Burt Reynolds, 1936-2018

Burt Reynolds, the star of a string of easygoing movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s such as Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run, has died at the age of 82.

Reynolds started off in TV, and there's a piece that airs from time to time on TCM that Reynolds did when Spencer Tracy was Star of the Month. Apparently, Reynolds' TV show at the time Riverboat was filmed very close to where Tracy was making Inherit the Wind, so the two wound up seeing each other most days and talking.

Reynolds did a series of westerns in the 60s, with a particularly fun, if undemanding one being 100 Rifles, which I blogged about a little over a year ago. Reynolds plays a bank robber who is helping Mexican revolutionary Raquel Welch get her hands on the titular rifles.

Deliverance in 1972 and Boogie Nights a quarter century later are probably his two most famous roles, with the latter garnering him an Oscar nomination. But the 70s films will always be fondly remembered. I've seen a lot of people who aren't movie blogger types reference Smokey and the Bandit. One that I really like, although it's sadly not readily available, is W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings.