Burt Reynolds passed away at the age of 82 and the world has been in mourning. But what better way to remember one of the greatest actors of our time than to reminisce about what we may have forgotten about the legend.
Reynolds died in a hospital in Florida, after going a few days earlier due to cardiac arrest and was with his family at the time. So let’s take a look at the good times and we wish his family the best.
9. Burt Reynolds once released a country album in 1973 titled, “Ask Me What I Am.” Let’s just say that he stuck with acting after it came out. You can listen to the title track below.
8. When he was filming a movie in 1984 called “City Heat,” he was hit with a chair to the face and it broke his jaw very badly. He developed TMJ and eventually lost 40 pounds due to not being able to eat solid foods for awhile. The weight loss sparked rumors that he had gotten AIDS and he spent his life refuted these speculations.
He also had chronic pain for the rest of his life and depended on drugs to get him through the pain.
7. He posed nude in Cosmopolitan, which is widely known, but he was also “very embarrassed” by the photoshoot. He once told Piers Morgan this in an interview. The pose has become famous in pop culture though, with many recreating it.
6. Reynolds turned down many big roles such as John McClane in Die Hard, Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman, McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Han Solo in Star Wars.
Can you imagine a Die Hard without Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford not flying the Millennium Falcon?!
5. I think this is one of the cooler facts, Reynolds got into a pie fight with Marc Summers on the Tonight Show once. If you don’t know who that is, he was the host of Double Dare (still is, they rebooted it) and it was totally unplanned. It wasn’t totally in jest though, and eventually ended in a very awkward exchange. Overall I don’t think Reynolds was impressed by the Double Dare host and Jay Leno had no clue what to do.
4. Reynolds also turned down his role in Boogie Nights. He just turn it down once, but SEVEN times! Director Paul Thomas Anderson didn’t stop pestering him though and eventually landed Reynolds. Even though he was eventually nominated for an Academy Award, he fired his agent after the filming of the movie.
3. Didn’t Reynolds just look like a dude that would own a night clue in the 1970’s? Well funny enough he opened a nightclub called “Burt’s Place.” Sadly the place closed after only a year.
2. In 2015, Reynolds (but mostly his stache) was inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame which was the first class of inductees. Others in this elite class included Richard Pryor, Freddie Mercury and Walter Cronkite.
1. Reynolds attended Florida State University on a football scholarship, but only played in two seasons. He was a star running back. His college football career was ended by a knee injury. Maybe this inspired his role in the Longest Yard.