Actors who became politicians

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Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's first taste of entertainment was that of broadcasting Unversity of Iowa home football games for the Hawkeyes on the radio. He was paid $10 per game.

Soon after a staff announcer's job opened at radio station WOC in Davenport, Iowa, he was hired, now earning $100 per month.  This was in 1932.

Reagan's persuasive voice moved him to WHO radio in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games.  He specialized in creating play-by-play accounts of games that the station received by wire.

In 1937 Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven year contract with Warner Brothers studios.  His first screen credit was the starring role in Love Is on the Air, and by the end of 1939 he had already appeared in 19 films.

He spent the majority of his Hollywood career in the "B film" division, where Reagan joked,

The producers didn't want them good, they wanted them Thursday."

Even though Reagan was overshadowed by more famous actors, his films did receive many good reviews.        

Schwarzenegger   (AP Photo/Hector Mata)                                           

Another politician, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was in bodybuilding in his early years but decided to move from it into acting when he played the role of Hercules in 1970's Hercules in New York.  He was credited under the name of Arnold Strong, and his accent in the film was so thick that his lines were dubbed in post-production.

Schwarzenegger's second film appearance was that of a deaf and mute hit man for the mob in The Long Goodbye (1973).  Schwarzenegger has discussed his early struggles in developing his acting career. ~ Terminator followed.

It was very difficult for me in the beginning - I was told by agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird,' that I had a funny accent, and that my  name was too  long...basically, everywhere I turned, I was told that I had no chance."

But Schwarzenegger drew attention and boosted his profile, and his breakthrough film was the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982.

These have been but only two actors who also ended up as politicians.  Others are or have been, Boris Buzancic, Glenda Jackson and Michael Cashman, although most if not all are from outside the United States.  And is it "actors who became politicians?" or "acting politicians?"  Either way, what I do know we have a lot of most recently are "political actors," but that is a whole 'nother story.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger & Pres. Bush