Burt, 82, swaps stunts for a walking stick
STOOPED over a walking stick, actor Burt Reynolds looks unrecognisable from his heyday as the bare-chested action hero who performed his own stunts.
The double Golden Globe winner, 82, seemed frail this week as he made his way through New York’s JFK airport. The star of the 1972 film Deliverance, who began acting after injuries ended a promising American football career, has blamed his stunts for his limited mobility in old age.
In 2015, he said: ‘I did all my own stunts, which is why I can’t walk very well now. At certain times in the morning I regret it, trying to get out of bed. I can point to certain places and know it’s from certain pictures.’
The twice-divorced lothario, who has dated stars including Farrah Fawcett and Goldie Hawn, added: ‘ It’s very embarrassing if you’re with a woman and you go to throw her over the other side of the bed and your knee goes out.’
Reynolds will appear as an ageing actor in the film The Last Movie Star, which goes on limited release in the US later this month. The role, written specifically for him, follows much of his own career trajectory – from college football player to hunky leading man to faded star.