Burt Reynolds, Star Of ‘Deliverance,’ ‘Smokey And The Bandit,’ And ‘Boogie Nights,’ Dies At 82
On Thursday, Burt Reynolds, the star of such varied films as “Deliverance,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “The Longest Yard,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and “Boogie Nights,” for which he was nominated for an Oscar, died at the age of 82.
Reynolds was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1936, and moved to Riviera Beach, Florida, where his father became chief of police in 1946. In high school football, Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers, which led him to Florida State University where he played halfback. In the first game of his sophomore season, he injured a knee; later that year he lost his spleen and injured his other knee due to a car accident.
Reynolds won the 1956 Florida State Drama Award, which offered a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse in New York where he met Joanne Woodward, who helped him find an agent. He acted in a revival of Mister Roberts, starring Charlton Heston, before moving to Hollywood where he got a regular role in “Riverboat.” He later joined “Gunsmoke” as “halfbreed” blacksmith Quint Asper.
His breakthrough role came in “Deliverance,” in 1972; that same year he posed nude for Cosmopolitan, which he later said possibly cost him an Oscar nomination. The 1970s featured him starring in action films and comedies, including the box-office smash “Smokey and the Bandit,” which introduced him to whom he later described as the love of his life, Sally Field.
Reynolds was married to Judy Carne from 1963 to 1965, and to Loni Anderson from 1988 to 1993. He and Anderson adopted a son. In 2010, Reynolds underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery.
Field told AP, “There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even forty years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy.”
Reynolds’ niece, Nancy Lee Hess, issued a statement on Thursday saying, “My uncle was not just a movie icon; he was a generous, passionate and sensitive man, who was dedicated to his family, friends, fans and acting students …He was tough. Anyone who breaks their tail bone on a river and finishes the movie is tough. And that’s who he was.”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/35560/burt-reynolds-star-deliverance-smokey-and-bandit-hank-berrien