In Loving Memory of Burt Reynolds

Born February 11, 1936 - Passed Away September 6, 2018

This memorial website was created in the memory of Burt Reynolds , born in Lansing, MI on February 11, 1936 and passed away on September 6, 2018 at 82 years of age.

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was an American actor, director, and producer of film and television, considered a sex symbol and icon of American popular culture.

Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in several different television series such as Gunsmoke, Hawk, and Dan August. Although Reynolds had leading roles in such films as Navajo Joe , his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance . Reynolds played the leading role of an often lovable rogue in a number of subsequent box office hits, such as The Longest Yard , Smokey and the Bandit, Semi-Tough, The End, Hooper, Starting Over, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Cannonball Run, Sharky's Machine, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Cannonball Run II , several of which he directed himself. He was nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Reynolds was voted the world's number one box office star for five consecutive years in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, a record he shares with Bing Crosby. After a number of box office failures, Reynolds returned to television, starring in the sitcom Evening Shade , which won him a Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His performance as high-minded pornographer Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights brought him renewed critical attention, earning him another Golden Globe , with nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born on February 11, 1936, to Harriet Fernette "Fern" and Burton Milo Reynolds . His family descended from Dutch, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Reynolds also claimed Cherokee and Italian roots.

During his career, Reynolds often claimed to have been born in Waycross, Georgia, although in 2015 he stated that he was actually born in Lansing, Michigan. In his autobiography, he stated that Lansing is where his family lived when his father was drafted into the United States Army.

Reynolds, his mother, and his sister joined his father at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where they subsequently lived for two years. When his father was sent to Europe, the family moved to Lake City, Michigan, where his mother had been raised. In 1946, the family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida. Reynolds' father eventually became Chief of Police of Riviera Beach, which is adjacent to the north end of West Palm Beach, Florida.

During 10th grade at Palm Beach High School, Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers.