Burt Reynolds is a Hollywood icon. The actor is most famous for his string of hit movies during the 1970’s and 1980’s. The actor, director, producer and author has had a long career with some downs but mostly ups. He appears in “The Last Movie Star” in a part written for him by independent filmmaker and longtime Reynolds fan, Adam Rifkin. Reynolds recently made the rounds of talk shows promoting the film where he talked nostalgically about his career, loves and losses.
Here are 5 things you didn’t know about a young Burt Reynolds.
He’s from Michigan
In his 2014 autobiography “But Enough About Me”, Burt Reynolds claimed he was born in Waycross, Georgia. He later admitted, he was not. Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born in Lansing, Michigan on February 11, 1936. The family moved to Missouri while Burt was a toddler because his father was drafted into the United States Army. When his dad went off to war in Europe, the family returned to Michigan. With the war over, the Reynolds family settled in Rivera Beach, Florida.
He almost had a pro football career
Burt Reynolds was a star football player at Palm Beach High School. He played fullback and was named “First Team All State” and “All Southern”. He received several scholarships and played halfback at Florida State University. His college roommate was Lee Corso who became a football broadcaster and analyst. With his heart set on becoming a pro football player, Reynolds suffered a knee injury that set back his football career. He later injured the other knee and lost his spleen in a car accident, destroying his dreams to play pro.
He fell into acting by accident
With football off the table, Burt Reynolds figured he would become a police officer like his dad who was Chief of Police for the city of Riviera Beach, Florida. Burt Sr. convinced his son not to quit college. He encouraged him to finish school and become a parole officer. In order to finish college, Burt took extra classes at Palm Beach Junior College. Impressed with his reading of Shakespeare, Reynold’s English professor, Watson B. Duncan III, convinced Reynolds to audition for a play he had written, “Outward Bound”. Reynolds won the Florida State Drama Award in 1956 which earned him a scholarship to Hyde Park Playhouse, a summer stock theater. Reynolds took the opportunity as a summer job.
Broadway
At Hyde Park Playhouse, Burt Reynolds became friends with Joanne Woodward who encouraged him to find an agent. He did and was cast in a New York City play, “Tea and Sympathy” and Broadway’s “Look, We’ve Come Through”. With favorable reviews, Reynolds toured with the play and even drove the bus. He returned to New York City and began taking acting classes. Fellow classmates included Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons, Jan Murray, and football pro Frank Gifford. Director John Forsythe got Reynolds an audition for the movie “Sayonara” but didn’t get the role because of his good looks. Reynolds was advised to try Hollywood but stayed in New York taking on odd jobs including waiting tables, driving a delivery truck and working as a bouncer at the Roseland Ballroom.
TV and Film
Burt Reynolds finally made it to Hollywood in the late 1950’s. He appeared in the movie Angel Baby in 1961 and soon after landed a role on television’s “Gunsmoke”. He continued to appear in television and low budget films and worked as a stuntman. He was once offered the role of James Bond but turned it down because he is American. Burt Reynolds’ breakout role was in 1972’s “Deliverance“. He appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine that year and the rest is history.
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