1970s, ’80s leading man made comeback on TV
Burt Reynolds, one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men during the ’70s and early ’80s because of such films as “Deliverance,” “Smokey and the Bandit, “The Longest Yard” and “Semi-Tough,” has died. His representative confirmed that he died Thursday in Jupiter, Fla. He was 82.
Reynolds’ appeal lay in his postmodern macho posture undercut by a wry self-awareness, which he used to good effect in comedies as well as action films. For a period during the ’70s, he was the nation’s top box office draw. But after one too many bad movies, his popularity waned. He returned to television, where he’d gotten his start, mostly in Westerns, and produced his own sitcom, “Evening Shade,” which brought him an Emmy.
He later earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ode to skin flicks, “Boogie Nights.”
In his colorful career, Reynolds secured more than his share of both good and bad press. He could be affable with the media but at times downright hostile.
In the early 1970s, Reynolds was a veteran of TV and film who spurred the curiosity of Hollywood producers through his amusing appearances on late-night talk shows, as well as the hyped publicity stunt of appearing as the first celebrity male nude centerfold in a 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan. He was thus cast in his first A-title role, in John Boorman’s “Deliverance,” one of the most popular and well-received films of 1972 (several major actors, including Marlon Brando, had turned the role down before it was offered Burt Reynolds was a veteran of TV and film when he was cast in “Deliverance.” to Reynolds).
He solidified his position as a rising film star with the 1974 prison football drama “The Longest Yard.” In 1977 he starred with Sally Field and Jackie Gleason in the comedy “Smokey and the Bandit,” which proved to be his most successful undertaking and was followed by inevitable sequels. That same year, he was again on the gridiron in the hit comedy “Semi-Tough.”
Reynolds made his directing debut with the 1976 action film “Gator” and 1978’s black comedy “The End.”
He brought the decade to a successful close with the action film “Hooper” and the urbane comedy “Starting Over” and began the ’80s with a popular sequel to “Smokey.” Poorly received films like “Cannonball Run II,” “Rent-a-Cop” and “Heat” took his career in a downward direction. He turned down such roles as the ex-astronaut in “Terms of Endearment,” for which Jack Nicholson won an Oscar.
Reynolds retreated to his adopted home of Florida and opened the Jupiter Theater. After marrying television actress Loni Anderson, Reynolds de- cided to produce and star in the sitcom “Evening Shade,” which ran on CBS from 1990 to 1994.
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born in Waycross, Ga., and attended Florida State University for two years on a football scholarship. But his promising career as a running back was cut short by a knee injury suffered in a car accident. Reynolds turned his attention to acting.
His assured performance in the controversial and violent “Deliverance” started him on a decade or more of enormous success. But after riding the wave of popularity, a messy, highprofile divorce from and custody battle with Anderson in the early 1990s and a tell-almost-all autobiography, “My Life,” in 1994 cast him in a negative light, not helped by his understandable but often irritable attitude toward the press, which was always keenly interested in his love life.
Toward the end of the decade, he received critical kudos for his performance as a self-deluded porn director in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights,” which brought him an Oscar nomination for supporting actor. Reynolds undercut himself by firing his agent for casting him in the part and shunning publicity for the role.
The actor also kept busy on television, with guest appearances in “The XFiles,” “My Name Is Earl” and “Burn Notice” and voice work on “Robot Chicken,” “American Dad” and “Archer.”
Reynolds divorced twice, first in the 1960s from “Laugh-In” comedienne Judy Carne and then from Anderson. He is survived by adopted son Quinton from his second marriage.