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RONALD REAGAN'S BIG BREAK
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Some of the individuals I interviewed are today recognized as high achievers because they seized opportunities, grasping them just as they appeared to be slipping away, seemingly out of reach.  If you ask them, they can tell you when and how it happened.

In 1940, Ronald Reagan’s film career was proceeding smoothly, although not spectacularly.  He had already played the lead in "Love is on the Air."  That film had been made on the B lot of Warner Brothers in 1937.  In those days, the major film studios made two kinds of pictures, the big A blockbuster pictures that would lure the people in, and the pictures from the B lot than ran for about an hour instead of the normal ninety minutes.  Pictures from the B lot usually received second billing on the double-feature programs.

Getting to play the lead in one’s first film, even if it was on the B lot, was a tremendous break for any young actor.  “I since have learned that I was very lucky,” Reagan told me, “because many times people were put under contract, and then months would go by without their ever setting foot in front of a camera.”

After making "Love is on the Air," the studio continued to use Reagan on the B lot, and, from time to time, would send him over to the A lot to play parts in the major pictures.  One of those pictures made on the A lot proved to be a major turning point in Reagan’s life.

Shortly after arriving at Warner Brothers, he began to talk about the need to make a major film about football.  “Everybody that comes to Hollywood, I guess, begins to get ideas about what would make a good picture,” Reagan told me.  He knew whose lives should be portrayed in the film: Knute Rockne, the legendary Notre Dame coach, and his great ballplayer George Gipp.

“I’d been a sports announcer, and I’d told the story of George Gipp on the air on a sports program,” Reagan explained.  “I knew the lines without having to memorize them.  I thought a story of Rockne would make a great picture.  But being new, I talked all around the lot, asking people’s advice on this Rockne thing.”

One day, Reagan picked up a copy of a trade paper and came upon an announcement that Warner Brothers, his studio, was going to make a movie on Rockne.  Reagan was thunderstruck.  “I went to my mentor, who was head of the B unit, and said, ‘Hey, they’re going to make Rockne.’  And he said, ‘You talk too much.  You’ve been talking all over the lot.  It was a good idea, and they’re going to make it.’  I said, ‘Look, I didn’t want anything for it.  I just wanted to play George Gipp.’

“’Well,’ he said, ‘You’d better get on the ball, because they’ve already tested about six guys already.’”

Reagan hurried over the producer’s office and requested a screen test.  However, the producer was not overly impressed by the young actor who stood before him—at least, not for this particular part.

It was excruciatingly painful for Reagan to see the role he had dreamed about slipping away from him.  Then, in a flash, he realized what he had to do: “I suddenly remembered, standing there in clothes like this [a business suit], that football players don’t look like football players, usually, unless they’re in uniform.  And I also remembered that a cameraman told me that in Hollywood all they knew was what they saw on film.

“So I said, ‘Excuse me.’  I went home—drove home as fast as I could and dug down in the trunk.  And I came up with my college football pictures—I had played on the line for eight years in high school and college.”

Reagan rushed back to the studio, hurried into the office, and triumphantly placed the photographs on the desk in front of the producer.  Looking at them intently, the producer finally asked: “Can I keep these for a little bit?”  Reagan, of course, agreed.

Returning to his home, Reagan had only a few minutes to wait before the phone rang.  “Be in the studio at eight o’clock in the morning,” the voice on the other end said.  “You’re testing for Gipp.”

The next morning, Pat O’Brien, who was already cast to play Rockne, played the test with Reagan.  “I got the part,” Reagan told me, “and it was the one that opened the door.”

"Current Biography" agreed with Reagan’s assessment: “Reagan’s performance in the role [of Gipp], climaxed by a stirring deathbed scene, established his reputation as a serious actor.”

The Reagan story illustrates several of the factors that are important in high achievement.  The young actor had a mentor—the head of the B lot—who gave him timely advice and criticism, which Reagan took.  Reagan even used the word mentor to describe him.  Reagan had conceived of a good idea, actually an innovative idea—a serious sports movie—that he believed in enough to try to promote it.  And Reagan by this time was not a rookie anymore.  He was well along the road toward competence.  He had played important roles in several films, and—in the words of scientist Herbert A. Simon—Reagan had stored in memory a number of “patterns,” or “chunks of information.”  He knew movie people really believe only what they see on film.  Finally, and perhaps most important, Reagan moved decisively and quickly on the perceived opportunity.

This selection is adapted from B. Eugene Griessman, The Achievement Factors: Candid Interviews With Some Of The Most Important People Of Our Time.  Listen to success stories from Ronald Reagan and other high achievers on the audio book "Griessman Live: Lessons Learned From High Achievers.  To order this audio book, click here.

Gene Griessman tells the Ronald Reagan story and scores of other inspirational and entertaining anecdotes from his interviews in the keynote, "Lessons Learned From High Achievers."  To learn more about this presentation, click here.

Click below for more informative and interesting pages:
INDEX TO ALL PAGES
Abraham Lincoln quotes
More About Abraham Lincoln: Resources For Further Study
Time Management: Quotes and Articles
Is George W. Bush the next Abraham Lincoln?  Lincoln-Bush compared
George Washington quotes and commentary on leadership style
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt quotes and commentary on leadership style
War quotes
Ronald Reagan quotes, exclusive interview
"The Diversity Creed"; Why I Wrote "The Diversity Creed"
Diversity: How To Make Diversity Work In Your Organization
Remarkable Similarities Between President Abraham Lincoln And  Benjamin Franklin
Ronald Reagan: His Big Break   Exclusive Interview
The Lincoln-Roosevelt Connection
Civil War Quotes: U.S. Grant's Leadership Style
How To Do Business With Americans:  Forgive Their Blunders
The Americans:  Who Are They And How Did They Get This Way?  

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For more information about Lincoln, read
 THE WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY.  CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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