E-mail a friendBurt Reynolds
airdate December 7, 2005
One of the world's most recognized stars, Burt Reynolds has had success as an actor, director and producer. For several years, he was America's biggest box-office draw, and his Oscar-nominated turn in Boogie Nights earned a new generation of fans. Reynolds' first love was football. A star tailback, he was drafted into the NFL, but an injury triggered a switch to acting. By creating the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theater and a chair at Florida State, he combined a commitment to his craft and education.
Burt Reynolds
Tavis: All this week we're looking back at some of our favorite guests and conversations of this year. Tonight, Burt Reynolds.
True story here people, only Burt Reynolds could be on his deathbed and pick up the nurse...
Burt Reynolds: Well, it was easy, actually...
Tavis: ...who was attending to him. Tell me the story.
Reynolds: That was a dying wish. How could she turn me down? I said, 'If I make it out of this alive,' and then it would look bad...
Tavis: So what did you say? 'Cause I want to get this live.
Reynolds: I said, 'If I come out of this alive, could I have the pleasure of your company and just - just to be in your presence makes me feel like I'm going to make it. Not you, but make it.' And she smiled and I knew I was going make it. I said, 'look, if you were gonna take me, just let me come back for this date.'
Tavis: (laughs) Now, - so you did go out with her?
Reynolds: I did go out with her.
Tavis: You survived, yeah.
Reynolds: She told me a lot of stuff that I didn't - one thing I became very cognizant of is that I was in a coma for a while, and you do hear everything. So, I have had some friends that weren't in comas, and you - I go up and I talk and talk and talk, and I know they can hear me, because - these two ladies were talking about their apartment. And I was thinking, 'What the hell are you talk about, I'm dying here.' Of course my eyes were rolled back, and I was in a coma.
But they were sitting there, 'What did you pay for that apartment?' And I told them all later what they said. They were shocked that I could hear them. And then when I started to come out of it and saw this pretty lady and she said, 'Your heart stopped.' And the doctor said, 'I know this kid,' and he ripped off his University of Georgia ring and climbed up over me, and they had taken my spleen out.
Jammed his hand up under my chest and grabbed my heart and squeezed it like that, and then said, 'We got something.' And it was one of the very, very early heart massages, so, you know. But at that point I'd had pretty much everything massaged, but not my heart. And that was a good thing.
Tavis: Yeah. What did - and I don't want to get too deep here, but I am fascinated by this. Because I saw you again, at Ossie Davis's funeral, and in the right occasions, you obviously can be very introspective, and very philosophical. Did you learn anything from that experience, or were you too young at the time to really appreciate it? Because you were young, you were pretty young then.
Reynolds: I was 18. Yeah, I learned something very quickly, and that is that it can be over very quickly. I suppose in retrospect, I got a deep feeling of faith that has never left me. But it is not about a certain religion or being in a certain building or a certain - it's just that there is greater power. And I have been, in my fashion, as the song goes, very true to you, in my fashion. I have had a pretty interesting relationship with whoever it is up there, and a lot of talks. A lot of conversation.
And that's where Mr. Davis used to come in. It is important to talk a lot to somebody. And that came out of that. And the other thing that came out of that was that I - my father and I had been really butting heads. He was the chief of police, and I had as usual been going about 110 miles an hour and had a gotten a ticket. And I was worried about that ticket. I had it crumpled up in my hands. And I had taken a shortcut down a dirt road, and some guys were stealing cement blocks. And they had the truck out across the road with the cab pointed this way with the bright lights on.
And I had the ticket my hand and I looked up and saw the bright lights and kept going. But I wasn't going my usual 110, because I had just got a ticket. I was down to about 40 miles an hour, and then a big old, God love them, Buicks. And I was quick enough and fast enough, in phenomenal shape, I had just stepped off the football field from football season, it was Christmas, night before Christmas. And I, instead of hitting the brakes, because I saw this flatbed with blocks, I dove under the dashboard, the whole top of car came off, and all the bricks came down on me.
And I was lying there, and I never lost consciousness, but I knew, it was like, you know, Tyson hitting you with a really good kidney shot. I knew something was torn up in there. And it took forever and ever. They had no jaws of life. It took forever to get me out of there. And there was a lieutenant, I will never forget his name, it was Clark Bibbler (ph). The car looked about like this, and I said to him, I actually said, 'Don't tell my father.' Like he was going to go, 'Yeah, that looks the same.' 'Don't tell my father.'
When they put me in the ambulance and a kid from high school was in the ambulance, his name was Tommy Price. I said, 'Tommy, pray for me. I don't know how to pray.' And he was a very religious kid, and he was praying for me. Prayed for me all the way to the hospital, and I made it. My father and I, after that, we sort of kind of came together in a strange way. But never the way that I always wanted, which was - I always thought when I went to an Italian family, Jewish family, I thought they must have dropped me off, because my father and I, we don't act like that.
We don't kiss; we don't hug. And I was very demonstrative, and wanted him to be. And it took a long, long time. But when - he lived to be 94 - he was about 89, about 90, we were hugging. And made up for a lot of time. Said a lot of things we should have said, made peace with him. But I thought I had made peace much earlier, but I really hadn't.
Tavis: How did, when you and your former wife Lonnie Anderson adopted Quentin?
Reynolds: Yeah.
Tavis: Your son, Quentin. How did that relationship or lack thereof for those years with your father, impact your being a father to Quentin?
Reynolds: Oh, it had a tremendous impact. First of all, I was going to give him so much love, I was going to drive him a little crazy, maybe. You can't love a child too much. But everybody had always handed me babies, and they all looked like oatmeal to me. 'Isn't that a pretty baby?'
And I'd go, 'Yeah,' and I was thinking it looks just like oatmeal. Couldn't figure out, what are they talking about? And then, Lonnie and I got Quentin, and I went, now that, that is a beautiful baby. I mean, it's yours. What a beautiful - and it was two days - he was it, he was two days old. And I fell in love with him and, so fast.
Tavis: That's our show for tonight. A reminder, you can catch me weekends on PRI, Public Radio International, check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from LA, and as always, keep the faith.
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