Burt Reynolds Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, director and producer. He first rose to prominence starring in television series such as "Gunsmoke" (1962–1965), "Hawk" (1966), and "Dan August" (1970–1971). His breakout film role was as Lewis Medlock in "Deliverance" (1972). Reynolds played the leading role in a number of subsequent box office hits, such as "The Longest Yard" (1974), "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977), "Semi-Tough" (1977), "Hooper" (1978), "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980), "The Cannonball Run" (1981) and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982). After a number of
Burt Reynolds audition for the latter. The film's producer later said, "To be honest, we were not enthusiastic at first. There was the hair and his reputation, but we were curious." Reynolds got the role and earned some strong reviews. Reynolds was a supporting actor in "Frankenstein and Me" (1996), "Mad Dog Time" (1996), "The Cherokee Kid" (1996), "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) with Rodney Dangerfield, and "Bean" (1997) with Rowan Atkinson. He had the lead in "Raven" (1996), a straight-to-DVD action film. Around this time he claimed he was broke, having gone through $13 million. In 1996, Reynolds' agent said "Regarding Burt,