Ronald Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an actor and politician in the 20th century. His public life started in 1937 as an actor in motion pictures, and later, television. His growing involvement in politics eventually surpassed his acting career, and he was elected the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975), and subsequently became the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989).
Early career
He married actress Jane Wyman on January 26, 1940, and divorced on June 28, 1948, making him the only American president to have been divorced. After serving several terms as the President of the Screen Actors' Guild (1947-1952), he married actress Nancy Davis on March 4, 1952.[1]
1950s
Reagan moved to television as the host of the Sunday evening television show, General Electric Theater from 1954-1962. The show's popularity kept it in the top ten of the Nielsen ratings, usually higher than I Love Lucy in the 9-9:30 p.m. time slot.[2]
On November 5th, 1955, Hill Valley's air conditioned Essex theater was showing his 1954 Western film Cattle Queen of Montana, in which he was a supporting co-star to Barbara Stanwyck in the title role.
When Marty McFly told Emmett Brown that the President of the United States in 1985 would be Ronald Reagan, he scoffed at the idea that such a famous actor would hold a government office, and sarcastically suggested that the Vice-President might be Jerry Lewis, Jane Wyman would be the First Lady, and Jack Benny the Secretary of the Treasury. Later, however, when Marty demonstrated a camcorder, Emmett mused that it was appropriate that the President would be an actor, since he had to look good on television.
1985
1985A
In the alternate 1985, the newspaper that had the story about Doc being declared insane had an article titled "Nixon to Seek Fifth Term; Vows End to Vietnam War by 1985". When the original 1985 was restored, Doc was featured as being commended (instead of committed) and the Nixon article was changed to "Reagan to Seek Second Term; No Republican Challengers Expected".
2015
Among the elements of 1980s nostalgia in the Café 80's restaurant are the Max Headroom-style video waiters depicting Ronald Reagan with Ayatollah Khomeini. Reagan greeted customers with his "it's always morning in America" slogan, laughing at his own joke.
Behind the scenes
When Ronald Reagan first watched Back to the Future at the movie theater in the White House, he reportedly was so amused that Emmet Brown could not believe an actor like him could become president, he had the projectionist stop and rewind the film to replay the scene.[3]
He later referred to the movie in his 1986 State of the Union address when he said, "Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive, a time of rousing wonder and heroic achievement. As they said in the film Back to the Future, 'Where we're going, we don't need roads.'"[4]
Knowing that Reagan was a fan of Back to the Future, and since he was no longer President by 1989, Robert Zemeckis thought it would be a great joke to get Reagan to play the role of the 1885 mayor of Hill Valley in Back to the Future Part III. It would have been just one scene in which he greets the townspeople and starts the clock. Zemeckis called up Lew Wasserman, the chairman of Universal Studios, who had been Reagan's agent, as asked him to call Reagan to offer him the part. Reagan actually considered it, but eventually decided against it.[5]
- ↑
Ronald Reagan on Wikipedia
- ↑ General Electric Theater on Wikipedia
- ↑ Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), Back to the Future, Trivia.
- ↑ PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN'S ADDRESS BEFORE A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS ON THE STATE OF THE UNION (February 4, 1986). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
- ↑ Back to the Future Part III, audio commentary by Bob Gale and Neil Canton