(CNN) Burt Reynolds, the mustachioed megastar who first strutted on screen more than half a century ago, died Thursday, according to his agent, Todd Eisner.
He was 82.
The Michigan native, whose easy-going charms and handsome looks drew prominent roles in films such as "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Boogie Nights," suffered a cardiac arrest, Eisner said. A call for an ambulance came from his estate in Martin County, Florida, 911 records show.
An iconic Hollywood sex symbol in front of the camera, Reynolds also tried his directorial hand behind it, and later earned a reputation for philanthropy after founding the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film & Theatre in his home state of Florida.
His roles over the years ranged and pivoted from Southern heartthrob to tough guy to comedy, notably in his role as Rep. David Dilbeck in the 1996 film "Striptease," which flopped at the box office but earned him widespread praise for his comedic prowess.
But it was John Boorman's 1972 thriller "Deliverance," which cast Reynolds as outdoorsman Lewis Medlock, that is widely credited for launching his early career.
Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Actor Burt Reynolds, whose easygoing charms and handsome looks drew prominent roles in films such as "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Boogie Nights," died Thursday, September 6. He was 82 years old. Hide Caption 1 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds played college football at Florida State University in the 1950s. He turned to acting when injuries derailed a promising athletic career. Hide Caption 2 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds spends time with actress Lori Nelson circa 1959. Hide Caption 3 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years A bare-chested Reynolds stands on a kitchen set in 1960. Hide Caption 4 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years The cast of the hit TV show "Gunsmoke" poses around a wagon in 1962. Behind Reynolds, from left, are James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake and Ken Curtis. Hide Caption 5 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds poses for a portrait on the set of the TV show "Hawk" in 1966. Hide Caption 6 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds and Normal Fell appear in an episode of "Dan August" in 1970. Hide Caption 7 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds poses for a photo in 1972. Hide Caption 8 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds' breakthrough movie role was outdoorsman Lewis Medlock in 1972's "Deliverance." Hide Caption 9 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds stars with Sarah Miles in "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" (1973). Hide Caption 10 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years In 1973, Reynolds attends the premiere of "Live and Let Die" with Michael and Shakira Caine. Hide Caption 11 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds went back to his football days for the movie "The Longest Yard" in 1974. Hide Caption 12 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds appears with Sally Field in 1977's "Smokey and the Bandit." Hide Caption 13 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds on a movie set in 1980. Hide Caption 14 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds and Loni Anderson attend the premiere of "City Heat" in 1984. Anderson became Reynolds' second wife in 1988. The two divorced in 1993. Hide Caption 15 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years From left, Charles Durning, Reynolds and Michael Jeter appear in the TV show "Evening Shade" in 1991. Hide Caption 16 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds received an Academy Award nomination for his role as a porn-film producer in 1997's "Boogie Nights." Hide Caption 17 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Russell Crowe and Reynolds star in "Mystery, Alaska" in 1999. Hide Caption 18 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds gets close to Jennifer Tilly and Richard Dreyfuss in 2000's "The Crew." Hide Caption 19 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds arrives with son Quinton at the First International World Stunt Awards in 2001. Hide Caption 20 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds poses with Adam Sandler, left, and Chris Rock after a remake of "The Longest Yard" in 2005. Hide Caption 21 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds accepts a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Taurus World Stunt Awards in 2007. Hide Caption 22 of 23 Photos: Burt Reynolds through the years Reynolds attends the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017. Hide Caption 23 of 23
Reynolds called it "by far" his best film.
"I thought maybe this film is more important in a lot of ways than we've given it credit for," he said in an interview years later. The movie's infamous rape scene may have helped the public -- especially men -- better understand the horrors of sexual attacks, Reynolds said.
"It was the only time I saw men get up, sick, and walk out of a theater," he added. "I've seen women do that (before)," but not men.
Born in Lansing, Michigan, Reynolds and his family moved to South Florida when he was 5, according to his autobiography.
At Palm Beach High School, he first made a name for himself as a football star and earned an athletic scholarship to Florida State University. But when injuries derailed a promising athletic career, Reynolds turned to acting.
He then scored small parts in the late 1950s before landing a role in the New York City Center revival of "Mister Roberts" in 1957, as well as a recurring spot in the TV series "Gunsmoke."
By 1974, Reynolds had hit it big and starred as an ex-football player who landed in prison in the film "The Longest Yard." Two years earlier, he broke taboo and posed nude in Cosmopolitan magazine, which helped cement his growing status as a sex symbol.
He later said he regretted that centerfold image, which showed Reynolds spread out across a bearskin rug, and said it distracted attention from his "Deliverance" co-stars and likely cost them an Academy Award.
Reynolds' notoriety soared through the late 1970s and 1980s, during which time he spearheaded the "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Cannonball Run" movie franchises. He also earned People's Choice Awards in 1979, 1982 and 1983 as all-around male entertainer of the year.
But he also turned down some of the biggest roles in Hollywood history, including James Bond to Han Solo in George Lucas' 1977 blockbuster "Star Wars." Reynolds also reportedly was among Paramount Pictures' top choices to play Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 epic "The Godfather."
Again, the star expressed regrets.
"I took the part that was the most fun. ... I didn't take the part that would be the most challenging," Reynolds said in an interview with CNN.
His love life also drew headlines after a high-profile divorce to actress Loni Anderson preceded Reynolds' bankruptcy filing in 1996.
Anderson and Reynolds shared a son, Quinton.
"Quinton and I are extremely touched by the tremendous outpouring of love and support from friends and family throughout the world," Anderson wrote in a statement on Thursday. "Burt was a wonderful director and actor. He was a big part of my life for 12 years and Quinton's life for 30 years. We will miss him and his great laugh."
In 1998, Reynolds scored his sole Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor, after his portrayal of a porn film producer in the film "Boogie Nights," despite his dislike of the film and its apparent glorification of the porn industry.
Years later, with a mustache gone gray, he suffered from health issues that led to open heart surgery. Reynolds also checked into a drug rehab clinic in 2009. The purpose was "to regain control of his life" after becoming addicted to painkillers prescribed following back surgery, his manager said.
Once among Hollywood's highest-paid actors, Reynolds later fell into financial trouble amid private ventures in an Atlanta restaurant and a professional sports team, though he continued to make cameo appearances and teach acting classes.
"I worked as an actor for 60 years, I must have something I can give," he told CNN.
Reynolds made an acting resurgence in recent years, appearing in numerous films and TV shows. He was cast in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino-directed "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," scheduled for release next year. Reynolds had not yet started shooting his appearance in the film.
This story has been updated to reflect that Reynolds was born in Michigan. A previous version incorrectly identified his birthplace as Georgia.
CNN's Greg Botelho contributed to this report.
CLOSE "Smokey and the Bandit" actor Burt Reynolds died at the age of 82. We reflect on some of his most iconic moments. USA TODAY
Burt Reynolds, photographed on March 21, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. (Photo: DAN MacMEDAN/ USA TODAY)
Burt Reynolds, who balanced rugged toughness and good-ol'-boy appeal to achieve superstardom in films such as "Deliverance," "The Longest Yard" and "Smokey and the Bandit," has died at age 82.
Reynolds' niece, Nancy Lee Hess, confirmed the news Thursday in a statement to USA TODAY.
"My uncle was not just a movie icon; he was a generous, passionate and sensitive man," she wrote. "He has had health issues; however, this was totally unexpected. He was tough. Anyone who breaks their tail bone on a river and finishes the movie is tough. And that’s who he was."
With his devil-may-care attitude, a permanent twinkle in his eyes and his trademark mustache, Reynolds was a bankable box-office star of the 1970s and early '80s – accumulating a string of box-office hits and unforgettable appearances on "The Tonight Show" couch with his dear friend, host Johnny Carson.
He earned his first and only Oscar nomination in 1998 for Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights." He flaunted his sex appeal in 1972, posing rakishly on a bearskin rug as the first male nude (well, nearly) centerfold in Cosmopolitan magazine – a choice he later described as "one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made."
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Reynolds was known for his personal dramas off the screen: his high-profile lost love with his "Smokey" co-star Sally Field and a messy divorce from actress Loni Anderson, a string of box-office clunkers that tanked his career, and well-chronicled financial problems.
The Bandit (Burt Reynolds) and his partner in crime (Sally Field) in 'Smokey and the Bandit.' (Photo: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS)
Reynolds re-emerged earlier this year for personal project "The Last Movie Star," which looked at the life of a faded star filled with regret and longing, an exaggerated version of the actor content to live a mostly quiet life in Jupiter, Florida.
"I've been very, very lucky through ups and downs. When you crash and burn, you have to pick yourself up and go on and hope to make up for it," Reynolds told USA TODAY in an interview in March. "Along the way, I’ve met some wonderful people. And you always run into some jerks. But that would be the same if you were working for the Ford Motor Co.
"It’s a tough business. Very tough. But I always tried to leave a good impression wherever we shot, and I didn’t leave any buildings burning or anything," he added with a smile. "And I've had a good time through it all."
Reynolds was born Feb. 11, 1936, in Lansing, Michigan, and moved to Riviera, Florida, where his war-hero father Milo was the chief of police. The young Reynolds often clashed with his tough dad, who arrested and locked him up for fighting when he was a teenager.
"For two more days, I sat in there. And for two more days, he threw every drunk he could on top of me," Reynolds recalled. "We never really made up. But I think he was proud of me at the end."
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Reynolds excelled in football and was a star halfback at Florida State University before an injury derailed his career. He moved into movie stunts and eventually small acting parts in TV and movies.
In 1972, he made his breakthrough performance in the Oscar-nominated "Deliverance," the film he remained the most proud of throughout his career.
"It didn’t make as much money as a lot of the others," Reynolds said. "But it was a very difficult picture to make it. And it was done with a crazy leading man."
Reynolds insisted that it was his frequent appearances with Carson on the "Tonight Show," including serving as host in Carson's absence, that shot him to true stardom.
"My career was going along OK. But it didn’t really take off until the 'Tonight Show.' And that was because of the way Johnny treated me," Reynolds said. "The public treated guests the way he treated you."
CLOSE Burt Reynolds shares a surprising story about the original "'The Longest Yard" and talks candidly about Adam Sandler's remake of the gridiron classic. USA TODAY
Leading roles in box-office hits followed, including "Smokey" and "Semi-Tough" in 1977, and continued through banner years such as 1981 when "The Cannonball Run," "Paternity" and "Sharky's Machine" all hit the big screen.
His most personal role was in the 1979 comedy "Starting Over," playing the divorced Phil Potter opposite Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen. That "was the closest to me, in terms of, I see myself in that character and it was a classic film," Reynolds told USA TODAY. "It had some beautiful women and all the good things."
Reynolds kicked himself for some of the roles he turned down, such as Jack Nicholson's characters in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Terms of Endearment," and Richard Gere's part in "Pretty Woman."
He also lamented losing out on the relationship with his "Smokey" co-star Field. "That will never die," Reynolds said in 2017.
On Thursday, Field paid her love back.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even forty years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind," Field said in a statement. "He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy."
CLOSE Reynolds plays Vic Edwards, an aging actor who goes to Nashville for what he thinks is a prestigious award celebrating his career. USA TODAY
He wed Anderson in 1988, with whom he adopted a son, Quinton. The couple split contentiously after a six-year marriage, but she remembered him fondly on Thursday, praising him as "a wonderful director and actor."
"He was a big part of my life for twelve years and Quinton's loving father for thirty years," Anderson said in a statement. "We will miss him and his great laugh."
In his later years, Reynolds was content to live a small-town life in Jupiter, where he would drink at a local bar with his best friend since seventh grade.
"He’s lost his wife and I’ve lost my girl (Field). We’re just two old farts at the bar drinking and telling lies," Reynolds said. "It’s pathetic and it’s also very funny when you look at it like that. And that’s how we choose to look at it."
He was readying to shoot the part of rancher George Spahn in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in America,” but died before his time came in front of the camera. But he never lost that smile, despite heartache.
"I would do some things different. But you can’t," Reynolds said with a laugh at the end of his talk with USA TODAY. "You can only lie and say I wouldn’t do things differently."
Contributing: Hannah Yasharoff, Patrick Ryan and Maria Puente
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wMfZrX
Image copyright Getty Images
Burt Reynolds charmed and swaggered his way to being one of Hollywood's best-known stars.
From his early days in a seemingly endless series of Westerns, he went on to appear in films of the quality of Deliverance before embracing comedy in The Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit.
He was one of cinema's top box-office draws and notable sex symbols in the 1970s, and had a lifestyle in which he enjoyed many fast cars and seducing some of his female co-stars.
But his career and his finances plummeted downwards in the 1980s and it was a decade before he returned to form and a whole new audience.
Burton Leon Reynolds was born in Lansing, the state capital of Michigan, on 11 February 1936. With the onset of World War Two, his father was drafted into the US Army and the family moved to Missouri.
When his father returned from service in Europe, he became the chief of police in Riviera Beach, Florida, and the young Reynolds attended the local high school.
There, he developed as a skilful football player, winning a sports scholarship to Florida State University. He had ambitions to turn professional and was being considered by the Baltimore Colts.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption His aspirations to be a professional footballer were ended by injury
But a knee injury in his first major college game ended his dreams of fame and fortune on the football field. "It tore me apart," he later said. "My dad probably took it harder than I did - he was crushed"
He began taking English lessons with a view to becoming a parole officer but his teacher, having heard Reynolds reading Shakespeare aloud, cast him in a production of the play Outward Bound, and his performance won him the 1956 Florida State Drama Award.
A move to New York brought him into contact with the actress Joanne Woodward, who introduced him to theatre producers. He was cast in a production by the Neighborhood Playhouse, an establishment that had launched the careers of, among others, Gregory Peck, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall.
But a breakthrough eluded him and, despite good reviews, he found himself doing a variety of jobs including lorry driving and working as a waiter.
Almost drowned
It was television that came to his rescue. There were bit parts in cowboy shows such as Gunsmoke and Pony Express, and his small-screen appearances were enough to launch him into big-screen Westerns
His swarthy looks - he had some Cherokee in his ancestry - saw him playing the title role in the 1966 film Navajo Joe, and there were parts in 100 Rifles and Sam Whiskey, the latter giving him a chance to show a talent for comedy.
It was his role as Lewis Medlock in John Boorman's dark film Deliverance that made him a star. The film, which garnered three Oscar nominations, tells the story of four city dwellers who encounter some brutal locals while on a wilderness trip in Georgia.
Image copyright Rex Features Image caption It was his role in Deliverance that made him a star
In one scene Reynolds almost drowned piloting a canoe down a fast-flowing river. The producers had decided to save money by having the actors do their own stunts.
Deliverance was a box-office success and his popularity with audiences soared. After a part in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, he starred as the eponymous private investigator in Shamus.
Reynolds became seen as something of a Hollywood sex symbol, an image he did much to promote when he posed nude across the centre pages of Cosmopolitan magazine in 1972.
White Lightning saw him first appear as Robert "Gator" McKluskey, a role he would reprise three years later in the 1976 film Gator. The film revelled in its Southern roots.
Long car chase
He stayed deep in the South for The Longest Yard. Shot in a Georgia prison, it featured Reynolds as a one-time pro footballer, imprisoned after a frantic car chase with police, who forms a team of prisoners, known as Mean Machine, to take on the guards at a football match.
By the time Reynolds starred in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit, he was America's top box-office star, a position he would hold for a further five years.
Image copyright Rex Features Image caption Smokey and the Bandit was a good old-fashioned car chase
The film, essentially one long car chase, was originally planned as a low-budget B movie but Reynolds's involvement saw the studio pump millions of dollars into the project.
It was money well spent as the film became the second highest-grossing film of 1977. It also introduced Reynolds to his co-star, Sally Field, and the two began a relationship during shooting.
The film spawned two sequels, Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, although Reynolds only made a cameo appearance in the latter production, by which time the format looked to be on its last legs.
Reynolds returned to a sports theme with Semi-Tough, set in the world of American football. Critical reviews were mixed but Reynolds received praise for his own performance.
Lavish ceremony
Sharky's Machine, in which he played a tough drugs enforcement officer, proved to be the turning point in his career. He had gained a reputation for being difficult to work with and for his womanising, which had seen him date, and dump, a string of female co-stars.
He later admitted his behaviour had hurt his career. "I think it's not good to have people think you are out every night and fooling around," he told Vanity Fair
His fall from grace at the box office highlighted the fact that, although he had been earning millions, he had also been spending it. He bought a string of luxury properties, a private jet, a helicopter and a fleet of custom-built cars.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption His marriage to Loni Anderson ended in divorce and whopping legal bill
He lost $20m dollars after two restaurant chains he invested in went bust and buying into the Tampa Bay Bandits, a team in the fledgling US Football League, proved a mistake when both team and league collapsed after three years. When he tried to sue his financial advisers he discovered he had, unknowingly, signed a document exonerating them from any responsibility.
Having married and divorced the actress Judy Carne in the 1960s, he married actress Loni Anderson in 1988 at a lavish ceremony at his ranch. The relationship ended acrimoniously in 1993 among accusations of lavish spending (hers) and infidelity (his) which culminated in a costly court battle that kept the gossip sheets happy for months.
Eventually he was forced to file for bankruptcy with his debts listed as more than $11m.
Frittered away
His film career had a nudge back upwards with a part as a porn film director in Boogie Nights in 1997, which won him an Oscar nomination and brought him to a new audience that barely remembered his earlier career. Roles in Pups and Time of the Wolf proved he could still turn in a good performance.
But his need to recoup some of his lost money saw him take almost any part that came along and he appeared in a number of howlers in the first decade of the 21st Century, including the dire Broken Bridges and Without a Paddle.
But his financial problems failed to go away and, in 2014, he was forced to sell most of his assets including prized items from his films such as his Smokey and the Bandit jacket and a number of awards including his 1998 Golden Globe.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Beset by money problems he was forced to sell much of his film memorabilia
Burt Reynolds possessed an ability to stay the course despite a rollercoaster career that gained him a great deal of money and a lifestyle that saw much of it frittered away.
But his six decades on the screen proved his charismatic appeal and his abilities as an actor. Perhaps it was also the refreshing honesty with which he reflected on the problems that had laid him low.
Vanity Fair journalist Ned Zeman once asked Reynolds if he had any regrets. "I would have spent more money and had a lot more fun," he replied. "It's always possible to spend more money."
