This movie is one of the most remembered of Reagan's acting career and renewed his popularity as a movie star for a while. Reagan, however, never even saw the film until 1984. A sequel was released entitled Bonzo Goes to College (1952), but featured none of the three lead performers from the original. Peggy died in a zoo fire two weeks after the premier of "Bedtime for Bonzo"; another chimp was hired for the second film whose name really was "Bonzo". Reagan didn't want to work on the second film; he thought the premise was silly.