Online Burt Reynolds dies at 82: Hollywood pays tribute to its macho man of the 1970s

Burt Reynolds, the actor, chat show favourite and nude centrefold for Cosmopolitan who became the biggest star in Hollywood in the 1970s, died yesterday at the age of 82.

His film career took off with Deliverance in 1972 and continued with a string of petrol-fuelled comic adventures such as Smokey and the Bandit in 1977 and The Cannonball Run in 1981.

His reputation faded, however, with a decade in the commercial wilderness attributed to his frequently disastrous choice of projects, hostile relations with Hollywood executives and the press, and a lurid divorce.

Burt Reynolds, the actor, chat show favourite and nude centrefold for Cosmopolitan who became the biggest star in Hollywood in the 1970s, died yesterday at the age of 82.

His film career took off with Deliverance in 1972 and continued with a string of petrol-fuelled comic adventures such as Smokey and the Bandit in 1977 and The Cannonball Run in 1981.

His reputation faded, however, with a decade in the commercial wilderness attributed to his frequently disastrous choice of projects, hostile relations with Hollywood executives and the press, and a lurid divorce.