His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie "Love Is on the Air". He then starred in many movies such as "Dark Victory" with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. Before the movie "Santa Fe Trail" with Errol Flynn in 1940, he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the movie "Knute Rockne, All American". From his role in the movie, he got the lifelong nickname "the Gipper". In 1941, experts voted him the fifth most popular star from the younger generation in Hollywood.