Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born on February 11, 1936, to Harriet Fernette "Fern" (née Miller) and Burton Milo Reynolds.

His family descended from Dutch, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

Reynolds also claimed Cherokee and Italian roots.

In 1946, the family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida, where in sixth grade Reynolds began a lifelong close friendship with Dick Howser.

Reynolds' father eventually became Chief of Police of Riviera Beach, which is adjacent to the north end of West Palm Beach, Florida.

His nickname in Riviera Beach was "Buddy".

(Ironically, the childhood nicknames of Marlon Brando, the superstar actor whom Reynolds was said to resemble and with whom he feuded, were "Bud" and "Buddy.")

After graduating from Palm Beach High School, he attended Florida State University on a football scholarship and played halfback, starting in 1954.

While at Florida State, he roomed with future college-football coach, broadcaster, and analyst Lee Corso, and also became a brother of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

Reynolds had an outstanding freshman year in football.

However, he injured his knee in the first game of his sophomore season, and, later that year, lost his spleen and injured his other knee in a bad car accident.

He did not return to the university for almost two years.

To keep up with his studies, he enrolled at Palm Beach Junior College (PBJC) in neighboring Lake Park in early 1956.

During his term at PBJC in early 1956, Reynolds was in an English class taught by Watson B. Duncan III.

Duncan pushed him into trying out for a play he was producing, Outward Bound.

He cast him in the lead role based on having heard him read Shakespeare in class, leading to his winning the 1956 Florida State Drama Award for his performance.

"I read two words and they gave me a lead", he later said.

In his autobiography, he referred to Duncan as his mentor and the most influential person in his life.

The Florida State Drama Award included a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse, a summer stock theater, in Hyde Park, New York.

Reynolds saw the opportunity as an agreeable alternative to more physically demanding summer jobs, but did not yet see acting as a possible career.

While working there, Reynolds met Joanne Woodward, who helped him find an agent.

"I don't think I ever actually saw him perform", said Woodward later.

"I knew him as this cute, shy, attractive boy. He had the kind of lovely personality that made you want to do something for him."

He was cast in Tea and Sympathy at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.

When Reynolds returned to Florida State in 1957, he rejoined the football team, although his leg injured in the car accident slowed him down.

He was blamed, fairly or not, for the team's loss to North Carolina State University on October 12, 1957.

Immediately following the game he told his teammates that he was done with football.

Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966) and Dan August (1970–1971).

Although Reynolds had leading roles in films such as Navajo Joe (1966) and 100 Rifles (1969), his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972).

Reynolds played leading roles — often as a lovable rogue — in a number of subsequent box-office hits, such as White Lightning (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (which started a six-year box-office reign), Semi-Tough (1977), The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), Sharky's Machine (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and Cannonball Run II (1984), several of which he directed.

He was nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Reynolds was voted the world's number one box-office star for five consecutive years (1978–1982) in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, a record he shares with Bing Crosby.

After a number of box-office failures, Reynolds returned to television, starring in the sitcom Evening Shade (1990–1994), which won a Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

His performance as high-minded pornographer Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) brought him renewed critical attention, earning another Golden Globe (for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture), with nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

During 10th grade at Palm Beach High School, Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers.

During his career, Reynolds often claimed to have been born in Waycross, Georgia, although in 2015, he stated that he was actually born in Lansing, Michigan.

In his autobiography, he stated that Lansing is where his family lived when his father was drafted into the United States Army.

Reynolds, his mother, and his sister joined his father at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where they subsequently lived for two years.

When his father was sent to Europe, the family moved to Lake City, Michigan, where his mother had been raised.