Bye-Bye, Bandit

"I don't care whether he can act or not," said talent agent and studio executive Lew Wasserman said after seeing the response the secretaries in his office had when they saw Reynolds. "Anyone who has this effect on women deserves a break."

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THE PASSING OF A WESTERN LEGEND

Burton Leon Reynolds was born on February 11th, 1936 and passed away at his home in Florida on September 6, 2018. He was born in Lansing, Michigan to Burton Milo and Hariette Fernette. His father was a World War Two veteran and served in Europe. After the war, the family relocated to Riviera Beach Florida, where his father became the police chief. Burt attended Florida State University on an athletic scholarship and played halfback until injuries forced him to stop playing the game.

Burt became interested in acting and pursued theater, eventually, his career choice landed him in Hollywood. His career stretched over many years and during that period he starred in several western movies and tv shows. In 1959 he played Ben Frazer in twenty-one episodes of the series Riverboat, opposite Darren McGavin. He left the series after a conflict with McGavin and Noah Beery Jr. was brought in as his replacement. Grey Holden (McGavin) won the hundred-foot paddle-wheeler Enterprise in a poker game, took command of the ship, and delivering cargo and passengers along the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers. The show took place during the 1830’s to 1840’s, prior to the civil war and included an impressive list of co-stars. It was rumored that McGavin and Reynolds bickered about who was the true star of the show, screen time and lines.

His other western series work was in Gunsmoke. For fifty episodes, he played the half-Comanche blacksmith Quint Asper. He made his first appearance in the series in 1962 and left in 1965. Quint was a transitional character that helped ease the audience into accepting the loss of Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver) and win acceptance for Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis). All three characters appeared in the 63/64 season, the trio appeared together in the episode Prairie Wolfer in 1964.

He guest-starred in several western series. In 1959 he appeared in one episode of Pony Express. He played Adam in The Good Samaritan. He played Tad Stuart in The Stranger, an episode of Johnny Ringo in 1960. In 1961, he appeared as Bench Taylor in the Zane Gray Theatre episode Man From Everywhere. He appeared in the Chuck Connors western series Branded in 1965. He played an Indian named Red Hand in the episode Now Join the Human Race.

In 1966, Burt starred in the spaghetti western Navajo Joe for Sergio Carbucci. A story circulated that Burt wanted to back out of the project, when he arrived at the location and Carbucci drove him several miles away and kicked him out of the vehicle and made him walk until he relented and agreed to film the picture.

Story has it that in 1966, Burt wanted to back out of the film Navajo Joe. when he arrived on set, though, director Sergio Carbucci drove him out into the middle of nowhere, kicked him out of the car, and made him walk until he agreed to do the picture.

He made two westerns in 1969. 100 Rifles, directed by Tom Gries. It starred Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, and Fernando Lamas. The movie was based on the 1966 novel The Californio by Richard Macleod. Burt’s character, Yaqui Joe, robbed a bank in Phoenix, Arizona and disappeared into Mexico, along the way he bought a hundred rifles for the Yaqui Indians. The citizens of Arizona hired Lyedecker (Brown) to capture Joe and recover the money. A Mexican General jailed the pair in Mexico, but they escaped with the help of Sarita (Welch) and her followers. The General pursued the small group of rebels and massacred an entire village to draw the group out for the final gun-battle.

Arnold Laven directed the film Sam Whiskey, a western comedy with Angie Dickinson, Clint Walker, and Ossie Davis. Laura Breckenridge (Dickinson) learned that her late husband robbed the Denver mint. She found Sam Whiskey (Reynolds) and seduced him into helping her recover the gold and get it back to the mint before the fake substitution is discovered. Whiskey recruited O. W. Bandy (Walker) and Jed Hooker (Davis) to help him.

His last big screen western was The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing in 1973, based on the novel by Marilyn Durham. The movie starred Sarah Miles, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, George Hamilton, Jay Silverheels and James Hampton. Burt and his gang robbed a bank and kidnapped the wife of the rich banker (Miles). Her husband sets out to find her and kill the men who kidnapped her.

In 1996, Burt appeared in The Cherokee Kid, a made for TV movie. It starred Sinbad, James Coburn, A. Martinez, and Ernie Hudson. Burt’s character was Otter Bob, the mountain man. Cyrus Bloomington (Coburn) an evil land-grabber and his gang of cut-throats killed Isaiah Turner’s parents. Turner vows to get revenge, along with the path to adulthood mountain man Otter Bob helped him survive.

In 2002, he played Hunt Lawson, a gunman for hire in the Hallmark movie Johnson County War. The movie starred Tom Berenger, Luke Perry, Rachel Ward, and Blu Mankuma. The retelling of the range war in northern Wyoming as seen through the eyes of the three Hammett brothers, based on the 1957 novel by Frederick Manford.

Burt’s final performance in a western came in 2003 when he played convicted bank robber John ‘Chill’ McKay in another Hallmark movie, Hard Ground. The movie starred Bruce Dern, Amy Jo Johnson, Seth Peterson, and Martin Kove. Outlaw Billy Bucklin (David Figlioli) escaped while being transported to Yuma Prison. Sheriff Hutch Hutchinson (Dern) convinced the Governor to release his brother-in-law John McKay (Reynolds) to help him track down the outlaw before he gathered enough men to control the southern part of Arizona.

He won several awards and was nominated for many more during his career. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Boogie Nights in 1997. He won a Golden Globe and a Satellite for his performance in the movie. He also won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance in the television show Evening Shade in 1990. He won multiple People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Movie Actor, and Favorite Performer, 1979 and 80, 82, 83 and 84. His final Peoples Choice award came in 1991. Burt Reynolds had a long and successful career and had accepted a role in an upcoming movie from Quentin Tarantino.

—Terry Alexander is a western, science fiction and horror writer with a vast number of publishing credits to his name. He's also a connoisseur of all things related to the Hollywood Western. He and his wife, Phyllis, live on a small farm near Porum, Oklahoma.