Burt Reynolds, who famously turned down the roles of James Bond and Han Solo, regardless forged a film career that marked him out as a singular talent, passed away Thursday, September 6 at Jupiter Medical in Florida.
A Michigan native transplanted to Florida, he was an American football player in his youth, but switched to acting after a knee injury was aggravated by a car accident. Discouraged, Reynolds started part-time lessons at Palm Beach Junior College, where his acting talent was spotted by Watson B Duncan III, an English teacher who liked the way he read Shakespeare. Reynolds would later say that Duncan was the most important influence on his life. He soon found regular work on stage and in TV, but delayed heading to Hollywood, citing a lack of confidence after being turned down during his first audition for the '1957 war romance 'Sayonara' for looking too much like Marlon Brando. Brando got the role. Reynolds eventually made his debut in 'Angel Baby' (1961), a pulp thriller about religious zealotry in the American south.
His cachet and profile received a surge when he posed naked on a bear skin rug for 'Cosmopolitan Magazine' (1972), but his film breakthrough arose later that year with 'Deliverance' - another story of backwoods behaviour - in which Reynolds starred opposite Jon Voight. He played Lewis Medlock, an Atlanta businessman who, with three friends, is stalked and attacked by violent locals while on a river boating trip through rural Georgia. The film, famous for a scene in which one of the party is ordered to 'squeal like a pig' before being raped by their captors, made Reynolds a star, even if many of his later roles would gently mock Lewis Medlock's brimful machismo.
'The Longest Yard' (1974), Robert Altman's sports drama about prisoners who play American football against their guards, allowed Reynolds to combine hobbies. He played Paul 'Wrecking' Crewe, the charismatic team leader of inmate team the 'Mean Machine', who finds himself compromised after being threatened with more jail time if he doesn't throw the game.
Another enduring hit came in 1977 when Reynolds starred in 'Smokey and the Bandit', a madcap action comedy in which the actor played a rebellious trucker, Bo Darville (aka 'Bandit), hired to drive bootleg booze across state lines. Notable for its lengthy last act chase scene, the film was the second highest grossing of the year and spawned two, less than stellar, sequels. Another petrol headed hit came with 'The Cannonball Run' (1981), about a cross country car race.
Later the red leather jacket Reynolds wore in 'Smokey and the Bandit' was part of a collection of memorabilia sold off by the actor in 2014 to pay off mortgage debts of a rumoured $1.4 million. Also among the auctioned items was the best supporting actor Golden Globe award Reynolds won for his role in Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Boogie Nights' (1997). Set in the 1970s porn industry, Anderson's film rejuvenated Reynolds career by casting him as the pragmatic, occasionally ruthless adult film director Jack Horner. A critical hit, 'Boogie Nights' nevertheless did not sit well with its star, who had trouble with the subject matter and hated working with Anderson, who he thought cocky. He was currently working on Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood'.
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* '100 Rifles' (1969) w/Raquel Welch & Jim Brown
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