Bedtime for Bonzo

(1951)

Comedy / Fmily / Romance

83 minutes

Directed by Frederick de Cordova 

Cast:
 
Ronald Reagan as Professor Peter Boyd
Diana Lynn as Jane Linden
Walter Slezak as Professor Hans Neumann
Lucille Barkley as Valerie Tillinghast
Jesse White as Babcock
Herbert Heyes as Dean Tillinghast
Herbert Vigran as Lt. Daggett
Harry Tyler as Knucksy Breckenridge
Edward Clark as Professor Fosdick
Edward Gargan as Policeman Bill
Joel Friedkin as Mr. DeWitt
Brad Browne as Chief of Police
Elizabeth Flournoy as Miss Swithen
Howard Banks as Policeman
Perc Launders as Fireman
 
This film released in 1951 was a comedy which starred the future United States President, Ronald Reagan.  He plays the main character, Professor Peter Boyd where his role is to teach human morals to a chimpanzee.  He hires Diana Lynn to act as the chimpanzee's mother and he takes on the role of father.  His overall goal is to prove that environmental trumps heredity behavioral development.  

Ronald Reagan's quote: "I fought a losing battle with a scene-stealer with a built-in edge, he was a chimpanzee".