Actors who could’ve been Presidents?

William H Bankhead, Speaker of the House and father of the famous actress Tallulah Bankhead, briefly attempted an acting career of his own after law school. As a member of a prominent political family, it would not be in the ASB realm for him to have more success as an actor before entering politics in time to rise to the presidency. It would be more believable if in the course of his earlier career he changed his residency to either Connecticut or New York from Alabama.
 
Shirley Temple becomes at least vice president and maybe president in one timeline I've seen. She could definitely have a career trajectory that makes her the first woman president, if a bit old.

A number of the actors from the twenties and thirties are either foreign-born or had so many divorces I don't think they would be good choices in the forties or fifties. It was more acceptable with Reagan and he only had one, not several.

A few died pretty young though. If you take, say, Buster Keaton and have him not take a job at MGM but insisting on remaining solo, he might not descend into alcoholism and instead develop political interests and also not die quite as young.
 
When Ronald Reagan announced for Governor of California in 1966, someone (was it a studio exec?) said, "No, no, it's Jimmy Stewart for Governor, Ronald Reagan for best friend."

Stewart was a beloved actor (and considerably higher profile than Reagan had been as one) a bomber pilot in World War Two (Reagan's eyesight kept from out of combat so he made training films), and a political conservative as Reagan was. He definitely could have done it had he wanted to, IMO.
If James Stewart got into politics in 1966 I believe it would have been Governor and President Stewart. Stewart could also be the first President after Eisenhower who is a retired career military officer (even if it is as a reservist).
Charlton Heston is another contender if he left acting in the Sixties.
 
Robert Vaughn. With the enormous fame THE MAN FROM UNCLE gave him in the 60's, he probably
could have used it to ride into politics had he wished to. He was smart(he garnered a PhD from USC
in 1970, & wrote a dissertation on the Hollywood blacklist), & was a good liberal Democrat too. In fact
Vaughn did get a political feeler. He had become friends with Robert Kennedy, & in early 1968 RFK,
noting that a US Senate seat was opening up in California, urged Vaughn to run for it: "With your celebrity and speaking ability, you should go for it."* But Vaughn decided to stay in acting. Oh well.
(Ironically enough, that seat was later won by George Murphy).

*- Robert Vaughn, A FORTUNATE LIFE(2008), pp. 216-217. One of the better actor memoirs.
 
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