Burt Reynolds is one of the most iconic movie stars of all time. From harrowing dramas like Deliverance to goofy comedies like Smokey and the Bandit, Reynolds could anchor any movie with the same warmth, nuance, and charisma.
Throughout his decades-long career, Reynolds worked with some of the most renowned filmmakers in Hollywood history, from classical noir helmer Robert Aldrich to modern pioneer Paul Thomas Anderson. Before he passed away in 2018, Reynolds was working with one of the greatest living directors, Quentin Tarantino.
Quentin Tarantino
The role of George Spahn in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was played by Bruce Dern, but Reynolds was originally cast in the role. Sadly, he died before shooting and had to be replaced by Dern, but Reynolds came to some rehearsals and script read-throughs prior to his passing.
According to IndieWire, Reynolds came up with Bruce Lee’s line about Brad Pitt’s stuntman character, Cliff Booth: “You’re kind of pretty for a stunt guy.”
Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent directed Reynolds in one of his most memorable action-driven vehicles, White Lightning, a riveting revenge thriller about a bootlegger taking on corrupt cops in the South.
Sargent’s most iconic movie is The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, about an armed siege on a New York subway train. He also directed Gregory Peck in the biopic MacArthur.
John Boorman
Reynolds had been acting for about a decade before he played the only experienced outdoorsman of the group in the survival thriller Deliverance, but that was his breakout role. He went from a semi-recognizable supporting player to an unforgettable star with proven dramatic range.
Deliverance was directed by John Boorman, who also helmed the gritty Lee Marvin-starring thriller Point Blank and the bizarre Sean Connery-starring sci-fi gem Zardoz.
Robert Altman
Robert Altman directed some of the most subversive, exciting American movies ever made, from the pitch-black Korean War comedy M*A*S*H to the anti-western McCabe & Mrs. Miller to the neo-noir gem The Long Goodbye to the sprawling ensemble epic Nashville.
Altman lightly satirized the film industry with his Hollywood-set murder mystery The Player. Reynolds is one of 65 celebrities who make a cameo appearance in the movie.
Hal Needham
The success of the John Wick franchise has proven that stunt people make great action directors. Ex-stuntman Hal Needham’s career provides even more proof of that, as his directorial debut Smokey and the Bandit ranks among the most celebrated action comedies ever made.
After the success of Smokey and the Bandit, Needham later reunited with Reynolds for more car-centric action movies, like Hooper, The Cannonball Run, and Stroker Ace.
Sergio Corbucci
After Sergio Leone spearheaded the spaghetti western with A Fistful of Dollars, Sergio Corbucci solidified its tropes (and its blood-drenched vision of the Old West) with his own spaghetti western classic, Django.
Corbucci went on to helm such spaghetti western gems as The Mercenary, The Great Silence, and the Reynolds-starring Navajo Joe, about a Native American warrior seeking revenge for the slaughter of his tribe.
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is one of the most revered directors of the New Hollywood era. He helmed such universally acclaimed masterpieces as Paper Moon, What’s Up, Doc?, and The Last Picture Show.
In 1975, Bogdanovich directed Reynolds alongside Cybill Shepherd and Madeline Kahn in At Long Last Love, a jukebox musical comedy whose soundtrack is entirely comprised of Cole Porter songs.
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is the comedy filmmaker responsible for some of the funniest movies ever made. He deconstructed the whitewashed myths of the western genre in Blazing Saddles, satirized the commercialism of the Star Wars franchise in Spaceballs, and helmed a spot-on homage to the Universal style of black-and-white monster movies in Young Frankenstein.
One of Brooks’ most underrated works is Silent Movie, a silent movie made in the 1970s about a filmmaker trying to get a silent movie made in the 1970s. Reynolds is one of many stars – along with James Caan, Liza Minnelli, and Paul Newman – who cameo as themselves in the film.
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson recently received some of the best reviews of his career for Licorice Pizza, a coming-of-age romance set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. This wasn’t Anderson’s first exploration of the time and place in which he grew up. He previously filmed the ‘70s-era Valley in the context of the “Golden Age of Porn” for Boogie Nights.
The role of adult film director Jack Horner in Boogie Nights earned Reynolds an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but he lost to Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting.
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich is a prolific Hollywood filmmaker who made all kinds of classics, from western Vera Cruz to film noir Kiss Me Deadly to genre-defining “psycho-biddy” thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Reynolds teamed up with Aldrich when his career was suffering from box office failure.
Reynolds’ star power helped to get the director’s career back on track with his biggest hit since The Dirty Dozen: prison-based sports comedy The Longest Yard. The actor and filmmaker reteamed a year later for Hustle, a gritty police noir.