The US president went off script ­during a summit to warn of the threat, to the horror of aides and the bemusement of the Soviet leader. The former B-movie actor became an avid science fiction fan while working in Hollywood. He confessed his favourite story was “the invasion from outer space that prompts earthlings to put aside nationalistic quarrels and band together to fight the alien invader”. Reagan even arranged a private screening of Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters Of The Third Kind at the White House in 1982 for top judges, astronauts and other VIPs. Read Article