Reagan's final film role of note was in Don Siegel's adaptation of the Hemingway short story The Killers, in which you can see him slapping Angie Dickinson in the face. It was a bit controversial in its day because the book upon which it was based had all sorts of ribald content, most of which was bleached from the movie. In 1942 he was part of the large ensemble in the successful melodrama Kings Row with Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings and Claude Rains.
(Historians also hate it for a slew of inaccuracies.)
It's actually a pretty watchable movie, though its depiction of slavery, seen from the viewpoint of 2023, does not make for what you might call a progressive picture. (Today, we'll gladly take someone who can complete a full sentence! I kid, I kid.)Īlso in 1940, Reagan was fourth billed for the role of George Armstrong Custer in Santa Fe Trail, a historical Western about the abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey) that co-starred Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.
That's right, if you are old enough to remember the 1980s, you might recall that some critics scoffed at the concept of "an actor" becoming a president. He was an Illinois-born actor who got into politics: Ronald Wilson Reagan. While the writers had to fight on a bit longer, there was a nice stretch of genuine unity between the two guilds.Ī little footnote to this, which sometimes surprises people who aren't too schooled in mid-century American history, is that the President of SAG at the time of the 1960 action would later make a far bigger mark in world affairs. A deal was settled between the studios and actors after six weeks. The last time the performers' and writers' unions picketed simultaneously was in March and April of 1960, when, as is the case with the current action, SAG joined an already striking WGA. SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are on strike against the AMPTP, and while that may read like I just threw an open box of Alpha-Bits at your screen, this is a pretty big deal. It's a weird time in Hollywood right now.