Best Known As: 1970s film star who was in Deliverance and Smokey and the Bandit
Name at birth: Burton Leon Reynolds, Jr.
Television and film star Burt Reynolds made it to the top of the box office heap in the late 1970s, as an amiable bad-boy who specialized in cheeky comedy action movies like Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball Run (1981). An injury sidelined his promising college football career at Florida State University, so Reynolds left for New York City in the late 1950s to start an acting career. On television after 1959, he was a stuntman and guest star until landing his own series in 1966 (Hawk). He surprised critics with a sturdy performance in the 1972 film Deliverance, but it was a string of silly good ol' boy B-movies that made Reynolds the biggest star in America: White Lightning (1973); The Longest Yard (1974); Gator (1976); Smokey and the Bandit (1977); Hooper (1978); Smokey and the Bandit II (1980); and The Cannonball Run (1981). Another injury sidelined him for a few years (and caused rumors that he had AIDS), his marriage to TV star Loni Anderson (1983-88) ended in a messy divorce and his finances took a dive, but Reynolds managed to come back strong in the late 1990s as a supporting player in Striptease (1996, starring Demi Moore), Boogie Nights (1997, which brought him an Oscar nomination) and Driven (2001). Late in his career he returned to good ol' boy roles in the remake of The Longest Yard (2005, starring Adam Sandler) and The Dukes of Hazzard (2005, starring Johnny Knoxville).
Reynolds was married to Laugh-in star Judy Carne (1963-65), had a much-publicized romance with singer Dinah Shore in the early 1970s (she was 20 years his senior) and dated his Smokey and the Bandit co-star, Sally Field.
Charming, handsome, and easy-going, lead actor and megastar Burt Reynolds entered the world on February 11, 1936. He attended Florida State University on a football scholarship, and became an all-star Southern Conference halfback, but - faced with a knee injury and a debilitating car accident - switched gears from athletics to college drama. In 1955, he dropped out of college and traveled to New York, in search of stage work, but only turned up occasional bit parts on television, and for two years he had to support himself as a dishwasher and bouncer.
In 1957, Reynolds's ship came in when he appeared in a New York City Center revival of Mister Roberts; shortly thereafter, he signed a television contract. He sustained regular roles in the series Riverboat, Gunsmoke, Hawk, and Dan August. Although he appeared in numerous films in the 1960s, he failed to make a significant impression. In the early '70s, his popularity began to increase, in part due to his witty appearances on daytime TV talk shows. His breakthrough film, Deliverance (1972), established him as both a screen icon and formidable actor. That same year, Reynolds became a major sex symbol when he posed as the first nude male centerfold in the April edition of Cosmopolitan. He went on to become the biggest box-office attraction in America for several years - the centerpiece of films such as Hustle (1975), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (as well as its two sequels), The End (1978), Starting Over (1979), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and The Man Who Loved Women (1983). However, by the mid-'80s, his heyday ended, largely thanks to his propensity for making dumb-dumb bumper-smashing road comedies with guy pals such as Hal Needham (Stroker Ace, The Cannonball Run 2). Reynolds's later cinematic efforts (such as the dismal Malone (1987)) failed to generate any box office sizzle, aside from a sweet and low-key turn as an aging career criminal in Bill Forsyth's Breaking In (1989). Taking this as a cue, Reynolds transitioned to the small screen, and starred in the popular sitcom Evening Shade, for which he won an Emmy. He also directed several films, created the hit Win, Lose or Draw game show with friend Bert Convy, and established the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Florida.
In the mid-'90s, Reynolds ignited a comeback that began with his role as a drunken, right-wing congressman in Andrew Bergman's Striptease (1996). Although the film itself suffered from critical pans and bombed out at the box office, the actor won raves for his performance, with many critics citing his comic interpretation of the role as one of the film's key strengths. His luck continued the following year, when Paul Thomas Anderson cast him as porn director Jack Horner in his acclaimed Boogie Nights. Reynolds would go on to earn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and between the twin triumphs of Striptease and Nights, critics read the resurgence as the beginning of a second wind in the Deliverance star's career, ala John Travolta's turnaround in 1994's Pulp Fiction.
But all was not completely well chez Burt. A nasty conflict marred his interaction with Paul Thomas Anderson just prior to the release of Boogie Nights. It began with Reynolds's disastrous private screening of Nights; he purportedly loathed the picture so much that he phoned his agent after the screening and fired him. When the Anderson film hit cinemas and became a success d'estime, Reynolds rewrote his opinion of the film and agreed to follow Anderson on a tour endorsing the effort, but Reynolds understandably grew peeved when Anderson refused to let him speak publicly. Reynolds grew so infuriated, in fact, that he refused to play a role in Anderson's tertiary cinematic effort, 1999's Magnolia.
Reynolds also attempted - in 1998 - to launch his own talk program, The Burt Reynolds Show, on a country music cable station; the endeavor involved Burt sitting around a table with his buddies, such as Harry Dean Stanton, and chatting up a storm. Audiences did not take to this, however, and the network almost immediately cancelled the program. Cinematically, Reynolds's appearances in lackluster productions over the course of the next decade, such as the direct-to-video comedy Cloud Nine (where he plays a buffet connoisseur who organizes a bunch of female strippers into a professional volleyball team) and The Dukes of Hazzard, where Reynolds appears as Boss Hogg, drowned out the perceived "second wind" of the actor's career. Though Reynolds woould keep things fairly light the following year with a vocal contribution to Duck Dodgers, an appearance on the Freddie Prinze, Jr. sitcom Freddie, and the straight to video Ray Romano/Kevin James comedy Grilled, he returned to both drama and the big screen with a supporting performance in the musical drama Broken Bridges; a low-key tale of a fading country music star that served as a feature debut for real-life country music singer Toby Kieth.
The early 2000s did see Reynolds undertaking one extremely successful (if small-scale) endeavor. He authored and regularly performed a one-man show at his Florida-based theater. Promoted on his website, http://www.burtreynolds.com, as, "The laughs, the loves, the lies, the legends, the lies (not necessarily in that order)," the show involved Reynolds sitting before an audience and weaving tales from his boyhood and show-business past in Garrison Keillor mode. Audiences were mesmerized by this natural born storyteller.
Reynolds has gained fame -- and infamy -- for his offscreen life, as well. Married to Laugh-In regular Judy Carne from 1963 to 1966, he has been romantically linked with actresses Dinah Shore (who was twenty years his senior) and Sally Field, in addition to tennis star Chris Evert. He was also married from 1988 to 1993 to actress Loni Anderson; their union ended in one of the most widely publicized acrimonious divorces in Hollywood history.
Burton Milo "Burt" Reynolds, Jr.[2][3][4] (born February 11, 1936) is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its 2005 remake respectively, Billy Clyde Puckett in Semi-Tough, J.J. McClure in The Cannonball Run, the voice of Charlie B. Barkin in All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Jack Horner in Boogie Nights. He is one of America's most recognizable film and television personalities with more than 90 feature film and 300 television episode credits.
Reynolds' parents were Burton Milo Reynolds, Sr. (1906 - 2002), who had Cherokee and Irish ancestry,[5] and his wife, Fern H. (née Miller). Reynolds was born in Michigan.[2] He states in his autobiography that his family was living in Lansing, Michigan, when his father was drafted into the United States Army.[1] Reynolds, his mother and his sister joined his father at Fort Leonard Wood, where they lived for two years. When Reynolds's father was sent to Europe, the family returned to Lansing. In 1946, Reynolds moved to Jupiter, Florida, with his parents. His father, Burt Sr., later became Chief of Police of Riviera Beach. Riviera Beach is the next town north of West Palm Beach.
In his sophomore year at Palm Beach High School, Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers.[6] After graduating from Palm Beach High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, Reynolds attended Florida State University on a college football scholarship, and played halfback.[7] While at Florida State, Reynolds became roommates with now notable college football broadcaster and analyst, Lee Corso. Reynolds hoped to be named to All-America teams and to have a career in professional football, however, in the first game of the season, Reynolds was injured and a car accident later that year worsened the injury. With his college football career ended, Reynolds considered becoming a police officer, but his father suggested that he finish college and become a parole officer. In order to keep up with his studies, he began taking classes at Palm Beach Junior College (PBJC) in neighboring Lake Worth. In his first term at PBJC Reynolds was in a class taught by Watson B. Duncan III. Duncan pushed Reynolds into trying out for a play he was producing, Outward Bound. He cast Reynolds in the lead, based on his impressions from listening to Reynolds read Shakespeare in class. Reynolds won the 1956 Florida State Drama Award for his performance in Outward Bound. Reynolds calls Duncan his mentor and the most influential person in his life.[8] While at Florida State, Reynolds became a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.[9]
Acting career
The Florida State Drama Award included a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse, a summer stock theater, in Hyde Park, New York. Reynolds saw the opportunity as an agreeable alternative to more physically demanding summer jobs, but did not yet see acting as a career. While working at Hyde Park, Reynolds met Joanne Woodward, who helped Reynolds find an agent, and be cast in Tea and Sympathy at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Reynolds received favorable reviews for his performance in Tea and Sympathy. Reynolds then went on tour with Tea and Sympathy, driving the bus as well as appearing on stage.[10]
After the tour Reynolds returned to New York and enrolled in acting classes. His classmates included Frank Gifford, Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons and Jan Murray. After a botched improvisation in acting class, Reynolds briefly considered returning to Florida, but he soon got a part in a revival of Mister Roberts, with Charlton Heston as the star. After the play closed, the director, John Forsythe, arranged a movie audition with Josh Logan for Reynolds. The movie was Sayonara, and Reynolds was told he couldn't be in the movie because he looked too much like Marlon Brando. Logan advised Reynolds to go to Hollywood, but Reynolds did not feel confident enough to do so.[11]
Reynolds worked odd jobs while waiting for acting opportunities. He waited tables, washed dishes, drove a delivery truck and worked as a bouncer at the Roseland Ballroom. It was while working as a dockworker that Reynolds was offered $150 to jump through a glass window on a live television show.[12]
Reynolds as Quint Asper, 1962.
He made his Broadway debut in Look, We've Come Through. Reynolds first starred on television with Darren McGavin in the 1959-1961 NBC series, Riverboat. On June 11, 1959, he appeared as Tony Sapio with Ruta Lee as Gloria Fallon in the episode entitled "The Payoff" of NBC's 1920s crime drama, The Lawless Years. In 1960-1961, he appeared in two episodes of the syndicated series The Blue Angels, about elite fliers of the United States Navy. That same season, he guest starred in the syndicatedcrime drama, The Brothers Brannagan in the episode "Bordertown". Reynolds went on to appear in a number of other shows, including a role as blacksmith/ de facto deputy, and half-Native American Quint Asper on CBS's Gunsmoke from 1962–1965. In 1962 Reynolds secured a guest appearance on Perry Mason in "The Case of the Counterfeit Crank". In 1963 he played a character named Rocky in The Twilight Zone episode 155 "The Bard," in which he amusingly lampooned his then-lookalike Marlon Brando. In 1965 he guest-starred as Technical Sergeant Chapman, a Flight Engineer in the second season episode 7, "Show Me A Hero" of 12 O-Clock High (TV series).[citation needed]
Burt Reynolds with the Citrus Queen at Garnet and Gold Football Game, Florida State University, 1963
His film debut was in 1961, in the movie Angel Baby. At the urging of friend Clint Eastwood, Reynolds used his TV fame to secure leading roles in overseas low budget films, commonly called "Spaghetti Westerns". (Eastwood advised Reynolds from experience, as he had done the same). Reynolds first Spaghetti Western, Navajo Joe, came out in 1966. These low budget starring roles established Reynolds as a bankable leading man in movies, and earned him starring roles in American big-budget motion pictures. During this period, he starred in two short-lived cop shows: Hawk and Dan August. He disparaged these shows, telling Johnny Carson that Dan August had "two forms of expression: "mean and meaner." His breakout performance in Deliverance in 1972 made him a star. The same year, Reynolds gained notoriety when he posed naked in the April (Vol. 172, No. 4) issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine.[citation needed]
On March 15, 1978, Reynolds earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in the same year built a dinner theatre in Jupiter, Florida. His celebrity was such that he drew not only big-name stars to appear in productions but sell-out audiences as well. He sold the venue in the early 1990s, but a museum highlighting his career still operates nearby.[14]
In the 1980s, after Smokey and the Bandit, he became typecast in similar, less well-done and less successful movies. He had his hand at producing two television shows with friend Bert Convy. One in 1987 was called Win, Lose or Draw. He appeared as a celebrity gameplayer in the inaugural week of the show along with Justine Bateman, Debbie Reynolds and Loretta Swit. The set of Win, Lose or Draw was modeled after Reynolds' Living room.[citation needed] Another show Burt and Bert produced was titled 3rd Degree, and like on Win, Lose, or Draw, Burt appeared on a few episodes as a panelist. That show aired from 1989-90.
In 1989 he starred on the short lived detective drama B.L. Stryker, one of the rotating elements of the ABC Mystery Movie.
During the first half of the 1990s, he was the star of the CBS television series Evening Shade, for which he won an Emmy Award[15] for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1991).[citation needed]
Despite much success, Reynolds's finances were bad, due in part to an extravagant lifestyle, a messy divorce from Loni Anderson (see below), and failed investments in some Florida restaurant chains; consequently, in 1996, Reynolds filed for bankruptcy.[16][17] The filing was under Chapter 11, from which Reynolds emerged two years later.[17]
Reynolds started a comeback with the movie Striptease in 1996 where his over-the-top performance as a sex-obsessed congressman was both generally panned by critics and a box office failure. Reynolds's role in Striptease was inspired by politicians he met through his father, who was a police chief. His comeback was sealed with the critically acclaimed Boogie Nights, in 1997, which put his career back on track. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Boogie Nights and won a Golden Globe Award for the movie. He was considered a front-runner for the Supporting Oscar, but ultimately lost to Robin Williams, who won it for his role in Good Will Hunting.[citation needed]
In 2005, he co-starred in a remake of The Longest Yard, with Adam Sandler playing the role of Paul Crewe, the role Reynolds had played in the 1974 original. This time around, Reynolds took on the role of Nate Scarborough. The irony in Reynolds's participation in the remake was that his role in the 1974 original garnered him a Golden Globe nomination "Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy", while his role in the remake saw him receive a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Supporting Actor". He also appeared in a movie version of the popular 1980s TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, as Boss Hogg.[18]
In July 2010, he guest starred as an ex-CIA agent being hunted down by a Russian wet ops team who wanted to kidnap, interrogate, then kill him, on USA's Burn Notice. Part of this role denoted absent-mindedness which was noted in the closing scene as "not only being when he drank" implying his character suffered from some form of memory disability or disease.[citation needed]
In January 2012 Reynolds had a guest starring role as himself in an episode of the animated FX TV show Archer. The episode titled "The Man from Jupiter" features Reynolds help Archer (who idolizes him) take on a team of Cuban hitmen.
For about a year in the late 1970's Burt opened "Burt's Place" a restaurant/nightclub in the Omni International Hotel in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia.[23]
Sports team owner
In 1982, Reynolds became a co-owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits, a professional American football team in the USFL whose nickname was inspired by his then-recent Smokey and the Bandit movies. Reynolds also co-owned a NASCARWinston Cup team with Hal Needham, which ran the #33 Skoal Bandits car, with driver Harry Gant.
Foreclosure
As of August 16, 2011, Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation filed foreclosure papers in Martin County claiming Reynolds owes $1.2 million on his Hobe Sound, Florida home.[24]
^ ("Best Buddy Lifetime Achievement Award". tv.yahoo.com). http://tv.yahoo.com/burt-reynolds/contributor/29258/news/urn:newsml:cp.org:20070807:TV-63100030__ER:1. Burt Reynolds received a lifetime achievement award from Best Buddies Canada. The Oscar-nominated actor received the honour at a benefit gala with musical guest Chantal Kreviazuk in Toronto on September 10, 2007. Best Buddies Canada is a national charitable organization dedicated to fostering friendships between students and individuals with intellectual disabilities. Reynolds is receiving its annual award for his decades-long "commitment to aiding and inspiring youth by supporting drama education and humanitarian causes", said the group. Such causes include the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre in Tequest, Florida, founded by the legendary actor in 1979. Donations by the star have also helped establish the Burt Reynolds Eminent Scholar Chair in Regional and Professional Theatre at the Florida State University, and the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida Reynolds has already been honoured for his efforts in aiding the children of Chernobyl.
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