Burt Reynolds (born February 11, 1936) is an
Oscar-nominated Emmy Award-winning American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in
Deliverance, Paul Crewe in the original version of
The Longest Yard, Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, J.J. McClure in The
Cannonball Run and Jack Horner in Boogie Nights.
Burt is one of America's most recognizable film and television personalities. With more than 90 feature film and 300
television episode credits, he was the number-one box-office attraction for five straight years (1978-82) a record no one else
has ever achieved, with vehicles like Smokey and the Bandit and
The Cannonball Run.
Early life
Childhood
He was born Burton Leon Reynolds, Jr.[2], the son
of Fern (Miller), a former nurse, and Burton Reynolds, a police officer.[3] Reynolds' family lived in several Southern and
Midwestern cities during his childhood, before settling in Riviera Beach,
Florida.[3] Reynolds thought he was in
paradise; he had access to the Everglades to the west, the shore of the Lake Worth Lagoon to the east, and further east, across the Blue Heron Boulevard bridge to Singer
Island, the Atlantic Ocean. He was fascinated by the Conch fishermen and their families who made up most of the population of Riviera Beach.[4]
After two years Burt Senior's contractor job ended, and the Reynolds bought a lunch counter and sundry store next to the
bridge to Singer Island. As the business was close to a large dock and some fish and shrimp packing houses, business was good.
Soon after, Burt Senior was recruited as a police officer for Riviera Beach. When the police chief died a few years later, Burt
Senior became the chief.[5]
As the Reynolds family home was at the north edge of Riviera Beach, Burt Junior attended school in Lake Park, just to the north of Riviera Beach. While Burt Junior was in seventh grade, the
Palm Beach County School Board decided that there were too few seventh grade
students in the school to justify a teacher's salary, and Burt was transferred to Central Junior High School (now
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts) in West Palm Beach. Burt felt lost at the big school, and started hanging out with
greasers and skipping school. He also began showing off with dangerous stunts, such
as diving off the top of a raised drawbridge, and jumping from an airboat onto the back of a
running deer.[6]
When Burt Junior was twelve he became friends with Jimmy Hooks. After learning that Jimmy was being physically abused in his
home, Burt Junior took Jimmy home with him and told his parents he wanted Jimmy to be his brother. The Reynolds took Jimmy in.
The Reynolds officially adopted Jimmy Hooks years later, when he was in his twenties.[7]
When Burt Junior was fourteen he tried out for football team at Central Junior
High. He had never played organized sports, but worked hard at practice, earned his letterman's sweater, and was named to the county all-star team. The next
year, when Burt Junior entered high school, he made the varsity team, but did not have much
opportunity to play. In his junior year Reynolds had more opportunity to play. Seeing his
ability, and foreseeing that he was likely to receive scholarship offers, one of
Reynolds coaches persuaded him to take the courses necessary to enter a college. In his senior
year Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a
fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers.[8]
College
Burt Reynolds at Florida State
After graduating from Palm Beach High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, Reynolds attended Florida
State University on a college football scholarship, becoming an all-star
halfback. While at Florida State, Reynolds joined the Phi
Delta Theta Fraternity, the football team's fraternity of choice. He was anticipating a very good season his second year,
with expectations of being named to All American teams, and an eventual career in professional football. In the first game of the
season Reynolds tore the cartilage in his knee. He made the injury worse by trying to play again later in the game, and then
again in a couple of games late in the season. On Christmas break that year, Reynolds ran his father's car up under a flatbed
trailer that was sitting across a dark street. The car was wedged under the trailer, and it took rescuers seven and a half hours
to remove Reynolds from the wreckage. He had multiple injuries, including his knee, shoulder, some broken ribs, and a ruptured
spleen, the last of which was removed in emergency surgery.[9]
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 Park. 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.[10]
Career
Acting
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.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13]
He made his Broadway debut in Look, We've Come Through. Reynolds first starred on television, in the 1950s series, Riverboat, and went on to appear in a
number of other shows, including a role as blacksmith Quint Asper on Gunsmoke from 1962 to 1965.
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. 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.
Reynolds claims he was offered the role of James Bond by producer Albert R. Broccoli, after Sean Connery left the franchise.
Reynolds turned the role down, saying "An American can't play James Bond. It just can't be done."[14] In 1973, he released the album Ask Me What I Am. He would also sing in
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
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.
In the 1980s, after Smokey and the Bandit, he became typecast in similar, less
well-done and less successful movies. Comedian and actor Robert Wuhl, in a standup act in
the late 80s, said that "Burt Reynolds makes so many bad movies, when someone else makes a bad movie Burt gets a royalty!"
He had his hand at producing a television show with friend Bert Convy in 1987,
Win, Lose or Draw. He even appeared as a celebrity gameplayer in a few episodes
of the show.
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
for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1991). Reynolds started a comeback with the movie Striptease in 1996, and the critically acclaimed Boogie
Nights, in 1997, 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.
In early 2000, he created and toured Burt Reynolds' One Man Show. In 2002, he lent his voice to the character
Avery Carrington in the controversial video game
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
In 2005, he co-starred in two remakes: the first released was of The Longest
Yard, this time 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 second was of the
hit 1980s TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, as Boss Hogg.
He starred in the audio book version of The Worst Case Scenario
Handbook. In May 2006, Reynolds began appearing in Miller Lite beer commercials.
In 2007 at the World Stuntman Awards he was awarded the Taurus
Lifetime Achievement Award. While presenting him with the award Arnold
Schwarzenegger referred to him as the greatest of the great.
Southern filmmaking
Although Reynolds had already made eleven films, his performance as Lewis, the macho Atlanta businessman in the 1972 film adaptation of James Dickey's novel Deliverance, signaled
the beginning of his box-office popularity. Hailed as one of the year's best films, Deliverance is the story of four
suburbanites' harrowing journey into Appalachian Georgia. Filmed on Georgia's Chattooga River,
Deliverance also marked the beginning of Reynolds's devotion to making films in and about the South.
The following year Reynolds was persuaded to play the role of a moonshiner in the film
White Lightning after the filmmakers promised to shoot in the
South. White Lightning, which was filmed in Arkansas, broke attendance records nationwide, and the film's success encouraged Hollywood studios to make more southern films. In 1976
Reynolds both starred in and made his directorial debut with Gator, the sequel to
White Lightning. Deciding to shoot Gator entirely in Georgia, Reynolds announced that “I have this violent urge to
get behind the camera... I want to say some nice things about the South.”
In 1974 Reynolds starred in The Longest Yard,
which was filmed at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. In the film Reynolds portrays a former athletic star forced to compete in a life-and-death
football game. Many inmates served as extras and helped to construct the sets,
including a football field that was given to the prison after filming was complete. Governor Jimmy
Carter played a key role in the orchestration of the project and, according to Reynolds, promised that he "would
personally come in and take me out if anything happened." The film, remade in
2005 with Reynolds in the role of Coach Nate Scarborough was popular with audiences, but not with critics.
During the next few years Reynolds continued his pattern of choosing southern-themed films that were often shot, at least
partially, in the South. In the 1975 film W. W. and the Dixie Dance
Kings, filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, he plays one of several country
musicians hoping for success with the Reynolds and Reed Grand Ole Opry. Two years later,
Smokey and the Bandit, which also features the Georgia musician
Jerry Reed, was released and is one of Reynolds's best-known and loved films. Filmed entirely
in Georgia, the successful comedy was followed in 1980 by Smokey and the Bandit II, which was filmed partially in Georgia.
Reynolds's next film, The Cannonball Run 1981, was shot almost entirely in Georgia, referred to as "Burt's good luck state" by the director,
Hal Needham. That same year Reynolds directed and starred in Sharky's Machine. Filmed entirely in Atlanta, the movie
features Reynolds as a narcotics officer investigating the murder of a prostitute in the city.
During these years, Reynolds starred in a number of other notable films, including The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing 1973; Semi-Tough 1977; The
End 1978, which he also directed; Starting Over 1979; and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas 1982, which
was filmed mostly in Texas.[15]
Personal life
Relationships
At various points in his life, Reynolds was romantically involved with Dinah Shore,
Sally Field, and Chris Evert.[16] His relationship with Shore garnered particular attention given the fact
she was 20 years his senior. Reynolds was married to actress/comedienne Judy Carne from 1963
to 1965, and actress Loni Anderson from 1988 to 1993. E!
Online reports that he dated Kate Edelman Johnson from 2003 to 2005.[17]
His autobiography, titled My Life, was published in 1994 with much writing help from his close personal friend, Al
Glasgow.
Sports team owner
On July 3, 1982, Reynolds lived out one of his dreams by once again getting involved with a sport that still holds a certain
soft spot in his heart, by becoming a co-owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits, a
professional football team in the USFL. Other owners included
John Bassett, a Canadian movie producer, and Stephen Arky,
an attorney from Miami. Reynolds was a general partner of the team from 1982 to 1985, the entire existence of the
USFL. The team held a winning record in every year. In 1983 they went 11–7–0 in the Central Division but did not make the playoffs. In 1984
they went 14–4–0 in the Southern Division and lost in the conference semifinals to the Birmingham Stallions 36–17. In 1985 they went 10–8–0 in the Eastern
Conference but lost in the quarterfinals to the Oakland Invaders 30–27.
Reynolds also co-owned a NASCAR Winston Cup team with
Hal Needham, which ran the #33 Skoal Bandits car, with
driver Harry Gant.
Honorary recognitions
Reynolds has received a number of honorary recognitions over the years, mostly keys to various cities, or deputy badges from
being deputized.
- Keys to the cities of: Hollywood, Florida / Miami Beach, Florida / Ocala, Florida / Orlando, Florida / Palm Beach County, Florida /
West Palm Beach, Florida/ Buena Park,
California / Oxnard, California / Savannah, Georgia / Niagara Falls, New York /
Clark County, Nevada / Piggott,
Arkansas
Awards and achievements
- 1978 Star (for motion pictures) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6838
Hollywood Blvd.[18]
- National Association of Theater Owners No. 1 box-office star for five straight years (1978–82)
- 1987 Eastman Kodak Second Century Award
- 1991 American Cancer Society's Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2000 Children at Heart Award[19]
- 2003 Atlanta IMAGE Film and Video Award[20]
- 2007 Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2007 Best Buddies Canada Lifetime Achievement Award[21]
- Emmy Awards
- 1991 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (for Evening Shade)
- 1998 Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (for Boogie Nights)
- 1992 Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical (for Evening Shade)
- 1991 Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series
- 1984 Favorite Motion Picture Actor (tied with Clint Eastwood)
- 1983 Favorite Motion Picture Actor
- 1983 Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer
- 1982 Favorite Motion Picture Actor
- 1982 Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer
- 1980 Favorite Motion Picture Actor
- 1979 Favorite Motion Picture
