Pain Pill Addiction, Women and Bankruptcy: The Biggest Bombshells from the Burt Reynolds Documentary

During the early 1970s, Burt Reynolds was not only one of the most famous actors in the world, with a string of hit films such as Smokey and the Banditbut he was also one of Hollywood’s greatest sex symbols – the one who posed completely naked for center stage in the Cosmopolitan 1972. mainly because he thought it would be a lark.

“He made being a movie star look fun,” said director Adam Rifkin, who directed it in 2017. The last movie star. In the documentary I’m Burt Reynoldsnow airing on the CW, friends and family like Loni Anderson and co-stars like Rifkin, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern share intimate stories about Reynolds, who died of heart failure in Jupiter, Florida in 2018.

They all agreed on one thing: Reynolds had a hilarious, amazing personality, was very, very handsome, and could charm the pants off everyone he met. In addition, he was a great actor, especially in the comedic roles that appealed to him.

Sally Field says Burt Reynolds was her worst on-screen kiss: ‘There was a lot of drooling’

He also had a dark side. In the documentary, his ex-wife Loni Anderson talks about his long-standing problem with addiction to prescription drugs, and his occasional tendency to violence. It also touches on his financial issues: After being conned by con artists and investing money in a series of bad investments (plus being a notorious spendthrift), he filed for bankruptcy in 1996.

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Check out some of the biggest revelations about the Hollywood superstar below I’m Burt Reynolds.

His friends called him Bud

Burt Reynolds was called “Burt” when he got serious about acting, but growing up in Florida, friends and family called him “Bud.” In the documentary, some old football friends from high school still call him “Bud” or “Buddy”.

It was a hit among women – even in their teenage years

Reynolds loved women, and they loved him back. In the document, his high school girlfriend Ann Scurry says, “He was an amazing kisser. He was a gentle lover. He was possessive, but it was good to be in his possession.” Another former high school girlfriend, Mary Alice Sullivan, says, “He was never rough with his women. On the contrary, he always made sure the lady came first.” His reputation as a lady will follow him throughout his life and career.

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He was a football star before he became a movie star

Reynolds was a high school football champion in his hometown of West Palm Beach, where he was full of confidence, wildly popular and hailed as “the most likely to succeed.” He went on to play for Florida State University. “He signed with FSU because the girls outnumbered the boys there six to one,” says his former coach. But a broken knee ruined his chances of turning pro, so he went to West Palm Beach Junior College instead where he took a drama class and discovered he loved it. Reynolds recalled how people came “to laugh at an athlete trying to act,” but everyone was surprised by his natural talent. I was good, he said.

At the beginning of his film career, he shot spaghetti westerns in Italy

Reynolds was scouted by theater scouts and moved to New York to do plays. Although critics praised his early performances on Broadway, Reynolds could not get much work in Hollywood, so he moved to Italy with Clint Eastwood to film spaghetti westerns. Eastwood rose to fame very quickly after doing so The good, the bad and the ugly. Reynolds later joked that not many people saw his own westerns, with names like Navajo Joe.

He was entertaining and a huge hit on late night talk shows

Before he became a big box office hit, Reynolds was a regular guest on the Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson shows, known for his wit and sparkling personality. He met during a visit to the household Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, who invited him to pose naked for the centerpiece of her magazine. Reynolds agreed, thinking it would be funny and make a bold statement about patriarchy. Besides, he had a body…

He regretted making the Cosmopolitan Centerfold

“I would never have made a flap if I hadn’t Liberation in a can,” Reynolds said of the 1972 film that would eventually make him a bona fide movie star. Still, he worried that center stage cost him Hollywood recognition. “It was for laughs, a take on the whole male chauvinist attitude of Playboy,” he said of the naked stunt, later noting that he believed it ruined his chances of the directors actually taking him seriously.

Burt Reynolds shamed for his infamous naked ‘Cosmopolitan’ shoot: ‘What an egomaniac’

He was a true Floridian and a Southerner at heart

Although he eventually made enough money to buy a house in Palm Springs, Reynolds sold it and instead bought a 160-acre ranch in Jupiter, Florida where he felt at home. In the documentary, his colleagues note that he was an unabashed Southern boy and that one of his pet peeves was defending the fact that he was Southern to his Hollywood colleagues. When Smokey and the Bandit was first released, it flopped in Los Angeles and New York, but when it was released in the South, it went to number one.

He took pain pills and they became a problem

Reynolds was a football player and certified stuntman before becoming a movie star, and years of injuries have left him riddled with back pain. He started taking prescription pills, and according to his Liberation Costar Jon Voight, “He wasn’t paying attention to it.” He battled addiction to painkillers for most of his life, eventually entering rehab in the late 1990s. He once told a friend, “Don’t let me end up like Elvis.”

Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in the movie ‘Smokey and the Bandit’.

Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images

He considered Sally Field ‘the one who got away’

Although he had a long-term relationship (and brief marriage) with his ex-wife Loni Anderson, Reynolds said he felt that his former co-star and girlfriend Sally Field was the one he was meant to marry and have children with. As for why they broke up, the ladies’ man didn’t go into detail in either interview, simply telling director Adam Rifkin, “I screwed up.”

He always wanted children

Loni Anderson, who married Reynolds in 1988, says he always wanted to be a dad, and was thrilled when they adopted son Quinton in 1988. He tried his best to be a good dad, but Quinton admitted he often showed his affection objects or gifts, not physical feeling. Anderson says it came from Reynolds’ relationship with his stoic father. “I would kill for a hug from him,” Reynolds said of his own father.

Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson in 1987.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Collection of Ron Galella via Getty Images

He blindsided Anderson with divorce papers

Anderson said this when she was about to start filming the TV series Nurses, Reynolds invited her to a quiet weekend where they had a good time with the family. As Reynolds returned to Florida, he told Anderson, “You know I love you forever.” Two hours later, she was served with divorce papers. The two battled in court over custody of Quinton, but reached an amicable settlement.

He was bad with money and went bankrupt in 1996

“If he made $100, he spent $100,” Anderson says of Reynolds, who once had a net worth of $60 million but loved to buy lavish gifts for friends and family. He had a private jet, a helicopter, several coastal properties in Florida, his own ranch, a dinner theater and donated generously to his alma mater. His final downfall was an investment in a restaurant chain that failed and cost him $13 million. For several years, he had to assign his film and TV residuals to creditors.

Burt Reynolds in 2017, a year before his death from heart failure in 2018.

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Fans briefly assumed he was dying of AIDS

After accidentally punching him on set and fracturing his jaw, Reynolds suffered a TMJ, which caused him great pain and distress. He could not eat and suffered from depression. He underwent weeks of painful dental treatments to fix the problem, but during that time he lost so much weight that he looked emaciated, like his co-star Rock Hudson who was dying of AIDS. Rumors swirled that Reynolds was suffering the same fate.

He wanted to win an Oscar for Boogie Nights

Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights 1997.

New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock

Reynolds repeatedly turned down the role of the director of the porn star in the drama, but the screenwriter and director of the film Paul Thomas Anderson convinced him that he could win an Oscar for it. Reynolds also needed money and eventually agreed. It was his rebirth, and he was indeed nominated for Best Supporting Actor. However, he lost to Robin Williams, who won by Good Will Hunting. The loss tormented him. In an interview, when asked what he thought God might say when he entered heaven, Reynolds replied with a smile, “He should have won.”

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