Burt Reynolds Dead

A tip of the hat to the guy that "almost" made driving a Pontiac cool again (after the GTO demise).  LOL
Most of his career was doing something that brought a smile to the audience.... and he'll be remembered for that I'm sure.
Thanks for the Memories. 

I enjoyed his movies. He was one of those larger than life people. The first to pose nude in Cosmo. Absolutely unrelentingly and unrepentently male. Capable of serious acting "Boogie Nights" and "Deliverance," but also didn't take himself too seriously, "Cannonball Run" and "Hooper."

I saw a show where he interviewed country music stars. On the episode I watched, he was in full country stage regalia - rhinestone studded baby blue suit with ruffled shirt and an oversized hat that matched the suit. He was interviewing George Jones (similarly dressed) and Vince Gill, who wore a denim shirt and jeans.  They each had coffee mugs in front of them sitting around a round table. It was supposed to be an informal round table sort of interview. Vince Gill made mention that he was drinking water. George Jones said he liked his coffee. Burt Reynolds cup had five cigars sticking up out of it. 

Ba ck in '77 when my buddies and I began to paddle serious whitewater, we planned a trip on the Chattooga (river that Deliverance was filmed on). As we had never paddled it before, three of us "scouted" the river by going  a day early and running the river with an outfitter in rafts. One of the raft guides had been one of the guides hired to haul cameramen, gear, etc on the river while the movie was filmed. He said most of the scenes were filmed on class II-III rapids, but the scene where Burt goes over the waterfall and breaks his leg was filmed on the upper river where paddling wasn't permitted.  According to the guide, a dummy was thrown in the river above the falls and filmed going over it. When the crew reviewed the film it looked like a dummy going over the falls. They tried it several times but it never looked the way they wanted. Finally Burt, being the kind of guy he was,  volunteered to go over the falls himself.  He went over the falls and disappeared out of sight, pulled under the water and finally emerging downstream, nearly drowned and coughing and spitting water.  When they reviewed the film they said it looked just like a dummy going over the falls. 

RIP Burt