GOODBYE, BURT
CELEBS MOURN THE LOSS OF A MOVIE LEGEND
Hollywood farewells a star
Just a few weeks ago, Burt Reynolds was reflecting on his career and the fact that after years of little work and films that tanked, he was getting lots more high-quality job offers.
“I still haven’t done the best work I can do,” he said. “I hope I get the chance.”
Sadly, it was not to be. Burt died of a heart attack in Florida on September 6, aged 82. He had been due to start filming his scenes later this month in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, starring Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Al Pacino.
It would have been a return to the big time for the veteran actor, who caught Hollywood’s attention again earlier this year with his touching portrayal of a faded screen idol in The Last Movie Star. Written especially for him by writer/director Adam Rifkin, and largely based on his life, that film proved that as well as possessing bucket-loads of on-screen charisma, Burt really was a talented actor.
Movie reviewer Roger Ebert wrote, “Rifkin has given Reynolds opportunity to let us see what it’s like to be him and Reynolds does so without strain, without pleading for sympathy, just an exhausted acknowledgement of his own truths. His quiet monologue where he says goodbye to [his hometown of] Knoxville is so beautifully clear and true it seems ‘captured’ rather than ‘performed’.”
Acting was not originally Burt’s first career choice – he was destined to be a star football player. But a series of injuries derailed his sporting career and in the late 1950s, when he was in his early 20s, he turned to acting, landing roles on TV shows such as Gunsmoke.
The movie that made him famous was Deliverance, released in 1972. “I don’t know if it is the best acting I’ve done, but it’s the best movie I’ve ever been in,” he said in his 2015 memoir, But Enough About Me. “It proved I could act, not only to the public but to me.”
Smokey and the Bandit catapulted Burt into superstardom in 1977 and he was Hollywood’s top grossing star every year from 1978 through to 1982. But it also resulted in him being typecast as fun-loving action heroes, which had worn thin by the late ‘80s. He appeared in a succession of forgettable movies, went through an acrimonious break-up of his marriage to actress Loni Anderson (73) and battled an addiction to painkillers brought on after his jaw was shattered while filming City Heat in 1984.
He won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in TV show Evening Shade in 1992 and the movie Boogie Nights gave his flagging fortunes a temporary boost in 1997. But his career floundered again and he was declared bankrupt in the mid-’90s, never fully recovering financially. He auctioned off many of his belongings in 2014 and after his death it was revealed that three years ago, he sold his luxury Florida estate to his neighbour, property tycoon Charles Modica, who rented it back to him for a very low amount to help him out.
He’d suffered a series of health issues in the last few years, including needing heart bypass surgery and having numerous operations on injuries he’d received back in the days when he did his own stunts.
His niece Nancy Lee Hess says although he’d been unwell, his death was totally unexpected. “He was tough. Anyone who breaks their tailbone on a river and finishes the movie [Deliverance] is tough.”
Among the tributes that flowed after Burt’s death was a tweet from long-time friend Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Burt Reynolds was one of my heroes. He was a trailblazer. He also had a great sense of humour.”
There was also a poignant message from Sally Field, Burt’s partner from 1977 to 1982. The pair were Hollywood’s golden couple until Sally left Burt, claiming he was too controlling. “She was the love of my life and I screwed the relationship up,” he later said.
When asked recently about the choices he’d made in life, he said there was one thing he truly regretted – even more than turning down the roles of Han Solo in Star Wars and James Bond – and that was messing things up with Oscar winner
Sally (71). “That sense of loss never goes away,” he admitted.
Sally had some heartfelt words for her former love. In a statement she said, “There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even 40 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.”