Burt Reynolds

• Born: February 11, 1936
• Birthplace: Lansing, Michigan
• Died: September 6, 2018
• Place of death: Jupiter, Florida

Reynolds became one of the “megastars” of Hollywood during the 1970’s, a designation earned with his sex appeal and overt masculinity.

Burton "Burt" Reynolds Jr.’s first passion was football. He played collegiate football while attending Florida State College and then played professionally for the Baltimore Colts. After an automobile accident suddenly ended his professional career, Reynolds pursued acting studies at Palm Beach Junior College, then moved to New York City to embark on an acting career. From 1962 to 1965, Reynolds’s portrayal of blacksmith Quint Asper on the long-running Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) network Western series Gunsmoke earned him widespread popularity with female audiences. From 1970 to 1971, Reynolds starred in the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network detective series Dan August.

Although Reynolds had roles in numerous television films and motion pictures throughout the early 1970’s, it was his starring role as Lewis Medlock in the film Deliverance (1972) that catapulted him to superstar status. Female audiences found Reynolds’s sex appeal and raw masculinity riveting. That same year, the sexy actor posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine. Not only did sales soar for the magazine, but the photographs also further solidified the actor’s superstar status.

Further fueling Reynolds’s popularity was his very public private life. Briefly married to actor Judy Carne from 1963 to 1965, the actor was later reportedly intimate with a long list of female celebrities that included Candice Bergen, Farrah Fawcett, Sally Field, Cybill Shepherd, and Dinah Shore. In 1977, Reynolds starred in the blockbuster motion picture Smokey and the Bandit with Field, who would remain his romantic partner for several years afterward. Portraying the character of Bandit, the role showcased Reynolds’s suave masculine image. He went on to reprise the role in two sequels released in 1980 and 1983.

During the 1970’s, Reynolds also found success as a film director. In 1976, he directed his first film, Gator, in which he also starred as the leading character, Gator McKlusky. In 1978, he directed and portrayed the character Wendell Sonny Lawson in the dark comedy The End, which did significantly well at the box office and led to Reynolds directing several more films.

Over his five-decade-long career, Reynolds made more than hundred films. In addition to Deliverance and the Smokey and the Bandit franchise, he is remembered for the romance Starting Over (1979), the football-themed films The Longest Yard (1974) and Semi-Tough (1977), The Cannonball Run (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) with Dolly Parton, and The Man Who Loved Women (1983).

Reynolds's streak of blockbuster success came to an end in the mid-1980s. His longtime habit of doing his own stunt work led to a jaw injury and a subsequent prescription drug addiction he eventually managed to overcome. The film projects he accepted also flopped at the box office. Starring in the CBS television series Evening Shade (1990–94), about a football star turned coach, brought Reynolds renewed fame and a measure of critical acclaim, including the 1991 Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series. He was also recognized for his role in the 1997 film Boogie Nights.

Reynolds's last years proved difficult, however. Divorce and bad investments led him to file for bankruptcy in 1996, and debts later pushed him to sell off his awards and other memorabilia, an experience he described positively in his 2015 memoir But Enough about Me. His health also suffered, and he underwent heart surgery in 2010.

Reynolds died on September 6, 2018, in Jupiter, Florida, at age eighty-two. He was survived by his son, Quinton, whom he had adopted with his second wife, Loni Anderson. Reynolds and Anderson were married from 1988 to 1993.

Impact

A talented megastar of the 1970’s, Burt Reynolds represented the male sex symbol of the era. His masculine good looks and charming personality, on and off the set, attracted both male and female fans. The characters that he portrayed in his action films not only entertained filmgoers but also defined what the American male image of the decade should be.

Although Reynolds never proved a darling among critics, the actor received nine People’s Choice Awards, including several for favorite motion picture actor and favorite all-around male entertainer. He was inducted into Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978, won Golden Globes (1992 and 1997) for his roles in Evening Shade and the film Boogie Nights (1997), and received the 2015 Richard “Diamond” Farnsworth Award from the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures.

Bibliography

Blumenthal, Ralph. "Burt Reynolds Dies at 82; Made Hearts Throb and Audiences Laugh." The New York Times, 6 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/obituaries/burt-reynolds-dead.html. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

McLellan, Dennis. "Burt Reynolds, Wisecracking Star of 'Smokey and the Bandit' and 'Deliverance,' Dies at 82." Los Angeles Times, 6 Sept. 2018, www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-burt-reynolds-dies-at-82-story.html. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

Reynolds, Burt. My Life. New York: Hyperion Press, 1994.

Smith, Lisa. Burt Reynolds. Palm Beach, Fla.: Magic Lights, 1994.

Streebeck, Nancy. The Films of Burt Reynolds. New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1982.