It is pretty surely the selection of roles that he did, in bad films that did not fare well with critics or make a lot of money. There was a reason the people like Sean Connery or Kirk Douglas had esteem that lasted, they largely did good projects, sometimes excellent ones, that fared well with critics and made money. Yes, each of these actors did have some missteps but nothing like Burt Reynolds.
Burt Reynolds turned on himself with his cameo in the great documentary "Sherman's March." I wasn't much of a fan before seeing this documentary (except for his performance in "Starting Over").
He wooed and courted Loni Anderson, a very popular and beautiful TV star.
They married. They adopted. News rags were abuzz over which was unable to produce a child.
Loni claimed Burt abused her (woman beater)!
Burt cheated on Loni with a woman in Florida (a very plain-looking woman with zero sex appeal).
Loni divorced Burt and got sole custody of child.
Burt was considered a wife-beating, adulterous man.
The bloom was off the rose. Not only did he lose a beautiful woman, but he did it by (allegedly) committing adultery with a woman who wouldn't look good in any light.
All of it seemed a bit staged to me. And I think Loni felt betrayed by Burt. Sort of like she was a beard for him. If you get my drift. (That's something I read many years ago...and it made sense given all the media coverage of the breakup and reasons why).
He had a reasonably successful sitcom called Evening Shade for several years, which included in its cast Marilu Henner, Michael Jeter, Ossie Davis, Hal Holbrook and Charles Durning.
He wooed and courted Loni Anderson, a very popular and beautiful TV star.
They married. They adopted. News rags were abuzz over which was unable to produce a child.
Loni claimed Burt abused her (woman beater)!
Burt cheated on Loni with a woman in Florida (a very plain-looking woman with zero sex appeal).
Loni divorced Burt and got sole custody of child.
Burt was considered a wife-beating, adulterous man.
The bloom was off the rose. Not only did he lose a beautiful woman, but he did it by (allegedly) committing adultery with a woman who wouldn't look good in any light.
All of it seemed a bit staged to me. And I think Loni felt betrayed by Burt. Sort of like she was a beard for him. If you get my drift. (That's something I read many years ago...and it made sense given all the media coverage of the breakup and reasons why).
I would agree with most of this, but we must also remember that she was also accused of infidelity by Reynolds which she denied, but the man she was alleged to have had the affair with said that they did in fact have an affair. So, I guess it might be a two way street. But it doesn't erase what Burt did especially when you factor in that his ego was writing checks his fame could not cash.
Really forgot about the Loni fiasco. In fact knew very little about it. Back then one could avoid most of this kind of sensationalist news. Today I am force fed this crap every time I go to check my email since its lined with "news" blurbs. Sigh...
