Burt Reynolds

Biography

As a youth, Burt Reynolds' first love was sport, not acting, and he attended Florida State University on a football scholarship. However, injury forced him to move into college drama, and he dropped out in 1955, looking for stage work in New York.

Supporting himself as a bouncer and dishwasher, he appeared in various small television roles, on shows such as 'Gunsmoke', 'Riverboat' and 'Dan August'.

The success of 'Deliverance', in 1972, and a male nude centrefold appearance for the April edition of Cosmopolitan, catapulted him to celebrity as a fully-fledged sex-symbol, and he was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood for much of the 1970s.

Reynolds won the People's Choice Awards for "Favorite All Around Motion Picture Actor" six years in a row.

In films such as 'Hustle' in 1975, the 'Smokey and the Bandit' films, and 'Starting Over', Reynolds appeal continued.

Branching out into other work, he won an Emmy award for his role in the television sitcom 'Evening Shade', and opened the ‘Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater' in Florida.

During the mid 1960s, Reynolds was married to actress Judy Carne, and was later linked with actresses Dinah Shore and Sally Field. In 1993, his five-year marriage to Loni Anderson ended bitterly.

With his career in the doldrums for the 1980s and much of the 1990s, Reynolds’ comeback began with his successful role in the otherwise panned 'Striptease', in 1996.

In 1997, he appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson 1970s porn ‘expose’, 'Boogie Nights', revealing new depths in his touching portrayal of a porn director, complete with witty references to his own career. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the role. He was also acclaimed for his performance in 2001’s 'Driven'.