Star’s fall without grace
PIERS MORGAN’S LIFE STORIES BURT Reynoldswas once the biggest box-office drawin America and dated some of Hollywood’s most glamorous actresses. Sowhat happened? Life. That’swhat happened.
But that’s not howthe the Smokey and the Bandit star sees it. He claims to Morgan that posing nude for Cosmopolitan magazine in 1972 cost him an Oscar.
Of course, hewon’t consider for a second that his actingwas ham that couldn’t be cured, or that he played the same role in every single movie. Reynolds’s moustache often offered up more nuance.
Morgan’s showtonight is fascinating in that it offers an understanding of the complexities of the showbiz star of limited talent. It reveals in Reynolds the innate confidence that propelled him to film success, but also the propensity for self-delusion that prevented him from realising his flaws.
Had Reynolds been a little more self-aware he’d have dumped the hairpiece, perhaps also the moustache, and stopped the “prescription” drugs. He’d have been able to look down from his position as the highest-paid film actor in theworld and thought twice about havingwork done on his oncehandsome face.
But hubris got in theway. And the lack of willingness to appreciate that sometimes lucky people have their day. And then that day becomes yesterday.
It’s not quite a Norma Desmond story, but Morgan does underline heavily the sadness in the life of Reynolds, who’s reportedly nowhaving to sell his Florida mansion.
BRIAN BEACOM