Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and '80s. He became well known in the television series Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966) and Dan August (1970–1971). He had leading roles in the films Navajo Joe (1966), and 100 Rifles (1969), and his breakthrough role as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972). Reynolds played leading roles in financially successful films such as White Lightning (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (which started a seven-year box-office reign), Semi-Tough (1977), The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), Sharky's Machine (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), Smokey and the Bandit III (1983), and Cannonball Run II (1984), several of which he directed. He was nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Reynolds was voted the world's number-one movie actor from 1978 to 1982 in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, a five-year record he shares with Bing Crosby (until equaled by Clint Eastwood in 1993, Tom Cruise in 2000, and Tom Hanks in 2004), until Tom Cruise eclipsed them all in 2001 with a sixth (having a total of 7 as of 2005 After a number of box-office failures, Reynolds returned to television. He starred in the situation comedy Evening Shade (1990–1994), which won a Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His performance as high-minded pornographer Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) brought him renewed critical acclaim, earning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, with nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.