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Burt Reynolds's Death
- Burt Reynolds
- Actor
- February 11, 1936
- September 6, 2018
- Heart Attack
The life and death of Burt Reynolds:
He was a very popular film star who got his start on TV, with roles in several shows like Gunsmoke, Dan August and Hawk. But his real claim to fame was in a series of box office hits in the 1970s and early 1980’s.
He was born Burton Leon Reynolds in Lansing Michigan, even though in the early part of his career he claimed to have been born in Waycross, Georgia. His mother, the former Fern Miller, and his father, Burton Senior, had Dutch, English, Scott-Irish and Scottish ancestry and Burt also claimed to have had Cherokee roots in his lineage.
Reynolds said his family lived in Lansing because that’s where his father was drafted into the Army. And when his father went to serve in Europe, the family moved to Lake City, Michigan where his mother had been raised.
But in a 1946, the Reynolds family moved south to Riviera Beach, Florida where his father became chief of police. And after graduating from Palm Beach High School…
…Burt attended Florida State University on a football scholarship playing half back.
However, he was injured in the first game of his sophomore season and the injuries hurt his on-field performance and he gave up his hope for a pro football career in 1957.
Burt then considered becoming a police officer, but his father thought he should finish college to become a parole officer. So, he began taking classes at Palm Beach Junior College and was cast in the play “Outward Bound”.
From there Burt did summer stock theater at Hyde Park, New York where he met Joanne Woodward and started to take acting lessons with future TV and acting notables like Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons, Jan Murray and football star Frank Gifford.
But Burt was told he couldn’t be in movies because he looked too much like Marlon Brando.
But he went into movies anyway with “Angel Baby” in 1961 and then used his television work in “Gunsmoke”…
…to land roles in a series of other movies, including some pretty big and popular films like “Deliverance” …
Other film hits include “Smokey and the Bandit” with Jackie Gleason…
… “The Longest Yard” and later at Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Boogie Nights” in 1997.
Burt was married to address Judy Carne from 1963 to 1965…
And he was married to actress Loni Anderson from 1988 to 1993.
They adopted a son Quinton.
He also had a relationship with the actress Sally Field…
And Burt also famously posed for Playgirl magazine.
Burt Reynolds died of cardiac arrest in Florida hospital at the age of 82, after suffering from heart problems for several years.