When Burt Reynolds started acting in the early 60s, starring in TV shows like Gun smoke and smaller films like Navajo Joe, he was famous and a much-loved personality, but not quite an award-winning star — more.
Then he got a role in a thriller Liberationwith actors Jon Voigt and Ned Beatty.
Directed by Jon Boorman, the film followed the story of four men whose canoe trip into the backcountry goes awry when they encounter hostile locals. Reynolds won praise for his portrayal of the brash nature man Lewis Medlock, and many thought he would be a contender for a Best Supporting Actor nomination during awards season.
However, just after he finished shooting the movie, he did something he thought would be both funny and make a statement: He posed naked for center stage in Cosmopolitan magazine, at the request of brave editor Helen Gurley Brown. The move cemented his place as a sex symbol, but he later admitted it hurt his career as a serious actor once it got going.
In the documentary I’m Burt Reynoldsnow airing on the CW, footage shows Reynolds expressing regret over the move.
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“I would never have done it if I hadn’t Liberation in a can,” he said during an interview in the documentary. He had no idea that Hollywood’s biggest directors would find him stupid, instead of hilarious.
Burt Reynolds in Cosmopolitan.
“It was laughable,” he said, posing naked. “It was a take-off on the whole male chauvinist attitude Playboyand they make a comment and they are right.”
However, he was disappointed with the outcome it had on his career.
Director Adam Rifkin, who directed ReynoldsThe last movie starhe shared in the documentary the impact of filming on the actor.
“Suddenly he became a sex symbol Burt Reynolds instead of a serious actor. He always believed that photo killed his chance to get an Oscar nomination for Liberation,” Rifkin said.
Reynolds’ niece, Nancy Lee Hess, also spoke about the moment during I’m Burt Reynoldssaying, “Everyone else enjoyed it, but I don’t think it was something Hollywood approved of.”
However, Jon Voight disagreed with that sentiment in another clip shown in the documentary.
“It’s not [ruin his career.] It made him better. It was a bold move. It was his humor. Burt always had a sense of humor in every decision he made,” Voight said with a laugh during the interview.
Later in life, during an interview with Piers Morgan in 2012, Reynolds said that he no longer saw it as silly. “I am very embarrassed about it. I thought it cost some of the actors Liberation Academy Award,” he told the talk show host.
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In his autobiography from 1994. My life, also said that after the photo shoot, women started throwing themselves at him (even more) more aggressively than ever before.
“The standing ovation turned into burlesque whoops and hoots. They were more concerned about my pubic hair than the show,” he wrote.
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The actor later talked about Cosmopolitan recording with Steve Harvey in March 2018, shortly before his death from a congestive failure in 2018.
“I didn’t know there would be such a fuss about it,” he said. “It wasn’t a big deal to me. I said, ‘I’ll do it, but I’ll have to keep my hands … in front of me.'”
Reynolds then joked about the size of his manhood, adding: “And I have really small hands.”
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Source: HIS Education