Reagan decided to use his radio broadcasting career as a launching pad into acting. While covering spring training for a baseball team in California, he auditioned for a screen test and was signed as an actor. He appeared in more than fifty movies in his career, which lasted for nearly thirty years from 1937 to 1965. He starred as football player George Gipp in the popular film of Notre Dame football Knute Rockne: All American. He also starred in the comedy Bedtime for Bonzo with a chimpanzee as his leading costar. He appeared in the movie Hellcats of the Navy with his wife Nancy. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild for six years.