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),
Ned Beatty the bride in "Prelude to a Kiss" (1992), opposite Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin. In 1993, he appeared in the true story "Rudy", playing a Notre Dame Fighting Irish football fan whose son, against all odds, makes the school's football team. Beatty starred in the television series "" as Detective Stanley Bolander for its first three seasons (1993–1995). Beatty made the 1994 science-fiction film "Replikator" (1994) and mystery-comedy "Radioland Murders". In 1995, he worked with Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne in the thriller "Just Cause". He appeared as Judge Roy Bean in the TV miniseries adaptation of Larry McMurtry's western