Reynolds’ career had many highs and lows

By John Rogers

Associated Press

In the April 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan, Burt Reynolds had (almost) nothing to hide.

With his trademark bushy mustache topping his ever-present smirk and one of his hands strategically covering his private parts, Reynolds dared to bare – as he did most of his life.

He would call his Cosmo centerfold one of his greatest regrets, a decision which undermined the respect he had gained for his performance in “Deliverance.” But candor was his curse and his appeal as Reynolds, the handsome film and television star who died Thursday at age 82, maintained an active and well-documented public and private life.

Sex symbol. Serious actor. Laughing stock. Gold mine. Comeback artist. Reynolds followed long and conflicting paths. He once joked that if you turned his career into a medical chart, it would look like a heart attack.

He starred in such critically acclaimed pictures as 1972’s “Deliverance” and 1997’s “Boogie Nights” and commercial hits such as “Smokey and the Bandit” and “The Cannonball Run.” He had a hit TV show in the 1990s with “Evening Shade” and, during his prime, was a perennial top draw at the movie box office.

He managed some of the industry’s highest and lowest honors. He was nominated for an Oscar for “Boogie Nights” and won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. But he also was a frequent nominee for the Razzie, the tongue-in-cheek award for Hollywood’s worst performance, and his name was often in the news whether he liked it or not. He had an acrimonious divorce from former TV star Loni Anderson in 1995, a high-profile romance with Dinah Shore and a long relationship with Sally Field. His first wife, “Laugh-In” star Judy Carne, criticized him often for not being supportive of her career.

Through it all he presented a genial persona, ever willing to mock his own failings, like turning down the role that went to Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman” or the chance to play James Bond when Sean Connery was holding out for more money.

An all-Southern Conference running back at Florida State University in the 1950s, Reynolds appeared headed to the NFL until a knee injury and an automobile accident ended his chances.

He dropped out of college and drifted to New York, where he worked as a dockhand, dance-hall bouncer, bodyguard and dish washer before returning to Florida in 1957 and enrolling in acting classes at Palm Beach Junior College.

He won the Florida Drama Award in 1958 for his performance in the role John Garfield made famous in “Outward Bound.” He was subsequently discovered by a talent agent at New York’s Hyde Park Playhouse.

Early theater roles included performances in “Mister Roberts” and “Look: We’ve Come Through.”

After moving to Hollywood, he found work as a stuntman, including flying through a glass window. Later, as a star, he often performed his own stunts, and he played a stuntman in the 1978 film “Hooper,” one of his better reviewed films.

His first film role came in 1961’s “Angel Baby,” and he followed it with numerous other mediocre movies. But he did become famous enough to make frequent appearances on “The Tonight Show,” leading to his most cherished film role and to his greatest folly.

In the early 1970s, director John Boorman was impressed by how confidently Reynolds handled himself when subbing for Carson as host of “The Tonight Show.” Boorman thought he might be right for a film adaptation of James Dickey’s novel “Deliverance.”

Reynolds starred as Lewis Medlock, the intrepid leader of an ill-fated whitewater canoe trip. When he and three other Atlanta businessmen are ambushed by violent backwoodsmen, Reynolds must guide the group to safety.

“Deliverance” was an Oscar nominee for best picture and no film made him prouder.