Some legends are born to brighten up the screen; be it big or small; be it behind the screen as a producer or on it as an actor. Burton Leon “Burt” Reynolds was one such dynamic personality with a shining career but everything comes at a price; his personal life was no where near ‘shiny’.
This actor sent some serious shockwaves around the globe among his fans, followers and gossip mongers of media magazines when he published his memoir few years ago. People did not expect this level of honesty from a star millions looked up to, and some found it hard to digest what they learnt about him in the book. Burt talked about almost everything —from his biggest love to his biggest regrets.
Sadly, Burt passed away on September 6, 2018, at the age of 82. The whole world joined to mourn for the lost star, the likes of whom are rarely born. He will always be remembered as a legend that he was, and will be kept alive in the memories of millions of his fans, who loved him and looked up to him.
Early Years
Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan on February 11, 1936, his memoirs reveal a complicated relationship that Burt had with his parents Fern and Burton Reynolds. This complicated time he experienced while growing up was meant to leave marks on the years to come.
His mother was an emotional woman, who had been nothing but supportive to him. His dad, on the other hand, was kind of at the unpleasant side. He was more judgmental, and it was always hard for him to express positive emotions.
Florida
When Burt was ten, his family decided to move to Riviera Beach. He found his solace in playing football and became pretty good at it. So good, in fact, his football skills got him several scholarship offers from various universities.
Burt decided to go with Florida State University and continued to play at the halfback position. Along with that, he was also an active member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Sporty Past
Reynolds played for his school football team from 1954 to 1957 before he was forced to quit due to football injuries, though he wanted to stay. He did not foresee it then, but he definitely got to relive his football days again while shooting for a film.
The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, was released in 1974. Burt was cast as a professional quarterback in the movie. Burt’s father, on the other hand, advised him to play the character of a parole officer, which he did.
Bit By The Acting Bug
While at Palm Beach Junior College, Reynolds enrolled into a number of different classes, among which the English class turned out to be life-changing for him. Even the professors started recognizing his talents.
Professor Watson B. Duncan III taught that English class and he couldn’t miss the sparkling talent for acting that Reynolds possessed. He made him audition for a play Outward Bound, and Reynolds ended up bagging the lead role in the play. This was a kick-start to his glorious career.
Bold And Confident
Burt lived on to become a widely famous actor. As an actor, he never minded getting into racy roles and was never shy of getting naked in front of the camera, if the scene demanded so. He treated it as a part and parcel of his job, and he was always ready to do whatever it took to justify his character.
His confidence about himself and his bold attitude lead him to pose nude for Cosmopolitan in 1972. This magazine was released after his movie Deliverance was out in cinemas. But according to his memoirs, he wrote that he regretted to pose nude.
Turning Down Big Roles
Reynolds’ career was undoubtedly rich, both money wise as well as experience wise. But he did turn down some big roles, which he could have easily bagged. It might be a regret that he held in his mind, as he could have been immortalized if he had chosen to play the role of Han Solo in Star Wars film. Harrison Ford was cast as Han Solo after Burt turned the role down.
This was not the only time he turned down a legendary role. This one time, he was offered to play the character of James Bond after Sean Connery, but the actor did not feel that the role was a fit for an American actor.
Legend Dates A Tennis Star
Reynolds was a famous ladies’ man. His colorful lifestyle attracted a lot of female patrons in his early acting days. He had a type; particularly sporty girls. He famously dates professional tennis player Chris Evert for a while.
Chris explained the importance of their relationship to her: “If Burt likes you, he really takes good care of you. Successful women aren’t a threat to him, and I think that’s what attracted me to him.”
Blunt Honesty
The actor offers a front row seat to the film of his life through famous memoir ‘But Enough About Me,’ giving a closer look to what he had lived during his 60-year-long career. This period of six decades was glorious, but he definitely had some regrets.
Ruling the ‘70s and being recognized as “the perfect actor,” his career went downhill a bit as the years passed. Reynolds wasn’t shy to admit that sometimes he accepted the roles for weird reasons, for example : a particular actress in the cast.
Burt Meets Shore
Dinah Shore was 54 years old when Burt and she started seeing each other. Burt was 35 at the time, nearly 20 years younger than her. They dated for about four years.
Reynolds holds very kind memories of Dinah : “I’d never met anyone like her. I realized there was a big age gap between us but it didn’t make the slightest difference. I was already in love with her…”
Burt and Dinah broke up, as she couldn’t not give Burt any children, considering her age; thus they found their relationship at the rock-bottom.
Trying Out Some Music
Reynolds was a man of many talents. Acting wasn’t the only thing he mastered, but he was quite successful sports-person, as well as in modeling and singing.
He released his debut album Ask Me What I Am in 1973, and it did pretty well in the market. Burt posed for the poster of this album that came along with it, in his famous jumpsuit and cowboy hat.
Hello Dolly
Reynolds starred in 1982’s The Best Little * House in Texas, along side of legendary Dolly Parton. The movie was an adaptation of a 1978 musical of the same name.
The title of the movie created a bit of controversy in the film industry if that time. The producers did not want to be involved in anything controversial, thus they decided to modify the title a little.
The movie was later named as The Best Little Cathouse in Texas for some printed ads.
Roomies
Reynolds’ roommate was quite famous during the college time in Florida State University. He was Lee Corso, who worked his way up to become legendary ESPN broadcaster and analyst.
They had another roommate too in college days. He was Ron Fraser, who later became the coach of the University of Miami baseball team.
It Was His Field
Reynolds’ dating list during the ‘70s was quite long, but actress Sally Field remained his greatest love. They met while on the sets of 1997’s Smokey and the Bandit, and started dating soon after. According to Reynolds, they had an undeniably intense chemistry.
Burt and Sally were seen together in next four movies. According to him, Sally was the most underrated actress that Hollywood had seen and he felt lucky to be working with her. They dated for five years.
The Biggest Regret
Burt and Sally broke up and it remained the biggest regret of his life. He once quoted: “She was the love of my life and I screwed the relationship up. That sense of loss never goes away.”
Although, both of them moved on pretty soon and got married to other people, but they were turned single afterwards.
Loni
Burt met Loni Anderson on the set of 1983’s comedy Stroker Ace, which turned out to be a big flop. Loni also starred in WKRP in Cincinnati, and she married Burt Reynolds in 1988.
Reynolds and Loni began to be seen as Hollywood’s golden couple during the ‘80s, but their marriage broke apart in 1993. Years after that, Reynolds seems to regret marrying her and calls it a “dumb move on his part” in the memoir.
Cold Feet
As it became evident later on, Burt wasn’t quite ready to marry Loni. She was undoubtedly a beautiful and charming lady, but his heart wasn’t on the same page with hers.
In the autobiography, Burt remembers his wedding day: “On the way to the ceremony, my best man, the American football player Vic Prinzi, said: ‘Do you really want to do this?’…No, I don’t.”
The Mother Of His Child
When it came to marriage, there was a visible hesitation, despite which the couple decided to adopt a child as their own. Burt and Loni welcomed a baby boy Quinton Anderson to their family, who is in his late 20s as of today.
Quinton works in the film industry too, just like his parents. But he went on a slightly different path staying behind the camera. He works as a camera operator and a film crew assistant.
The Longest Divorce
Burt was always bothered by the fact that Loni was a bit of a careless spender, when it came to money. Her carelessness with money matters went on throughout the period they were married, and it caught Burt on his nerve,
He wrote in his memoirs, “She bought everything in triplicate, from every day dresses to jewelry to china and linens…I gave her a platinum American Express card with a $45,000 credit limit. She maxed it out in half an hour.”
This partially explains the amount of drama that went around them and their divorce in 1993. The actor wasn’t done with the divorce settlements until the age of 79.
Homeless Burt?
Most of the divorce settlements end badly. Reynolds spent a fortune he earned over the years if hard work into settling for his expensive divorce. He hit the financial rockbottom in 2006 and was forced to file for bankruptcy.
He made some tough calls and attempted to sell his Floridian home at $1.5 million, but it wasn’t any easy sell and the price dipped by half-a-million four years later. It was a majestic house with a movie theater and a two room guest house.
Hey Judy
Before Loni, Burt was already married once. His wife was Judy Carne, and they were married from 1963 to 1965.
Sadly, the actress passed away in 2015, living up to the age of 76. But Reynolds wasn’t the only Hollywood star she dated. She went out with another Hollywood Casanova, named Warren Beatty too.
Burt And Farrah
Though Burt was a ladies man, still he lived a single life for over 20 years. It was between his first marriage to Carne and his second marriage to Loni.
In the mean while, he had a time of his life dating some of the most gorgeous actresses of Hollywood. The late Farrah Fawcett, who starred in 1981’s The Cannonball Run, was one amongst them.
Miko Mayama
Later on, Reynolds dated and lived with beautiful Miko Mayama, who was his co-star in the 1969’s Impasse. After her, Burt fell in love with Dihan Shore, immediately after meeting her.
Burt decided to return home and on his arrival, he confronted Miko about his current standing. He told her that he was in love with someone else. He wanted to make it up to Miko for breaking up with her, thus he offered her the beach house, Cadillac and $500 per week.
Miko knew Burt was serious, so she accepted his deal. She moved out immediately after the incident.
Cosmetic Surgery?
The Hollywood stars who age gracefully are often rumored to opt for cosmetic plastic surgeries to maintain the youth of their skin. Same happened with Burt. Now it cannot be said for sure that he did undergo plastic surgeries or not, but this rumor did spread like cotton balls riding on the wind.
Although, Burt admitted that he did have a surgery once, but it was an eye surgery. When asked about his flawless skin, he credited his father’s genes, which sounds fair enough.
His Equation With Paul Thomas Anderson
It was no secret that Burt Reynolds and Paul Thomas Anderson weren’t on good terms with each other. They had contradicting personalities which led to many clashes during the shoots.
The famous actor and director had too different personalities to be able to work together positively. In one of the interviews, Reynolds said about Anderson: “I think mostly because he was young and full of himself.”
The Big Star And The Young Director
Reynolds and Anderson had so much tension in between them whenever they worked together, that they could not even stand the sight of each other. Their clashes shot beyond verbal and they sometimes they even nearly got into a physical fight with one another.
Reynolds was infamous for his rage and bad temper, and it was known to everyone he ever worked with. “Burt got so frustrated he pulled Paul outside into the backyard and started yelling at him, like a father, you know?.. All of a sudden we saw fists flying. We saw some fists flying from Burt Reynolds.” A star actor and a young director might not be a good fit after all.
Deliverance That Is Impossible To Be Re-made Today
If we talk about 1972 thriller, Burt himself was sure that a remake of this masterpiece was impossible. The movie was a hit in its time, and it is hard even in today’s time to cast such a spell on the audience again.
“They keep talking about a remake, but I don’t think you could find four actors crazy enough to do it… Not by any stretch of the imagination were we white water experts. We’d quit for the day and come back and practice… I have to admit that, in spite of the danger, or maybe because of the danger, it was the most fun I ever had.”
Evening Shade Canceled
Burt Reynolds was portrayed as a former professional football player in the early ‘90s, on the set of the show Evening Shade. Because of his old love for football, he was very excited for the part, but was heartbroken when he found out that the show got canceled.
He was very upset; he said, “They keep talking about a remake, but I don’t think you could find four actors crazy enough to do it… Not by any stretch of the imagination were we white water experts. We’d quit for the day and come back and practice… I have to admit that, in spite of the danger, or maybe because of the danger, it was the most fun I ever had.”
Crazy Net Worth
When we look at the stars who make their audiences go crazy when they appear on the silver screen, we automatically tend to overestimate their net worth. They might not be as rich as they sometimes appear to be. Same was true in this case.
The total net worth of Burt Reynolds was ‘only’ $5 million. He rose to the peak of his fame in the ‘70s and worked in some legendary movies, but his career saw too many ups and downs. His personal life was no bed of roses too.
City Heat Was A Flop
Burt Reynolds starred alongside Clint Eastwood in what appeared to be a very promising film: City Heat. It had every element to be a mega blockbuster, however, things did not go as expected.
The film was directed by Richard Benjamin and it did not perform up to the mark. With a whooping production budget of $25 million, the film ended up making only $38.3 million at the box office.
A Wrong Stunt
The pot of bad luck had more for Burt apart from an unsuccessful film that failed to earn much at the box office. While Reynolds was shooting for the film playing his character, he got inured badly on the set.
A very heavy metal chair struck his face and shattered his jaw during an action sequence. As painful it was physically, it lead to him not being able to eat properly because of the broken jaw. Suddenly losing over 40 pounds sparked rumors that seriously damaged his career.
Losing A Deal Worth $20 Million
Burt was a curious guy and he was never shy of taking risks or making investments outside his field. He joined hands with his friend Buddy and decided to venture into restaurant business as well.
Burt and Buddy together started a restaurant chain known as Daisy’s Diner, but it failed miserably. Not just time and energy, it also cost him a whooping loss of $20 million of his money by the time it hit in the nineties.
Marlon Brando’s Doppelgänger
Now who knows looking like a celebrity can ever be a bad thing? Well, for Burt, it did not work quite his way that he looked a bit like Marlon Brando. Although, having no fault of his own in this, Reynolds was turned down from roles because of his striking similarity with Marlon.
Reynolds was once rejected for the leading role in Sayonara because of how much he looked like Brando. After quitting college, Reynolds’ career was only successful until he appeared on this audition for Sayonara.
Brando And Reynolds
Although Burt faced some rejections because he looked like Marlon Brando, but still he was a fan. But Brando on the other hand, did not return the affection. He even admitted that he would quit The Godfather if Reynolds was cast for any part in it.
“He is the epitome of something that makes me want to throw up … He is the epitome of everything that is disgusting about the thespian … He worships at the temple of his own narcissism,” Brando vividly explained his feelings.
“Your Place Or Mine?” “Burt’s!”
Burt also ventured into the party business and owned a nightclub in downtown Atlanta. He called it Burt’s Place. He was popular among the ladies in ‘70s, so it made sense then.
Bad luck did not leave his side and a year later, ‘Burt’s Place’ went out of business. But it is not like the night club did not see some good days. People say that while it was working, it wa one big party during the whole year.
Jon Vs. Burt
Starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight, Deliverance was one of the biggest hits of 1972. The two Hollywood stars had their own ways of working while on the set. There was a lot of competition going on between the two on the set.
Charley Boorman, their colleague actor on the set, commented about all that saying, “Voight is method. So if he had a scene where he was supposed to be out of breath, he’d say, ‘I need a three minute warning so I can get out of breath…Burt would say, ‘I need twenty seconds’ and he’d squirt a spritzer on himself and breathe hard.”
Ryan Reynolds Connection
Let us settle this for once and for ever: Ryan Reynolds and Burt Reynolds are not related with each other in any way. Just having a same last name doesn’t guarantee that two people are somehow related of connected.
The only real link between the two actors was when Ryan spoofed Burt’s pose for his Deadpool social media photo, when he lied on the floor in superhero’s costume mimicking Burt’s nude pose from 1972’s Cosmopolitan.
Big Fuzz
Raquel Welch was a gorgeous woman and a stunning actress. She appeared alongside Burt several times on the screen. They appeared together in 1972’s police comedy film, Fuzz, and they seemed to have quite a chemistry together. But reality was miles away from this.
Actually, Burt and Raquel didn’t get along that well. Raquel expressed a negative gesture when asked to work with Burt, so the producer had to be creative enough to handle the situation. All the scenes including the two had to be shot twice, once with Welch’s double and the other time with Welch, but without Reynolds.
Divorcees And The Orange Juice
Florida-born Reynolds was the first casting choice by Florida Citrus Commission. They wanted to hire him for their marketing campaign for the orange juice. Reynolds was going to star in their ads and people loved him.
Burt even signed a contract with them and everything seemed to be going in the right direction. But his feud with Loni Anderson ended up with divorce, and his endorsement deals were cut off. Few years later, he said in an interview: “I don’t know why they think divorced people don’t drink orange juice.”
Getting Acknowledged
Glorious career of sixty long years made the actor stand at such a height where the upcoming actors looked up to him enviously. The actor achieved a lot in his long career and colorful experiences.
Burt has been nominated for about 30 different awards, which include a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Boogie Nights. Reynolds proudly flaunts more than 50 movies and TV shows under his belt.
Walk Of Fame
Burt’s journey to fame and success was nevertheless long. But once he got on the top, he knew it was worth all the wait and the trouble. It seemed like yesterday while he was just another student attending his English class, who knew it could lead him here.
Thanks to the professor who persuaded him to try acting, that he has come to Broadway, small screen and big screen, holding his place at the top for decades. In 1978, he received a star on Hollywood’s famous Walk of Fame, along with many other great actors who came before him or after him.
A Park To His Name
There are very few people who receive great honors of having public places named after them. Burt is one of those lucky people as there is a “Burt Reynolds Park” in Florida, that spreads over 35 acres of land.
The park has a lot to offer for fun. People who love boats, picnic sports and salt water fishing, it is a place that will suit their needs. On the top of that, it is a great place to have a lovely family day over some barbecue and volleyball. The River Center Exhibitions are also in the close vicinity.
The Longest Yard Sale
While struggling with financial problems after a one million dollar legal dispute over a painful divorce, the actor never fell short of creative ways to deal with his problems, one at a time. He had to get rid of most of his belongings and sold them for money so that he could save his financial standing from shaking down.
He auctioned over 600 of his personal items. Among the items that were put up for sale, there was his Trans Am car from Smokey and the Bandit. Also among his precious possessions, was his 1998 Golden Globe Award that he won for Boogie Nights.
Right Time
Almost all the items that Burt sold on the yard sale were dear to him in one way or another. Who would want to put their Golden Globe Award trophy up for auction? It is the feelings and the memories connected with those things that keep reminding us of those important times.
One item among them meant a lot to Reynolds: the 18 karat gold watch, that came as a present from Sally Field. She was the most beloved woman in his life. It was a shock for some to learn that Reynolds actually sold that watch; they understood he must be direly desperate.
Wanna Keep ‘Play’-ing?
Reynolds’ film career was good so far, and the role that he landed in the hit movie Smokey and The Bandit, got him unexpected fame. But the story behind bagging that part is no less interesting.
Hal Needham, the movie director, was friends with Reynolds for a long time. He even stayed in Reynolds’ pool house for over a decade. He once showed the script to Reynolds and there it was! Reynolds loved it and he jumped in to take the role.
The Wild Burt
Reynolds also featured on the Wild West Series from 1962 to 1965. All this led to his induction into what was the series walk of fame. The event was held organized by the Kansas Wild West Fest in 2015.
Reynolds was always a darling in the eyes of his fans. His fan-base surely spiked significantly after he played his role as Quint Asper. The TV show broke all the records and it became the most syndicated TV show of all times.
Matching Footsteps With Marlyn Monroe
Who can ever forget the angel of beauty, the iconic Marlyn Monroe! She even has her statues built in cities and museums after she rocked her famous pose in her viral photograph. Reynolds was definitely lucky to be walking the walk of fame alongside her.
In one of the interviews, he could not help but share the memory of that day when he met Marlyn Monroe: “I walked to a class with her for the studio… But I noticed that no one recognized her. So I mentioned that to her. She looked at me and said, ‘Oh, do you want to see her?’…I, of course, told her I would love to. All she did was change her posture, change the way we were walking, and within five minutes, we couldn’t move, so many people were around us. It was pretty amazing.”
Reynolds and Reed
Jerry Reed was a country singer and he was a close friend of Burt Reynolds. Sadly, he passed away in 2008. Reed and Reynolds met in Nashville and instantly hit it off. Their friendship strengthened over time.
Not only they were great friends, they even went on to work together at a professional level on several movies. Some of the movies in which they worked jointly were Dixie Danceking, High-Ballin, and the famous The Bandit film series.
The Game Show And 90210 Cameo
He loved both movies and TV shows, and thus, he and his work partner, Bert Convot, jointly produced a game show. It was called Win, Lose Or Draw, aired between 1987 to 1990, and it was insanely popular in the States.
Another milestone in Reynolds’ career was when he appeared in the teen series Beverly Hills 90210 in 1993. Though it was just a cameo, audiences loved him when he appeared in an episode called “she came in through the bathroom window.”
Health Conditions And Struggles
Rumors about Reynolds’ poor health kept spreading for months. He made a last public appearance in April 2017 during the Red Carpet Film Festival. He was unable to stand for too long there and had to get a stool to sit down on.
Some time later, Burt revealed that it was the years of shooting that was taking a toll on him, and the reason for walking or standing for long time to be such a struggle. He even mentioned that sometimes the pain of standing becomes too much for him and he prefers to stay in bed those mornings.
Good Bye Legend
Burt Reynolds spent the days that turned out to be his last, in a Florida estate with a friend who helped him during his financial crisis. The owner of the property was his dear friend Charles Modica, who bought his home in 2015.
Sadly, Burt Reynolds passed away on September 9, 2018, from a cardiac arrest. The ambulance received a call from the estate but there wasn’t much they could do to save the departing soul. The actor died in a Jupiter, Fla. hospital.
May his soul rests in peace. He was a true legend.
