—
I LOVED DOING STUNTS, and I did as many as I could without the studio tying my hands and feet. Now I’m paying the price. My body is a wreck. A while ago I was invited to a party given by the kids I teach, but I couldn’t go. I hurt too much. Sometimes I think ego made me do those stunts. Well, maybe it wasn’t all ego—maybe it was part perfectionism. I didn’t want the scene to look phony.
Now, when my body hurts somewhere, I can name the movie. “Ooh, that’s Hooper,” or “Ahh, The Longest Yard.” I did my own stunts for most of my television shows, too. In one episode of Dan August, I had to run into a burning building and rescue an infant, but it was so hot in there that the prop baby melted into a glob of plastic and the door was on fire. I had no choice but to jump through a window, and I messed up my shoulder. That was fifty years ago, but I can still feel it. But aside from the aches and pains, I’m healthier than I’ve been in twenty years. A while back the doctors overhauled my coronary arteries, so I can eat anything I want now. (If my cardiologist is reading this, just kidding, Doc.)
—
AT FIRST, acting was a great way to make a living and meet girls and be around interesting people. When I started, I was faking it, and I hid my fear behind cockiness. The ambition came later. It wasn’t until I was close to forty that I wanted to be respected as an actor and began to think I might be good if I really worked at it. I don’t know if I ever reached that point, but I think I did get better. I may not be the best actor in the world, but I’m the best Burt Reynolds in the world.
—
I’VE HAD TO REINVENT myself four or five times. And I’m now working on the most challenging reinvention: survivor. (Speaking of survival, my hair will probably outlive everyone. They’ll find a skull with a perfect haircut.) I hate self-pity. I believe it damages you and the people who care about you. They want to hear that you’re happy. Well, I am happy! I live every day to the fullest, and I try to experience new things. People kept telling me about Archer, an animated spy comedy where the main character has seen all my films, even At Long Last Love. I tuned in and liked it, though I was surprised at what they get away with. The scripts are funny and it looks terrific on the screen, especially the car chases. I was delighted when the show’s creator and head writer, Adam Reed, wrote an episode for me, “The Man from Jupiter,” and I had nothing but fun doing it. And I recently attended the Wizard World show in Philadelphia. I thought it was about time to find out what those conventions are all about, and I’m glad I did. I enjoyed talking with the fans and seeing what’s going on in their world.
—
AS I LOOK BACK, I’m proud of my accomplishments and disappointed by my failures. I always wanted to experience everything and go down swinging. Well, so far so good. I know I’m old, but I feel young. And there’s one thing they can never take away: Nobody had more fun than I did.
Mom and Pop with Sammy Davis Jr. (circa 1980).
With Mom (circa 1989).
Big Burt on the ranch with Cathy, his favorite deer (circa 1995).
With Larry King and Pop on the set of Larry King Live (2000).
With my sister, Nancy Ann (2005).
With my niece, Nancy Lee Hess (2009).
Trespassing at Mar-A-Lago with “Headless Harry Smith” and Mo Mustaine (circa 1951).
With Ann Lawler, Mo Mustaine, and Marlene Zent at Palm Beach High’s “Senior Skip Day” (1953).
Florida High School All-Star Game (1953). I’m first on the left, bottom row.
On the practice field at Florida State University (1954). (© Florida State/Collegiate Images/Getty Images)
On the sideline with Lee Corso (circa 2000).
The Bandit is back . . .
. . . to plant the Seminole spear (Florida State versus Boston College, 2014). (© Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
In my home office, pretending to work (1967). (© The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Wire)
In my living room, pretending to relax (1978). (© The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Wire)
Home on the ranch (1978). (© The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Wire)
Cruising in Palm Beach while shooting B. L. Stryker (1988). (© The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Wire)
With my son, Quinton, on the Jupiter ranch (circa 1992).
Inscription: “For ‘Big Burt’—No more ‘D’ Day’s for us—with respect—Charley Durning.”
With Charles Durning as he receives the 44th Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award (2008). (© Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
I retired undefeated after three bouts.
As “Hoke Adams” in Angel Baby (1961), my first major role in a feature film.
As “Rocky Rhodes,” a Brando-like actor in a 1963 Twilight Zone episode.
On the set of 100 Rifles with Jim Brown and Raquel Welch (1969). (© 20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection)
Deliverance (1972). (© Everett Collection)
Deliverance (1972). (© Everett Collection)
Unwinding in the pool with Jon Voight after a hard day’s work on Deliverance (1972). (© Getty Images)
On the beach in Palm Beach (circa 1955).
Cracking up with Johnny Carson and Dom DeLuise on The Tonight Show (1982). (© Bettmann/Corbis/AP Images)
With Dom DeLuise in The Cannonball Run (1981). (© Everett Collection)
With Elizabeth Taylor at the Starlight Foundation award benefit gala in New York (1985). (© Getty Images)
Backstage with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. (circa 1987).
With Quinton and Hal Needham at the First Annual Taurus Foundation World Stunt Awards (2001). (© Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images)
Doing my James Stewart impression for James Stewart (circa 1989). (© The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
With Chris Evert (1996). (© Globe Photos/Zuma Wire)
Aboard Destaphanado, my beloved costar in Navajo Joe (1966). (© Everett Collection)
With Dinah on her show Dinah’s Place (1973). (© NBC Universal)
With Dinah at the 1973 Academy Awards. (© Everett Collection)
Dinah and Mom (circa 1975).
With Jackie Gleason in a scene from Smokey and the Bandit (1977). (© Everett Collection)
Roy Rogers with the (anatomically correct) stuffed Trigger (1965). (© AP Images/Corbis/Bettmann)
With Hal Needham, Jerry Reed, and the real star of Smokey and the Bandit, “Fred” the basset hound (1977). (© Universal Studios/Getty Images)
With Sally on the set of Smokey and the Bandit (1977). (© Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection)
The iconic hammock shot in Smokey and the Bandit (1977). (© 1977 Universal City Studios, Inc.)
In the famous Trans Am, Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). (© Everett Collection)
Out to dinner with Sally in L.A. (1978). (© Ron Galella/Wire Image)
With Angie Dickinson on the set of Sam Whiskey (1969). (© Everett Collection)
With Carol Burnett (1972). (© Everett Collection)
With Clint Walker and Ossie Davis on the Sam Whiskey set (1969).
A scene from Hustle (1975) with Catherine Deneuve. (© Everett Collection)
With Clint Eastwood in City Heat (1984). (© Warner Bros./Everett Collection)
Nancy Ann, Dolly Parton, Mom, and Pop on the set of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982).
With Raquel Welch on the set of Evening Shade (circa 1992). (© CBS/Everett Collection)
With Loni at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre (1989). (© The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Wire)
With Loni (1993). (© John Krondes/Globe Photos/Zuma Wire)
With Mark Wahlberg in a scene from Boogie Nights (1997). (© New Line Cinema/Everett Collection)
Backstage after a concert with Cooper Getschal and Willie Nelson (2010).
With Dudley Remus and Patrick Moody in the Town of Lake Park Mirror Ballro
om, where my acting career began (2013). (© C. Todd Vittum)
Credits
TEAM REYNOLDS
Erik Kritzer
Ryan Bundra
Todd Vittum
BURT’S LITERARY AGENT
Katherine Latshaw
JON’S LITERARY AGENT
Paul Bresnick
PENGUIN PRESIDENT
Madeline McIntosh
PUTNAM PUBLISHER
Ivan Held
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Christine Ball
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Kerri Kolen
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Sofie Brooks
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Alise Hofacre
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY
Alexis Welby
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY
Katie Grinch
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Ashley McClay
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Carrie Swetonic
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Denise Boyd
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Claire Winecoff
COPYEDITOR
Nancy Inglis
JACKET DESIGNER
Kaitlin Kall
PHOTO RESEARCHER
Helene Demeestere
MANAGING EDITOR
Meredith Dros
Index
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Academy Awards
African-Americans and, 208
Field and, 190
Marvin and, 97–98
Reynolds and, 91, 220–21
stuntmen and, 168, 169–71
actors and acting
auditions and, 283
“behaving” and, 252, 278
Capra on, 45–46
career stages of, 279
directors and, 256–58
drama classes and, 275–76
Marvin on, 97
Method school of, 46, 218, 235
Rains on, 60
Reynolds on, 278–82
shyness and, 276
Tracy on, 52–53, 60, 278, 284
Wayne on, 262
Actors Studio, 45–46, 239, 250
Affairs of State, 37
AIDS, 161–62, 164–65
Albert, Eddie, 54
Aldrich, Bob, 61–64, 224, 258, 260–61
Aldrich, Sibylle, 261–62
All About Eve (1950), 58, 66–68
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), 248
Allen, Gracie, 111
Allen, Woody, 263
Ames, Ed, 138
Anderson, Loni, xvi, 194, 202–7
Anderson, Paul Thomas, 215–17, 218
Angel Baby (1961), 231–32
Ann-Margret, 163, 204
Archer (animation), 293
Arness, Jim, 213, 235–37
Ashley, Elizabeth, 212
Astaire, Adele, 230–31
Astaire, Fred, 229–31
At Long Last Love (1975), 263–64
Austen, Howard, 39–40
Avildsen, John, 265–66
Bancroft, Anne, 248, 266–67
Bassett, John, 193–96
Bean, Orson, 198
Bear, Freddy, 86
Beatty, Ned, xv, 75, 78, 82–84, 91, 272
Bendix, William, 54
Benjamin, Dick, 160
Bennett, Joan, 280
Bennett, Tony, 140
Benny, Jack, 111–12, 137, 143
Benson, Robby, 241, 243
Bergen, Candice, 268
Best, James, 237–38
Best Friends (1982), 243
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The (1982), 244, 248
Bibler, Clark, 33
Big Burt. See Reynolds, Burton Milo, Sr.
Blondell, Joan, 232
Bloodworth-Thomason, Linda, 212–14
B. L. Stryker, 235, 277
Bogdanovich, Peter, 263–64
Boogie Nights (1997), 202, 215–20
Boorman, John, xv, 73–89, 91, 98
Bowden, Bobby, 213–14
boxing, 200, 226–28
Bradshaw, Terry, 213
Brando, Jocelyn, 235
Brando, Marlon, 232, 234–35, 286
Broccoli, Cubby, 286
Bromfield, John, 289
Brooks, Mel, 140, 247, 266–67
Brown, Helen Gurley, 91–93
Brown, Jim, 69–72, 240
Bryant, Bear, 24, 110
Buddy. See Reynolds, Burt
Buono, Victor, 61–62
Burke, Billie, 280
Burnett, Carol, 205, 273
Burns, George, 111–12
Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre, 200, 271–75
Burt Reynolds Institute for Film & Theatre, 275
But Not for Me (1959), 283
Caan, James, 286, 288
Cannonball Run, The (1981), 102, 248, 290
Cannonball Run II (1984), 131, 248
Canutt, Yakima, 168–69
Capra, Frank, 45–46, 262–63
Carne, Judy, 135–37
Carson, Johnny
attributes of, 142–46
death of, 150
death threats against, 147
friendship of, 164
influence of, 133–35
marriages of, 146
mother of, 138–39
philanthropy of, 149
sons of, 146–47, 149
The Tonight Show and, 137–38, 140–42, 148
Carson, Rick, 146–47
Carter, Jimmy, 258
Casey, Bernie, 211
casting, 60–61, 74–75
Cat Ballou (1965), 97–98, 168
Cavett, Dick, 137
Charisse, Cyd, 229
City Heat (1984), 160–61
Clancy, Gil, 228
Clark, Fred, 198
Clayburgh, Jill, 224, 268
Clinton, Hilary, 212
Coe, Barry, 283
Cole, Nat King, 118
Collins, Ray, 270
Convy, Bert, 204, 246
Cooper, Gary, 46, 250, 282
Coppola, Francis, 286
Corbucci, Sergio, 151, 154–55
Corso, Lee, 29–30
Cosmopolitan, 91
Coward, Herbert “Cowboy,” 82–83
Cox, Gene, 27–28
Cox, Ronny, xv, 75, 81, 88–89
Crawford, Joan, 57–58, 62–64, 140
Curtis, Ken, 238–39
Daly, Tyne, 272
Dan August, 75, 276–77, 292
Davis, Bette
acting ability of, 60
Crawford and, 57–58, 62–63
dislikes of, 56, 57, 59
epitaph of, 68
friendship with, 56, 62
marriages of, 58
one-woman show of, 67
studio system and, 65–66
tell-all book about, 58–59
Davis, Ossie, xvi, 208–14, 239, 272
Davis, Sammy, Jr., 131
Day, Doris, 164–65
death threats, 147
De Cordova, Freddie, 142
Dee, Ruby, 208–9
de Havilland, Olivia, 66, 106, 282
Deliverance (1972)
But Enough About Me: A Memoir Page 28