Burt Reynolds, the mustached sex symbol of the 1970s and 1980s, who ruled the box office with good-olâ??-boy movies like Smokey and the Bandit and earned the critical praise he so badly desired in Starting Over and Boogie Nights, died Thursday in Florida of cardiac arrest, his agent confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment. He was 82.
As much as Reynolds represented an era, he also stood as a timeless cautionary tale. After a five-year run as Hollywoodâ??s No. 1 male movie star, from 1978 to 1982, Reynolds fell into a funk of flops and personal problems, including unfounded health rumors and a nasty tabloid divorce from TV star Loni Anderson, from which his career never recovered.
Looking back once, Reynolds said he had something no one could take from him: He was â??part of film history.â?
â??You die with that,â? Reynolds said. â??They can say his career went downhill after that; he made bad films.â?? It doesnâ??t matter.â?
Originally Posted by Storm Trooper
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