Burt Reynolds’ Friends and Family Remember the ‘Loving’ and ‘Generous’ Star 1 Year After His Death

September 25, 2019

Gone but not forgotten. Burt Reynolds wasn’t known as the world’s biggest box office star in the ’70s for no reason! His closest friends and family members exclusively recall to Closer Weekly all of the great times that they shared with the late actor one year after he died of a heart attack at age 82 in September 2018.

“Burt was so loving and giving,” the Michigan native’s Evening Shade costar Marilu Henner, told Closer in the magazine’s latest issue, on newsstands now. “He was the most wonderful, generous person I’ve ever worked with.”

Elizabeth Ashley, who also worked on the sitcom opened up about her friendship with Burt. “The thing I loved about Burt was what you saw was what you got,” she admitted. “He always had your back.” You can say that again!

Burt was such a lovable guy that it was hard to find someone in Hollywood who didn’t cherish their time with him. “He was always bent on doing the right thing,” recalled Ann Lawlor, his first high school girlfriend, to Closer. “Burt talked like he was a bad boy, but he was a good kid.”

The Boogie Nights actor however, did make a few enemies in the ’70s. He was labeled as an actor who was hard to work with because he was allegedly known to fill water bottles on set with vodka and get a little rowdy.

“Whenever I meet someone I worked with in the ’70s or ’80s, I immediately apologize because I was an ass,” the Smokey and the Bandit star once said while guest starring on The King of Queens. “I was the biggest star in the world, and I didn’t handle it well.”

Burt’s colleagues eventually grew to forgive him and Hollywood producer Rob Burnett even told Closer the late star “couldn’t have been [a more] nicer or approachable” guy. “But there was still an undeniable aura about him, like he was the last of the old-time movie stars.”

Near the time of his death, Burt was working on a docuseries about his life with producer Suzanne Niedland. “Viewers will meet a man who’s not only tough and funny, but caring and vulnerable,” Suzanne gushed to Closer. The movie is set to be released in 2020, and you can bet all of Burt’s closest friends and family members will be first in line to watch the film when it’s released.

Originally appeared in Closer Weekly.