Burt Reynolds, star of such movies like Deliverance, The Longest Yard and Cannonball Run, has passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday his manager, Erik Kritzer, confirmed.
According to US Weekly, the charismatic star went into cardiac arrest at Jupiter Medical Center in Florida on Thursday. His family was by his side when he passed according to the report.
The Georgia native first rose to fame by guest-starring in TV shows like Gunsmoke and Dan August, until eventually becoming the No. 1 box-office attraction for five-years running starting in the late 1970s. He appeared in dozens of films, often doing his own stunts.
His roles over the years ranged from Southern heartthrob to tough guy authority figures. But it was John Boorman's 1972 thriller Deliverance, that is credited for launching Reynolds' career.
Reynolds was also known for the many parts he didn't take, including passing on a chance to play James Bond, and even Hans Solo in Star Wars. Reynolds was also among Paramount's top choices to play Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.
His friend and co-star in The Biggest Little Whorehouse in Texas, Dolly Parton, tweeted a sweet remembrance writing that she would "always remember his funny laugh, that mischievous sparkle in his eyes and his quirky sense of humor."
In his 2015 memoir, Reynolds wrote that he rarely opened himself up to risky parts because he wasn't interested in challenging himself as an actor.
"As a result, I missed a lot of opportunities to show I could play serious roles," Reynolds wrote in But Enough About Me. "By the time I finally woke up and tried to get it right, nobody would give me a chance."
He earned a 1997 Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of porn director Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson's movie Boogie Nights. He lost that year to Robin Williams for his work in Good Will Hunting. More recently, Reynolds had been cast in Quentin Tarantino's latest film on Charles Manson, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." He was scheduled to shoot for two days, playing George Spahn, the owner of the ranch where the Manson Family lived and plotted their crimes, but a source told TMZ he had not yet shot his part.
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