Pain Pill Addiction, Women and Bankruptcy: The Biggest Bombshells from the Burt Reynolds Documentary

From career highs and lows to his a larger-than-life persona, here are the biggest takeaways from the 'I Am Burt Reynolds' documentary, airing Dec. 31 on The CW

During the early 1970s, Burt Reynolds was not only one of the most famous actors in the world, with a string of hit movies like Smokey and the Bandit, but he was also one of Hollywood's biggest sex symbols — one who'd posed fully nude for a centerfold in Cosmopolitan in 1972 mainly because he thought it would be a lark.

"He made being a movie star look fun," said director Adam Rifkin, who directed him in 2017's The Last Movie Star. In the documentary I Am Burt Reynolds, now airing on The CW, friends and family like Loni Anderson, and colleagues like Rifkin, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, share intimate stories of Reynolds, who died of heart failure in Jupiter, Florida in 2018.

All of them agreed on one thing: Reynolds had a hilarious, larger-than-life personality, was very, very handsome, and could charm the pants off everyone he met. Plus, he was a terrific actor, especially in the comedic roles he was drawn to.

Related: Sally Field Says Burt Reynolds Was Her Worst On-Screen Kiss: 'A Lot of Drooling Was Involved'

He also had a dark side. In the documentary, his ex-wife Loni Anderson talks about his longtime problem with addiction to prescription drugs, and his occasional tendency towards violence. She also touches on his financial issues: After being swindled by grifters and pouring money into a series of bad investments (plus being a notorious spender), he filed for bankruptcy in 1996.

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Below, a look at some of the biggest revelations on the Hollywood superstar from I Am Burt Reynolds.

His Friends Called Him Bud

Burt Reynolds went by his given name "Burt" when he got serious about acting, but growing up in Florida, his friends and family called him "Bud." In the documentary, some old football friends from his high school years still refer to him as "Bud" or "Buddy."

He Was a Hit With Women — Even in His Teens

Reynolds loved women, and they loved him back. In the doc, his high school girlfriend Ann Scurry says, "He was an unbelievable kisser. He was a gentle lover. He was possessive, but it felt good to be possessed by him." Another former high school girlfriend, Mary Alice Sullivan, says, "He was never rough with his women. On the contrary, he alway made sure the lady came first." His reputation as a ladies man would follow him throughout his life and career.

He Was a Football Star Before He Was a Film Star

Reynolds was a high school football champ in his hometown of West Palm Beach, where he was brimming with confidence, incredibly popular, and voted "Most Likely to Succeed." He went on to play for Florida State University. "He signed with FSU because the girls there outnumbered the boys six to one," his former coach says. But a shattered knee ruined his chances of turning pro, and so he instead went to West Palm Beach Junior College where he took a drama class and found that he loved it. Reynolds recalled people coming to "laugh at the jock trying to do theater," but everyone was surprised by his natural talent. "I was good," he said.

Early in His Film Career, He Did Spaghetti Westerns in Italy

Reynolds was scouted by theater scouts, and moved to New York to do plays. Though critics raved about his early Broadway performances, Reynolds couldn't get a lot of work in Hollywood so he moved to Italy with Clint Eastwood to make Spaghetti Westerns. Eastwood very quickly rose to fame after doing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Reynolds later joked that not a lot of people saw his own Western films, with names like Navajo Joe.

He Was Funny and a Huge Hit on Late Night Talk Shows

Before he was a big box office draw, Reynolds was a regular on Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson's shows, known for his quick wit and sparkling personality. It was during a guest hosting gig that he met Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, who invited him to pose nude for a centerfold in her magazine. Reynolds agreed, thinking it would be funny and make a bold statement about the patriarchy. Plus, he had the body...

He Regretted Doing the Cosmopolitan Centerfold

"I never would have done the centerfold if I didn't have Deliverance in the can," Reynolds has said, of the 1972 film that would eventually turn him into a bonafide movie star. Still, he worried the centerfold cost him accolades from Hollywood. "It was for laughs, a take off on the whole male chauvinist attitude of Playboy," he said of the nude stunt, later noting that he believed it ruined his chance of truly being taken seriously by directors.

Related: Burt Reynolds Was Embarrassed by His Infamous Nude 'Cosmopolitan' Shoot: "What an Egomaniac"

He Was a Real Floridian and Southern Boy at Heart

Though he eventually made enough money to buy a Palm Springs house, Reynolds sold it and instead bought a 160-acre ranch in Jupiter, Florida where he felt most at home. In the documentary, his colleagues note that he was unabashedly a southern boy, and that one of his pet peeves was defending the fact that he was a southerner to his Hollywood cohorts. When Smokey and the Bandit was first released, it tanked in Los Angeles and New York, but once it was released in the South, it hit number one.

He Took Pills for Pain and They Became a Problem

Reynolds had been a football player and a certified stuntman before becoming a movie star, and years of injuries left him riddled with back pain. He started taking prescription pills, and according to his Deliverance costar Jon Voight, "He wasn't careful about it." He battled addiction to pain pills throughout most of his life, eventually going to rehab in the late 1990s. He once told his friend, "Don't let me end up like Elvis."

He Considered Sally Field 'The One That Got Away'

Though he had a long term relationship (and short marriage) with his ex-wife Loni Anderson, Reynolds has said that he felt his former costar and fling Sally Field was the one he should have married and had kids with. As to why they split, the ladies' man didn't go into details in any interviews but simply told director Adam Rifkin, "I screwed up."

He Always Wanted Children

Loni Anderson, who married Reynolds in 1988, says he'd always longed to be a dad, and was thrilled when they adopted son Quinton in 1988. He did his best to be a good dad, but Quinton admitted that he often showed his affection with items or gifts, rather than physical affection. Anderson says that stemmed from Reynolds' own relationship with his stoic dad. "I would have killed for a hug from him," Reynolds once said of his own father.

He Blindsided Anderson with Divorce Papers

Anderson says that when she was about to start filming the TV series Nurses, Reynolds invited her for a quiet weekend away where they had a good family time. As Reynolds was heading back to Florida, he told Anderson, "You know I love you forever." Two hours later, she was handed divorce papers. The two battled over custody of Quinton in court, but came to an amicable agreement.

He Was Bad with Money and Went Bankrupt in 1996

"If he made $100, he spent $100," Anderson says of Reynolds, who once had a net worth of $60 million, but loved to buy lavish gifts for friends and family. He had a private jet, a helicopter, several coastal properties in Florida, his ranch, a dinner theater, and he donated generously to his alma mater. His eventual final downfall was an investment in a restaurant chain that failed and cost him $13 million. For several years, he had to sign over his film and TV residuals to his creditors.

Fans Briefly Assumed He Was Dying of AIDS

After an accidental on-set punch left him with a hairline fracture in his jaw, Reynolds developed TMJ, which caused him great pain and distress. He couldn't eat, and he suffered from depression over it. He had weekly painful dental treatments to fix the problem, but he lost so much weight during the time that he looked gaunt, not unlike his colleague Rock Hudson, who was dying of AIDS. The rumors flew that Reynolds was suffering the same fate.

He Longed to Win an Oscar for Boogie Nights

Reynolds turned down the role of the porn star director in the drama more than once, but the film's screenwriter and director Paul Thomas Anderson convinced him he could win an Academy Award for it. Reynolds also needed the money, and finally agreed. It was his resurgence, and he did indeed get nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award. However, he lost to Robin Williams, who won for Good Will Hunting. The loss plagued him. In an interview, when asked what he thought God might say when he walked into heaven, Reynolds replied with a smile, "He should've won."

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