A career that began with television roles in ‘River Boat’ (1959-60), ‘Gunsmoke’ (1962-66) and ‘The Twilight Zone’ (1963) ended up making Burt Reynolds a Hollywood megastar. He made his movie debut with the 1961 movie, ‘Angel Baby,’ but his talent came to the fore with his tough boy performance in ‘Deliverance’ (1972), a thriller film.
He appeared in a number of successful films including ‘The Longest Yard’ (1974), ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ (1977), ‘The Man Who Loved Women’ (1983), ‘Striptease’ (1996), ‘Boogie Nights’ (1997), ‘Pups’ (1999), ‘Mystery, alska’ (1999) ‘Time of the Wolf’ (2002), ‘Dog Years’ (2017) etc.
His successful TV series include ‘Dan August’ (1970-71), Out of This World’ (1987-91) and ‘Evening Shade’ (1990-94).
He had won two Golden Globe awards for ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘Evening Shade,’ and nine ‘People’s Choice Awards’ in his entire career.
His list of not so successful movies include ‘In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale’ (2008), ‘Driven’ (2001), ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ (2005), ‘End Game’ (2006), ‘Not Another Not Another Movie’ (2011), ‘Pocket Listing’ (2005) etc.
His highest grossing movie till date remains to be ‘Smoke and the Bandit’.
Georgia’s Big Enos challenges Bandit to drive a truckload of Coors Beer from Texas and deliver within 28 hours in Atlanta where Coors was not available without permit. But when Bandit picks up hitchhiker Carrie, the runaway bride of Sheriff’s son, sheriff Buford T. Justice gives Bandit a high-speed chase across the states, with police from four states pursuing the careering cars.
James Dickey adapted this movie from his 1970 novel Deliverance. The story involves four urban men who embark on a weekend canoeing trip down the wild Georgia River. However, the trip soon turns into a frightening fight for survival as the four men desperately try to get away from the merciless locals and dangerous waters.
Miss Mona runs the Chicken Ranch, a brothel having a long history in a small town in Texas. However, a reporter named Melvin Thorpe tries to expose the brothel and shut it down. This puts the governor in a tough situation.
Sharky’s Machine is an action thriller drama film which revolves around Tom Sharky, an undercover cop who is investigating a narcotics kingpin. He soon comes across a mob murder with government ties. He assembles all his investigators and tries to bring the criminals to justice, before all his partners and witnesses are killed one by one.
Bobby McKlusky is serving time in a prison in Arkansas for his illegal liquor business. However, when he learns that his younger brother Donny was murdered and Sheriff JC Connors was behind it, he manages to get out of prison, and starts to work undercover for a federal agency, in order to expose the sheriff and his wrongdoings.
The Cannonball Run is an action comedy sports film, which tells the story of a group of competitors who take part in a wild, illegal car race across America. The eccentric participants are even willing to play dirty tricks to emerge as the winner of the race.
W.W. Bright is a bank robber who only robs the corrupt Southland Oil System gas stations. When he meets the country music band, Dixie Dancekings, they provide him an alibi and he decides to become their manager and promoter. As he helps the band make it big, ex-lawman, Deacon John Wesley Gore, is hot on his trail.
The amateur ice-hockey team of hockey-loving small Alaskan town of Mystery is scheduled to face the National Hockey League’s well-known team, New York Rangers, in an exhibition match. Keeping their internal differences aside, the townsfolk get set for the nationally televised event and join forces to encourage their team comprising of town sheriff, a high school senior, town’s grocer and a deliveryman.
A period drama film that focuses on the life of a young nightclub employee who enters the pornographic film industry and becomes a popular star before eventually suffering a downfall, Boogie Nights is an expansion of Paul Thomas Anderson's mockumentary short film The Dirk Diggler Story.
Lieutenant Speer along with Mike Murphy, his former colleague, team up again to fight the mob. However, Murphy is now a private eye and the two can’t even stand each other, although they used to serve together in the past.
Seduced by the charming young widow Laura Breckenridge and her money, former gambler Sam Whiskey, agrees to take on a dangerous mission with his two companions. They are to dive to the bottom of Colorado's Platte River to recover gold bars stolen by her dead husband and return those discreetly to the Denver Mint without raising suspicion.
Cannonball Run II is an action comedy film which revolves around an illegal cross-country race, where the participants race on various vehicles, hoping to win a million dollar prize.
The plot of the movie, based on Derek Lambert’s 1975 novel Touch the Lion's Paw, revolves around two jewel thieves – Jack and Gillian – who meet each other at a party and fall in love. Jack has planned a theft of $30 million in uncut diamonds but is unaware that Gillian has been blackmailed and planted by a Scotland Yard's chief inspector Cyril Willis who wants to apprehend him before retiring.
Paul is a well-known football player who ends up in jail. The prison warden Rudolph, who is a fan of football, asks him to build a team consisting of prison inmates and play a match against the prison guards.
The Player is an American satirical black comedy film, which tells the story of Hollywood film producer Griffin Mill, who starts receiving threats anonymously. However, he is certain that David, a scriptwriter is behind it. He invites the latter to sort things out, but things take an ugly turn, and he ends up murdering him.
Citizen Ruth is a comedy drama film which tells the story of Ruth, a poor, drug-addicted woman whose life gets complicated when she gets pregnant. A judge orders her to get an abortion, but a group of pro-life activists makes things more complicated for her, and she soon attracts national attention from those involved in the abortion debate.
A bandit is tasked with transporting an elephant from Florida to Texas, to the Republican National Convention within twenty four hours. Meanwhile, Sheriff Buford is on his tail.
Disgraced former NFL quarterback Paul Crewe lands in prison and is coerced by corrupt Warden Rudolf Hazen to form a beatable football team consisting of inmates. Crewe must unite the inmates if they are to survive brutality at the hands of the guards and win a game against Hazen’s own team of prison guards.
Inspired by a book of the same name by Dr David Reuben, this film tells seven different stories which try to answer seven different questions about sex.
This comedy crime film tells the story of an eight year old boy named Devon, who dreams of becoming a cop, as he has watched a lot of detective and police procedural shows. One day, he witnesses a murder. The cops want more information from him, but he refuses, unless they agree to make him a cop.
Silent Movie is a comedy film which tells the story of Mel Funn, who used to be a great film director in Hollywood at one point. However, his career declined due to his drinking problem. Along with his sidekicks, he decides to make the first silent movie in forty years, in order to make a comeback.
To get rid of Mr. Bean, the board of directors of the ‘Royal National Gallery’ ask him to represent them while a US $50 million painting is being transferred to Los Angeles’ ‘Grierson Art Gallery’. Unfortunately, Mr. Bean not only defaces the painting but makes the curator’s life a living hell.
Three childhood friends, Tom, Dan and Jerry, reunite when their fourth friend Billy dies before fulfilling his quest to find the missing treasure of airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper. They embark on a canoe-ride over Columbia River to continue Billy’s search; but are not prepared for the perils as they encounter rough river waters, grizzly bear, and gangsters involved in hidden marijuana farming.
During the height of the Prohibition Era, best friends Kibby Womack and Walker Ellis are running a successful underground liquor smuggling business. When a young widow Claire gets involved, a love triangle develops and the three must survive organized crime and the Coast Guard.
A sheriff who is about to retire is challenged by Big Enos and Little Enos, to take a huge stuffed fish to Texas from Florida.
Country cousins Bo, Luke, and Daisy Duke run an illegal moonshine business for their Uncle Jesse in Hazzard County, Georgia. They use their orange 1969 Dodge Charger named General Lee for transportation. When corrupt Commissioner Jefferson Davis Hogg and his henchman Sheriff Rosco start evicting farmers unlawfully, the cousins decide to fight back.
Tommy Vinson is a former gambler, who was forced to give up poker years ago, after his wife had threatened to leave him. He begins to teach a college kid about playing cards, as the young man seems to have potential. However, Vinson soon finds himself pulled into the world series of poker, but a call girl tries to ruin the relationship between Tommy and his protégé.
Erin Grant, former FBI secretary, loses her job due to her criminal ex-husband and also loses custody of her daughter, Angela. She turns stripper to earn money for an appeal in custody case. David Dilbeck, a congressman, gets interested in her and even extends personal invitation. But as she starts suspecting Dilbeck’s involvement in unlawful operations, it puts her life in danger.
Grilled is a crime comedy film which tells the story of Maurice and Dave, two friends, who work as door-to-door salesmen of frozen meat. As if they are already not falling behind in reaching their targets, their lives get even more complicated when one of their female clients get attracted to Maurice.
Buddy Evans, a confirmed bachelor, wishes to have a biological son, but doesn’t want a wife. He decides to find a surrogate mother who would waive off her maternal rights, and selects a waitress, an aspiring musician, who wishes to earn to study music in Paris. Initially, they keep the matters strictly official, but then realize what they truly desire in life.
During WWII, a unit of American Army, trapped in a small town in Vosges Mountains, Northern France, is trying to hold off German invasion. When they find a wounded girl, Alexandra, on the road, they help the mysterious beauty, unaware that she is a Nazi spy, who then starts passing on information about the US unit, leading to a German attack.
The story is about a man named Farmer, who lives happily with his family in the kingdom of Ebh until his town is attacked by a primitive creature known as Krug. Magically controlled by a powerful Magus called Gallian, the Krugs start creating havoc, killing his son and kidnapping his wife. Farmer must now set off to rescue his wife and avenge his son.
Jimmy is a young talented racecar driver. However, his ranking starts dropping when he gets involved romantically. Therefore, a former CART champion is asked to train him and get him back to his winning ways.
Sharky’s Machine is an action thriller drama film which revolves around Tom Sharky, an undercover cop who is investigating a narcotics kingpin. He soon comes across a mob murder with government ties. He assembles all his investigators and tries to bring the criminals to justice, before all his partners and witnesses are killed one by one.
The animated feature follows German Shepard Charlie Barkin, a casino-owner, who is killed by his former partner Carface. Seeking revenge, Charlie manages to return to earth and meets his friend Itchy. With the help of little orphan Anne-Marie, Charlie conspires against Carface. But then Charlie and Anne-Marie end up in danger where Charlie can save either Anne-Marie’s life or his own.
Burt Reynolds Awards
Boogie Nights | Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | 1998 |
Evening Shade | Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical | 1992 |
Evening Shade | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | 1991 |
Winner | Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series | 1991 |
Winner | Favorite Motion Picture Actor | 1984 |
Winner | Favorite Motion Picture Actor | 1983 |
Winner | Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer | 1983 |
Winner | Favorite Motion Picture Actor | 1982 |
Winner | Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer | 1982 |
Winner | Favorite Motion Picture Actor | 1980 |
Winner | Favorite Motion Picture Actor | 1979 |
Winner | Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer | 1979 |