reagan was born on february 6, 1911, in an apartment above a bank in tampico, illinois. he was the second of two sons born to john edward reagan (1883–1941), an irish american catholic, and nelle clyde wilson (1883–1962), who was of scottish, canadian and english descent and a member of the disciples of christ. his older brother was neil reagan (1908–1996). his paternal great-grandfather, michael reagan, came to the united states from ballyporeen, county tipperary, ireland, in the 1860s, and the rest of his paternal family immigrated from ireland in the 1800s as well.[3] prior to his immigration, the family name was spelled regan. his maternal great-grandfather, john wilson, immigrated to the united states from paisley, scotland, in the 1840s and married jane blue, a canadian from queens, new brunswick. reagan's maternal grandmother, mary anne elsey, was born in epsom, surrey, england.[4] although his father was catholic, reagan's mother was an active protestant and he was raised in the christian church (disciples of christ) denomination and attended a church school, eureka college.
reagan's father was an alcoholic and often unemployed; in great depression he was employed by the wpa, a new deal work relief program that reagan never criticized..[4] the family lived in chicago briefly and in small towns in northern illinois. reagan attended mount lebanon school district and dixon high school in dixon, illinois. there, he developed a gift for storytelling and acting. these abilities led to his selection as one of the freshman speakers during the late-night meeting prior to the student strike at eureka college. in 1926 reagan began work as a lifeguard at lowell park, near dixon. he was credited with saving 77 lives during the seven summers he worked there. in 1932, after graduating from eureka (b.a. in economics and sociology), reagan worked at radio stations woc in davenport, iowa, and then who in des moines as an announcer for chicago cubs baseball games, getting only the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his imagination to flesh out the game. once, during the ninth inning of a game, the wire went dead but reagan smoothly improvised a fictional play-by-play (in which hitters on both teams fouled off numerous pitches) until the wire was restored.[5]
in 1937, when in california to cover spring training for the chicago cubs as a headline radio announcer, reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the warner brothers studio. reagan's clear voice, easy-going manner, and athletic physique made him popular with audiences; the majority of his screen roles were as the leading man in b movies. his first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie love is on the air. by the end of 1939, he had appeared in 19 films. before santa fe trail in 1940, he played the role of george "the gipper" gipp in the film knute rockne, all american. from this role he acquired the nickname the gipper, which he retained the rest of his life. reagan considered his best acting work to have been in kings row (1942). he played the part of a young man whose legs were amputated. he used a line he spoke in this film, "where's the rest of me?", as the title for his autobiography. other notable reagan films include international squadron, tennessee's partner, hellcats of the navy, this is the army, the hasty heart, hong kong, the winning team, bedtime for bonzo, cattle queen of montana, storm warning, and prisoner of war movie. his many leading ladies included jane wyman, priscilla lane, ann sheridan, viveca lindfors, patricia neal, barbara stanwyck, rhonda fleming, ginger rogers, doris day, nancy davis, and angie dickinson. he has a star on the hollywood walk of fame. reagan was commissioned as a reserve officer in the army in 1935. in november 1941, reagan was called up but disqualified for combat duty because of his astigmatism. after the attack on pearl harbor, lieutenant reagan was activated and assigned to the first motion picture unit in the united states army air forces, which made training and education films, where his acting experience could be put to work. he remained in hollywood for the duration of the war.