Hollywood screen legend Burt Reynolds has died at the age of 82 from a heart attack.
Hollywood screen legend Burt Reynolds has died at the age of 82 from a heart attack.
The actor suffered cardiac arrest and died at Jupiter Medical in Florida on Thursday morning, surrounded by his family, manager Erik Kritzer told the Hollywood Reporter.
Reynolds was best known for his roles in 1972's Deliverance, 1977's Smokey and the Bandit, 1996's Striptease and 1997's Boogie Nights - the last of which earned him an Oscar nomination.
He was also filming Quentin Tarantino's new movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood alongside Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is expected to hit theatres in 2019.
His manager told CNN after the op that Reynolds "has a great motor with brand new pipes".
In September 2009, Reynolds checked into rehab for an addiction to prescription drugs.
Reynolds in the cult classic film Deliverance.
Reynolds had visited New Zealand to make the 2004 film Without a Paddle, alongside Seth Green. The film told the story of three reunited childhood friends on a trip up a remote river searching for the loot of long-lost airplane hijacker D. B. Cooper.
A former university football player who took up acting after an injury cut short his playing career, Reynolds spent a decade taking on bit roles in Hollywood before breaking through with roles in some of the biggest films of the decade, including Deliverance, The Longest Yard and — the movie he's best known for — Smokey and the Bandit.
Reynolds, known for his manly swagger, and was something of a 1970s sex symbol after rising to prominence on TV shows Gunsmoke and Dan August.
His first big movie breakout role was as Lewis Medlock in box office hit Deliverance in 1972.
He followed it up with one success after another, in box office hits The Longest Yard Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, The Cannonball Run and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Burt Reynolds. True legend. Our hero. Funny as hell and a for-real badass. So many great movies. So many great stories. Such a great Dad. Will be missed by all. Deepest condolences to his family.
After a couple of flops in the late eighties, he returned to TV in sitcom Evening Shade but made a triumphant return to the big screen in Boogie Nights in 1997.
"I didn't open myself to new writers or risky parts because I wasn't interested in challenging myself as an actor. I was interested in having a good time," Reynolds said in his 2015 memoir, But Enough About Me.
"As a result, I missed a lot of opportunities to show I could play serious roles. By the time I finally woke up and tried to get it right, nobody would give me a chance."
Reynolds was twice married, first to Judy Carne for just two years from 1963 to 1965, and then to Loni Anderson, from 1988 to 1993.
He has one adult son, Quinton Anderson Reynolds, from his second marriage.
The star described the love of his life as ex-girlfriend Sally Field, whom he dated on-off for five years in the '70s and '80s.
Early career
Reynolds was born in Lansing, Michigan, on February 11, 1936. His family settled in Riviera Beach, Florida, after his father, who served in the Army, returned from Europe in 1946. A star football player in high school, Reynolds attended Florida State University on a sports scholarship.
Although he intended to go professional, his career was cut short by a series of injuries. Reynolds briefly contemplated a career in the police force, but a teacher recognised his talent while reading Shakespeare in English class and pushed him toward acting.
He began appearing on television in the late 1950s, but it wasn't until 1962 that he secured a consistent role as the half-Native American blacksmith Quint Asper on Gunsmoke.
A decade later, he had his big-screen breakthrough in Deliverance, John Boorman's psychological thriller about four friends whose rafting trip in rural takes a terrifying turn. Reynolds said he considered the Oscar-nominated film, which co-starred Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox, the best of his career.
American actor Burt Reynolds as Bo 'Bandit' Darville, in 'Smokey And The Bandit', 1977. Photo / Getty Images
The film helped establish Reynolds as one of the most marketable stars of the decade. He'd go on to star in a string of memorable hits including White Lightning (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), Gator (1976), Semi-Tough (1977) and, his most famous film, Smokey and the Bandit (1977).
Reynolds starred in the film alongside future girlfriend Sally Field, playing Bo "Bandit" Darville, a charming outlaw tasked with transporting a tractor trailer filled with beer over state lines.
Of Field, whom he was in a relationship with for five years, Reynolds later described her as "the one that got away", calling her the "love of his life".
As recently as July the actor was hoping to reconnect with Field with whom he was estranged.
Reynolds continued to act regularly over the next four decades, notably starring in the Cannonball Run franchise in the '80s and the sitcom Evening Shade in the early '90s.
But the most famous role of the latter part of his career was in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 film Boogie Nights.
While the film about the golden age of porn earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, it never stopped him from trashing the film, which he said he could never finish watching, or the director, who he said he didn't like.
An action star who did many of his own stunts, Reynolds was also a charismatic rogue and relentless flirt on-screen, helping to make one of the biggest sex symbols of his time. As did his infamous appearance in the nude as a Cosmopolitan centrefold in April 1972.
