Burt Reynolds bust unveiled at gravesite
Three years after his death, a plaque and palm tree weren’t enough to mark his swagger and star power.
LOS ANGELES » A plaque and a palm tree weren’t enough to mark the swagger and star power of Burt Reynolds.
That’s why a bronze bust, mustachioed of course, and sporting his “Smokey and the Bandit” cowboy hat, were unveiled on Monday, three years after his death.
“Anybody else want to touch him?” Loni Anderson, Reynolds’ wife from 1988 to 1994, asked the small crowd that gathered around the sculpture after the unveiling at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
“Yes, he’s made to be touched!” said Caroline P.M. Jones, the artist who made it.
Anderson and her son with Reynolds, Quinton, chose the spot where Reynolds’ cremated remains were laid to rest in February, because it was next to a palm tree and water, which evoked his native Florida. A simple plaque with his name marked the spot.
But Hollywood Forever co-owner Tyler Cassity told them that the many visitors to his grave would appreciate more of a monument, something to look at, to touch, to take photos with. So the bust was commissioned.
“It’s absolutely beautiful, it’s exactly what we both envisioned,” Quinton Reynolds told The Associated Press after a brief private ceremony where a crowd of several dozen people who were close to Reynolds gathered to mark the occasion.
Guests included actors Stefanie Powers and Ruta Lee.
Most gathered around the bust to get a close look and take pictures before heading to a screening of a new documentary, “I Am Burt Reynolds,” for a far bigger audience on a nearby cemetery lawn.