secret Service ...Lt. 'Brass' Bancroft
    1939 Dark Victory ...Alec
    1939 Secret Service of the Air ...Lt. 'Brass' Bancroft
    1938 Going Places ...Jack Withering
    1938 Brother Rat ...Dan Crawford
    1938 Girls on Probation ...Neil Dillon
    1938 Boy Meets Girl ...Radio announcer at premiere
    1938 The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse ...Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
    1938 Romance and Rhythm ...Pat Dunn
    1938 Accidents Will Happen ...Eric Gregg
    1938 Swing Your Lady ...Jack Miller
    1938 Sergeant Murphy ...Pvt. Dennis Reilley
    1937 Hollywood Hotel ...Radio Host at Premiere (uncredited)
    1937 The Radio Murder Mystery ...Andy McCaine

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 2 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Ronald Reagan is, arguably, the most successful actor in history,
    a 'poor man's' Jimmy Stewart and star of many 'B' Movies,
    who became the the Governor of California,
    and then the 40th president of the United States,
    serving two terms in office.


    Duke was a great supporter of Reagan,
    and they became life long friends.


    Nancy Reagan who was an admirer of Duke, said to her husband:

    Quote

    Duke Wayne was the most gentle, tender person, I ever knew


    When Reagan called our the Screen Actors Guild out on strike,
    causing Reagan vicious criticism,
    Knowing how much this affected Nancy,
    Duke called her daily, and reassured her to

    Quote

    Not let those b******* get you down


    Duke took great pleasure in Reagan's stunning victories,
    commencing with the Governorship.


    However it is also documented that in1977,
    Duke found himself at odds, with Regan
    on the run-up to the presidential election.
    More detail of this can be read in the book
    John Wayne:American by Randy Roberts and James Olsen


    Ronald Regan about Duke

    Quote


    There is no one who more exemplifies the devotion to our country,
    it's goodness, it's industry, and it's strengths, than John Wayne

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 13 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Proud to be born when he was president of the good 'ole U.S. of A.
    A very underrated actor, and a fine gentleman, to boot. :thumbs_up::thumbs_up::thumbs_up:


    Quote

    "I am not intoxicated - yet." McLintock!