burt reynolds smokey and the bandit orangutan

Other films during the 1970s included “W.W. Such was his popularity in box office polls during this period that he managed to weather high-profile disasters like the musical “At Long Last Love,” “Lucky Lady” and “Nickelodeon.” Reynolds made his directing debut with 1976 action film “Gator” and 1978’s black comedy “The End.” Burt Reynolds’ Life and Career in Photos That same year he was again on the gridiron in the hit comedy “Semi-Tough.” He solidified his position as a rising film star with 1974 prison football drama “The Longest Yard.” In 1977 he starred with Sally Field and Jackie Gleason in the comedy programmer “Smokey and the Bandit,” which proved to be his most successful undertaking ever and was followed by the inevitable sequels. The same year Woody Allen cast him in a small comedic role in his film “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.” He was thus cast in his first A-title role, in John Boorman’s “Deliverance,” one of the most popular and well received films of 1972 (several major actors, including Marlon Brando, had turned the role down before it was offered to Reynolds). In the early 1970s, Reynolds was a veteran of TV and film who spurred the curiosity of Hollywood producers through his amusing appearances on latenight talkshows, as well as the hyped publicity stunt of appearing as the first celebrity male-nude centerfold in a 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan. Despite his many high-profile roles, the ones he is said to have turned down were even bigger: He was offered the roles of James Bond, Han Solo, the Richard Gere role in “Pretty Woman” and the Jack Nicholson role in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” He could be affable with the media but at times downright hostile. In his colorful career Reynolds secured more than his share of both good and bad press. He returned to television, where he’d gotten his start, mostly in Westerns, and produced his own sitcom, “Evening Shade,” which brought him an Emmy. But after one too many bad movies, his popularity waned. For a period during the ’70s he was the nation’s top box office draw. Reynolds’ appeal lay in his post-modern macho posture undercut by a wry self-awareness, which he used to good effect in comedies as well as action films.

Burt reynolds smokey and the bandit orangutan