My Haven

The legendary Hollywood actor, 81, in the games room at Valhalla, his home in Florida

1 THE HUSTLER

I’ve lived here for 30 years, and this recreation room with the pool table is my haven. Not long after I moved here Paul Newman, who was The Hustler of course, came round and I actually beat him at pool on this table. He said, ‘Come on, let’s play again’, but I refused as I knew he’d whip me and I wanted to say I’d beaten him, even if it was only once! His wife Joanne Woodward was a pal of mine at acting classes in New York. When she introduced me to Paul, I couldn’t decide which of them was the prettier!

2 GRIZZLY JACK

Jack the Kodiak bear has been with me since I’ve lived in this house. I acted with him and a tiger back in the 60s in a show called Hawk. He was brought up in captivity, but on the day I was with him both he and the tiger were grumpy as hell. I was pretty glad when it was over. Jack lived to be 18, was 7ft 9in tall and weighed 700lb. When he died the owners had him stuffed and I bought him.

3 THAT’S MY BOY

This picture of Quinton, my adopted son, and me was taken when he was about ten. My marriage to his mother

Loni gave me this wonderful chance to be a parent. Quinton didn’t want to be an actor, thank goodness, and is now a film editor. He lives near his mother in

California and we talk on the phone regularly. I wish he’d come to Florida but he hates the heat. Family means a lot to me. My parents – Dad was a chief of police and Mum was a head nurse – lived nearby until they passed away in their nineties.

4 FOOTBALL MAD

When I was young I made it into the American football team of Palm Beach High School. I was a quick runner – you have to be when you’re being chased by 300lb players. I won a football scholarship to Florida State University, there I am in the picture, and I did well until I bust my knee when I was 19. According to people who saw me I could have played professionally, but the injury meant I had to do something else. This helmet is from the Tampa Bay Bandits, which I co-owned in the 80s.

5 CRAZY STUNTS

This Farnsworth Award from the Stuntmen’s Association was given to me a couple of years ago despite me cheating a lot of them out of money. I was proud to do my own stunts, although my body is now pretty beaten up as a result. In Deliverance I told director John Boorman that I could go over the top of a waterfall. It was pretty stupid. I cracked my coccyx and some ribs and lost all my clothes. I went into the water feeling in my prime and came out looking like a casualty.

6

SUPER CAR

This is a model of a Pontiac Trans Am, the car we used in the Smokey And The Bandit films. We were given several to film with, but they didn’t last very long. The movies were very successful financially, and sales of the Pontiac went up 700 per cent when the first one came out in 1977. I was given one every year by the president of the company until he was replaced. Sally Field was also in the movies; we were in four films together and dated too. She was the big love that I lost.