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Movie star Burt Reynolds dies at 82

Actor Burt Reynolds, famed for his roles in films like "Smokey and the Bandit," "Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights,” has died, according to multiple reports. He was 82.

Reynolds’ manager, Erik Kritzer, told The Hollywood Reporter that the actor died Thursday morning at Jupiter Medical Center in Florida. An unidentified source told US Weekly that family members were by his side.

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Reynolds, who played college football at Florida State University, portrayed a former Steelers quarterback who returned to his hometown to coach high school football on CBS sitcom "Evening Shade" in the 1990s.

Steelers Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Mean Joe Greene appeared in "Smokey and the Bandit 2" as friends of Reynolds' character, Bo "Bandit" Darville.

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Reynolds was born in Lansing, Michigan, on Feb. 11, 1936, although for years fans believed he had been born in Waycross, Georgia, according to the Detroit Free Press. His family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida, in 1941.

"If there's any confusion about my birthplace, it's my fault," Reynolds wrote in “But Enough About Me,” an autobiography released in 2015. "I was born in Lansing, Michigan. We moved to Florida when I was five. I grew up a Southern boy who didn't want to be a Yankee."

He began his career in TV in the late 1950s. By the 1970s he had grown into a Hollywood sex symbol and one of the silver screen’s top talents.

“He became one of the top movie actors of the 1970s, showing his dramatic and comedic range in movies from ‘Deliverance’ to ‘The Longest Yard’ to ‘Sharky’s Machine’ to perhaps his most beloved film, ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’” the Palm Beach Post reported.

Reynolds appeared in nearly 200 film and television roles over the course of his career, earning Golden Globes in 1992 and 1998 for his performances in "Evening Shade" and "Boogie Nights", respectively.

Celebrities, friends and fans took to social media to mourn the prolific actor.

 

Cox Media Group

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