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),
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (film) Perry admitted the novel was "female fantasizing. But what else was "Wuthering Heights"?" Poll set up the film at MGM where Dan Melnick was head of production. The movie was that studio's biggest budgeted film of the year. Melnick tried to get Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw to play the leads but was unsuccessful. Perry said the film "cried out for Hepburn and Bogart but we settled on Burt Reynolds." Burt Reynolds was signed in November 1972. Reynolds said he did the movie "because I loved the book. I'd never done a love story, either." The filmmakers wanted Jane Fonda