Burt Reynolds after he posed naked in the April 1972 issue of "Cosmopolitan". Reynolds said he did it for "a kick. I have a strange sense of humor" and because he knew he had "Deliverance" coming out. He later expressed regret for posing for Cosmopolitan. "Deliverance" was a huge commercial and critical success and, along with the talk show appearances, helped establish Reynolds as a star. "The night of the Academy Awards, I counted a half-dozen Burt Reynolds jokes," he later said. "I had become a household name, the most talked-about star at the award show." He was then in "Fuzz" (1972),
Jon Voight poet James Dickey had helped to adapt from his own novel of the same name, it tells the story of a canoe trip in a feral, backwoods America. Both the film and the performances of Voight and co-star Burt Reynolds received great critical acclaim, and were popular with audiences. Voight also appeared at the Studio Arena Theater, in Buffalo, New York in the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" from 1973-74 as Stanley Kowalski. Voight played a directionless young boxer in 1973's "The All American Boy", then appeared in the 1974 film, "Conrack", directed by Martin Ritt. Based on