The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
Edited compilation of speeches made by Ronald Reagan during his Presidency. Archival footage and stills of Ronald, as well.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
May 17, 1981 Ronald Reagan Address at Commencement Exercises at the University of Notre Dame. "Growing up in Illinois, I was influenced by a sports legend so national in scope, it was almost mystical. It is difficult to explain to anyone who didn't live in those times. The legend was based on a combination of three elements: a game, football; a university, Notre Dame; and a man, Knute Rockne."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
March 9, 1988 Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Unveiling of the Knute Rockne Commemorative Stamp at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "... when I was young and reading about George Gipp, I never thought I'd come back as the Gipper." [Laughter] edit "'Knute Rockne: All American' - how I had wanted to make that movie and play the part of George Gipp. Of course, the goal was - or the role was a young actor's dream: It had a great entrance, an action middle, and a death scene right out of the opera." edit "And believe me, it took faith -- and a lot of it -- for an unknown actor to think that he could get the part of George Gipp. I was under contract to Warner Brothers, but I had been all over the studio talking about my idea for a story. Having come from sports announcing to the movies, I said I thought that the movies ought to make the life story of Knute Rockne. And then one day I picked up the Daily Variety and read where Warner Brothers was announcing that they were making the life story of Knute Rockne and were starting to cast the film. Well, all I'd ever wanted was to play the Gipper if they some day made the film. And I approached Pat O'Brien, who was going to play Rockne -- he'd been my choice -- and he told me bluntly that I talked too much and that's where Warner's got the idea. [Laughter] And I told him what my ambition was, and he said, ``Well, they're looking for a name actor.'' But Pat did intervene with the head of the studio, the top producer, Hal Wallis. Hal was, to put it mildly, unimpressed with my credentials. [Laughter] He started by telling me I didn't look big enough for the part. Well, I wasn't very polite, because I told him, ``You're producing the picture, and you don't know that George Gipp weighed 5 pounds less than I weigh right now. He walked with a kind of a slouch and almost a limp. He looked like a football player only when he was on the field.'' And then I went home, because some cameramen had told me that the fellas in the front office, they only knew what they saw on film. And I dug down in the trunk and came up with my own pictures of myself playing football in college and brought them back and showed them to Hal Wallis."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE B&W still of Ron in three-point stance during his college football days.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
March 9, 1988 Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Unveiling of the Knute Rockne Commemorative Stamp at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "Well, he finally let me do a test for the part, and Pat O'Brien, knowing of my nervousness and desire, graciously agreed to be a part of it and play in the scene with me. Well, of course, I had an advantage. I had known George Gipp's story for years, and the lines were straight from Knute Rockne's diary. And the test scene was one that said something about what Rockne liked to see in his players. It was George Gipp's first practice. You saw that scene where he was told to get into uniform. And Rockne told him to carry the ball, and Gipp just looked back at Rockne and cocked an eyebrow and said, 'How far?'"
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
May 17, 1981 Ronald Reagan Address at Commencement Exercises at the University of Notre Dame. "A number of years later I returned here in the company of Pat O'Brien and a galaxy of Hollywood stars for the world premiere of ``Knute Rockne -- All American'' in which I was privileged to play George Gipp."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE Still of Reagn playing footaball
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
May 17, 1981 Ronald Reagan Address at Commencement Exercises at the University of Notre Dame. "I've always suspected that there might have been many actors in Hollywood who could have played the part better, but no one could have wanted to play it more than I did."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
February 6, 1984 Ronald Reagan Remarks During a Homecoming and Birthday Celebration in Dixon, Illinois. "...it's great to be back home. And, you know, if our old house on Hennepin Avenue looked as good in 1924 as it does now -- [laughter] -- I might never have left."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE Color still of Nancy & Ron posing in front his childhood home.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
February 6, 1984 Ronald Reagan Remarks During a Homecoming and Birthday Celebration in Dixon, Illinois. "I was in England making a picture called ``The Hasty Heart.'' It was a story in which we were all in a field hospital in Burma -- India in World War II" Theater promotional card for "The Hasty Heart". "and talking about things like home. And the line in the script from -- it was a famous Broadway play -- had me saying that everybody has a place to go back to and for me it's Boston. Well, after almost 4 months of an English winter, I was so homesick.Now, the funny thing is, I'd lived a great many years away from Dixon by that time, in California. But I found myself saying to the director, ``I would like to change the line.'' And I changed the line -- ``Dixon, place on the Rock River.'' Some of the people in the publicity department were a little upset about that, because Boston's bigger than Dixon."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
B&W: 1950's GE commercial, Ronald and NANCY REAGAN at home, making small talk.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
May 22, 1985 Ronald Reagan Address at the United States Naval Academy Commencement Exercises in Annapolis, Maryland. He jokes about his Hollywood Navy pictures. Although I'm an old horse cavalryman myself, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Navy. Back in my former profession, I played a naval officer in ``Hellcats of the Navy.'' Theater promotional card for ``Hellcats of the Navy.'' And Nancy was a Navy nurse in the same picture. [Laughter] Now, speaking for myself only, if they should send me another script, it probably would be for ``Old Man and the Sea.'' [Laughter]
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
June 21, 1987. Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Ford's Theatre Fundraising Gala. Ron, Nancy at his side, talking about their first date. "You know, I'd never met Nancy before I called for her on the night of our first date; it was a kind of blind date. In fact, in case things just didn't click, I had told her on the phone that I had a really early call in the morning on the set, and so it would have to be a short evening. And she told me the same thing about herself. [Laughter] My half of the story was a bit hard to believe because, due to a broken leg I'd had recently, I arrived on crutches. [Laughter] Well, as the evening wore on, we forgot all about those early morning calls; we stayed out till the wee hours of the morning. As a matter of fact, we were in a Hollywood nightclub at 2 a.m. in the morning, listening to Sophie Tucker. [Laughter] And she's been the leading lady of my heart ever -- Nancy, not Sophie." [Laughter]
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE B&W stills of Ron & Nancy as a young couple, newlyweds.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
September 23, 1986 Ronald Reagan Remarks at a Ronald W. Reagan Scholarship Fundraising Dinner for Eureka College. He jokes about the time he was mistaken for fellow actor Ray Milland. "I remember after I'd made about 50 feature motion pictures and was doing a series on television that lasted 8 years, I was walking down Fifth Avenue in New York one day..."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE B&W publicity still of actor Ron posing in a chair.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
September 23, 1986 Ronald Reagan Remarks at a Ronald W. Reagan Scholarship Fundraising Dinner for Eureka College. "... and about 30 feet ahead of me a man coming my way stopped, and he pointed, and he yelled, ``I know you! I see you all the time on that screen and on that television!'' And everybody on the street stopped, and they formed kind of two lines, and he stalked me down the center. [Laughter] And I'm at one end, and here he comes, and he's fumbling in his pocket all the time and talking about me and how much he knows -- what I've done and everything else. And he gets to me and pulls out a pen and a piece of paper for an autograph and says, ``Ray Milland.'' [Laughter] So, I signed, Ray Milland. There was no sense in disappointing him." [Laughter]
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
May 31, 1988. Ronald Reagan Remarks at a Luncheon Hosted by Artists and Cultural Leaders in Moscow. He talks about his struggle to separate himself from being nothing more than an actor. "Almost a quarter of a century ago, I announced that I was going to run for what turned out to be the first public office I ever held, Governor of California. Yes, I had served as president of my union, the Screen Actors Guild. Yes, in that role I'd led a successful strike by the union against the studios."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE B&W still of Ronald Reagan as President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
May 31, 1988. Ronald Reagan Remarks at a Luncheon Hosted by Artists and Cultural Leaders in Moscow. "And, yes, I'd campaigned actively for a number of candidates for office, including candidates for President. But I was still known primarily as an actor. In the movie business, actors often get what we call typecast; that is, the studios come to think of you as playing certain kinds of roles, so those are the kinds of roles they give you. And no matter how hard you try, you just can't get them to think of you in any other way." Promotional theater cards for KINGS ROW and BEDTIME FOR BONZO "Well, politics is a little like that, too. So, I've had a lot of time and reason to think about my role not just as a citizen turned politician but as an actor turned politician."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
B&W: excerpt from A TIME FOR CHOOSING (1964), a campaign film on behalf of Barry Goldwater: Ronald Reagan rallies against taxes, federal spending & exorbitant national debt, and isolationism. "Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn t been provided with a script. As a matter of fact I ve been permitted to choose my own words and discuss my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks. I spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance of peace and prosperity the line has been used, We never had it so good. But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn t something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation in history has ever survived the tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today 37 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collectors share, and yet our government continues to spend $17 million dollars a day more than the government takes in. We haven t balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years. We ve raised our debt limit three times in the last 12 months, and now our national debt is 1 times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations of the world. We have 15 billion dollars in gold in our treasury. We don t own an ounce. Foreign dollar claims are 27.3 billion dollars, and we just had announced that the dollar of 1939 will now purchase 45 cents in its total value. As for the peace that we would preserve. I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in South Vietnam and ask them if they think this is a peace that should be maintained indefinitely. Do they mean peace or do they mean we just want to left in peace? There can be no real peace by one American is dying someplace in the world for the rest of us. We re at war with the most dangerous enemy that is ever faced mankind and his long climb from the swamps to the stars. And its been said if we loose that war and in so doing, loose this way loose this way of freedom of ours. History will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to loose, did the least to prevent its happening. Well I think its time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by our founding fathers."