Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born in Lansing, Michigan on February 11, 1936. He played football for Florida State University, but his sports career ended in 1955 when he was seriously injured in a car crash. He later studied acting at Palm Beach Junior College, where in 1956 he won a drama award that included a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse in Hyde Park, New York. In 1958, he signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios and was cast in a new NBC series called Riverboat.
He would go on to appear in about 100 films and numerous television shows. His films included Deliverance, The Longest Yard, Semi-Tough, Smokey and the Bandit, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Starting Over, and Boogie Nights. He won a Golden Globe for his performance as a paternalistic director of pornographic movies in Boogie Nights. His television appearances included Gunsmoke and Evening Shade. He won an Emmy for his performance in Evening Shade in 1991. His memoir, But Enough About Me written with Jon Winokur, was published in 2015. He died on September 6, 2018 at the age of 82.
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