Knute Rockne: All American

Directors: Lloyd Bacon and William K Howeard (1940)

Cast: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan

Knute Rockne was the first college football coach to reach legendary and almost mythical stature. He coached the powerhouse Notre Dame football program until his untimely death in a plane crash.

If Ronald Reagan had not been cast as "George Gipp", the talented running back for Notre Dame, on his death bed at age 25 told his coach, Knute Rockne to "Win one for the Gipper'' most likely would never been elected President of the United States.

In his 30-plus career as film and television actor,that was the character that burned brightly in the minds audiences who saw the film or television over the years and trusted him as a television host and pitchman for General Electric, two-term Governor of California and two terms as the Commander-and-Chief.

The movie itself along with "Kings Row" two years are regarded as the two best roles of Reagan's career.

As for Pat O'Brien who came of age right one movie started to talk cut his teeth with his good friend, James Cagney, who had a long career in film and television that went on to the mid 1980's.

In the 1990's Knute Rockne: All American was chosen by the Library of Congress as a film that will be preserved forever.