Burt Reynolds, Movie Star Who Played It for Grins, Dies at 82

Burt Reynolds, the charismatic star of such films as Deliverance, The Longest Yard and Smokey and the Bandit who set out to have as much fun as possible on and off the screen — and wildly succeeded — has died. He was 82.

Reynolds, who received an Oscar nomination when he portrayed porn director Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) and was the No. 1 box-office attraction for a five-year stretch starting in the late 1970s, died Thursday morning at Jupiter Medical Center in Florida, his manager, Erik Kritzer, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Always with a wink, Reynolds shined in many action films (often doing his own stunts) and in such romantic comedies as Starting Over (1979) opposite Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) with Dolly Parton; Best Friends (1982) with Goldie Hawn; and, quite aptly, The Man Who Loved Women (1983) with Julie Andrews.

Reynolds career also is marked by movies he didn’t make. Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson & Bruce Willis surely were grateful after he turned down the roles of Han Solo, astronaut Garrett Breedlove & cop John McClane in Star Wars, Terms of Endearment & Die Hard, respectively.”

Reynolds also indicated he was Milos Forman’s first choice to play R.P. McMurphy (another Nicholson Oscar-winning turn) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, ‘backed away’ from playing Batman on TV in the 1960s and declined the part made famous by Richard Gere in Pretty Woman.