Ronald Reagan

Before he was leader of the free world, Ronald Reagan was the leader of Hollywood in his role as president of the Screen Actors Guild (he served a five-year stint beginning in 1947 and took up the post again in 1959). Born Feb. 6, 1911, in Tampico, Ill., Reagan was a radio sportscaster before landing a contract with Warner Bros. in 1937 and making his film debut later that year in Love Is on the Air.

An amiable screen presence if not a towering acting talent, Reagan made more than a dozen B movies over the next two years before landing a role in the Bette Davis weeper Dark Victory (1939). A year later, he played Notre Dame football hero George "the Gipper" Gipp in the 1940 biopic Knute Rockne All American.

Other films of note for the former president include Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), Hellcats of the Navy (1957) and The Killers (1964). Reagan died June 5, 2004.

Dark Victory

1939 NR

Fast living comes easy for Long Island socialite Judith Traherne (Bette Davis), who counts throwing lavish soirees, enjoying free-flowing booze and raising thoroughbreds among the many pleasures in her hedonistic existence. But a horse-jumping accident forces her to come to terms with her lifestyle -- and mortality -- when a handsome doctor (George Brent) discovers that Judith suffers from a potentially fatal brain tumor. Humphrey Bogart co-stars.