September 6, 2018
by John Larson
On September 6, 2018, Emmy-winning actor Burt Reynolds died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Martin County, Florida, according to various reports. He was 82. According to the Associated Press, Reynolds’ death was confirmed by his agent Todd Eisner. Toward the end of his life, Reynolds was dealing with multiple health issues, including heart disease and arthritis, as well as financial problems that he openly discussed in interviews.
Reynolds was best known for his movies in the 1970s, such as”Deliverance,” “Semi-Tough,” “The Longest Yard” and “Smokey and the Bandit.” After a string of movie flops in the late 1980s and 1990s, he had a critically acclaimed big-screen comeback in 1997’s “Boogie Nights,” for which he received a Golden Globe and his first and only Oscar nomination. Reynolds won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for his starring role in the early 1990s comedy TV series “Evening Shade.”
He was a major sex symbol in the 1970s and 1980s, and often made headlines for his love life, including an on-again/off-again romance that he had with his “Smokey and the Bandit” co-star Sally Field. He was married twice: to actress Judy Carne (from 1963 to 1965) and to actress Loni Anderson (from 1988 to 1993). Reynolds and Anderson adopted a son named Quinton during their marriage.
Reynolds’ last movies were 2018’s “Shadowfighter” and “Defining Moments,” a film that will be released posthumously. He had been cast in the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, but Reynolds died before he could film any scenes.