Would Burt Reynolds's career have been much different if

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Tis_Bearself said:
Here is another Burt Reynolds obscurity I just remembered: Back before he was famous, he played a pilot who crashed in the Everglades on an episode of the TV show “Gentle Ben” about a little boy and his large pet bear. I was a big fan of “Gentle Ben” as a child, or at least the parts that showed the bear and the airboat.
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In a two-part episode of the original Flipper TV series, Burt played a thug who stole vessels.
 
Irishmom2 said:
That’s was great show! Forgot all about that! …
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I think watching “Evening Shade” was the first time I saw Michael Jeter in anything. I think his character was quirky, sweet and funny. But, of course, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of his character.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Here is another Burt Reynolds obscurity I just remembered: Back before he was famous, he played a pilot who crashed in the Everglades on an episode of the TV show “Gentle Ben” about a little boy and his large pet bear. I was a big fan of “Gentle Ben” as a child, or at least the parts that showed the bear and the airboat.
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I watched “Gentle Ben” too! 👍👍
 
Maxirad said:
In a two-part episode of the original Flipper TV series, Burt played a thug who stole vessels.
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I was a fan of “Flipper” too!

“They call him
Flipper, Flipper,
Faster than lightning,
No one you see,
Is smarter than he…”
 
So happy to find some other fans of Gentle Ben 🙂 When he was spoofed on “The Simpsons” I actually had to explain the joke to some people who were too young to have a clue about Ben the bear.

I did a lot of research into the bears who played Ben, especially the main bear (named Bruno). He had a very exciting life, narrowly escaped death twice in a big flood and a train wreck, and later co-starred in the “Judge Roy Bean” movie with Paul Newman.

Flipper was a good show also. Miss those animal shows.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
So happy to find some other fans of Gentle Ben 🙂 When he was spoofed on “The Simpsons” I actually had to explain the joke to some people who were too young to have a clue about Ben the bear.

I did a lot of research into the bears who played Ben, especially the main bear (named Bruno). He had a very exciting life, narrowly escaped death twice in a big flood and a train wreck, and later co-starred in the “Judge Roy Bean” movie with Paul Newman.

Flipper was a good show also. Miss those animal shows.
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My son was taken with Bart the Bear from movies (“The Edge” for one with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin) and he too researched Bart. He just wanted to learn about him because he was so fierce and scary in the movie (and HUGE) but also a trained bear and his trainer loved him. We actually went to Oswald’s Bear Ranch in Michigan on our family vacation last year because that is something my son wanted to do while there because of his interest in bears sparked by Bart. We enjoyed our visit there very much.

I agree. The animal shows were good. Times have changed, though. Sigh.
 
Bart the Bear was great. I especially love watching the video of his Oscars appearance handing an envelope to Mike Myers.

I also enjoy watching Bart the Bear II. I don’t watch “Game of Thrones” (I don’t watch any new TV in general) but I watched the segment of the episode Bart the Bear II was in, just to see him. I really love reading about and watching celebrity bears who acted, wrestled, or modeled. Some of them seem to have had nice lives off camera too, though unfortunately others were mistreated. Doug Seus who trained Bart and Bart II seems to be a really good bear keeper.

Sorry I derailed the thread off into bear territory, they are one of my very favorite animals.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Bart the Bear was great. I especially love watching the video of his Oscars appearance handing an envelope to Mike Myers.

I also enjoy watching Bart the Bear II. I don’t watch “Game of Thrones” (I don’t watch any new TV in general) but I watched the segment of the episode Bart the Bear II was in, just to see him. I really love reading about and watching celebrity bears who acted, wrestled, or modeled. Some of them seem to have had nice lives off camera too, though unfortunately others were mistreated. Doug Seus who trained Bart and Bart II seems to be a really good bear keeper.

Sorry I derailed the thread off into bear territory, they are one of my very favorite animals.
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Bart was awesome! My husband watches GoT, so he has probably seen Bart on it, but I have not. I looked up the Oscar appearance and that was cute. I’m sure you’ve seen the video below about Bart. My son shared it with me after I saw “The Edge.” My son hasn’t seen “Legends of the Fall”, but I’m sure he will someday. It is pretty cool that Anthony Hopkins had the opportunity to work with Bart on both films.

The Legacy of Bart the Bear
youtube.com/watch?v=mAOc3mKWzyo
 
Sorry that I too derailed the thread further about bears. I guess I should stop with Bart and go back to Burt now. 😃
 
Maxirad said:
…he hadn’t posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine in the early 1970s? To see what I’m getting at, check out this video.
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Never heard he did that. I don’t think so. I’ve seen a lot his stuff. He’s a tv quality actor but not movie quality. In other words he was ok just not that great of an actor and suited more to light comedy then serious stuff. Who knows though if he had gotten the right role.
 
I too remember the nude pose he did–never affected me since I never saw it, and could have cared less–just one more actor/actress doing a stupid thing for publicity.

That doesn’t mean I have no appreciation for Burt’s abilities or any of his movies. I loved “The End” with his often sidekick, Dom DeLuise. It’s hilariously funny–black humor, my favorite kind. Burt’s character is dying, but he doesn’t want a long, slow painful death, so he tries to get Dom’s character to do him in. Carl Reiner has a small, but good part, as does Sally Field.

And “Smokey and the Bandit” is fun with hillbilly charm. A sort of man-against-the-system kind of film with him trying to get unlawful beer across state lines. Sally Field was cute and silly, but sexy with it. And, Jackie Gleason was perfection as the racist/angry/belligerent/bullying Southern sheriff. But, all done in good fun and meant to poke fun at such people.

He did some serious work, too, for which he received good reviews, but his fans wanted to see him play the sexy, mouthy, flamboyant Southern boy, which he played perfectly. As he said in SATB, he was good as “showing off,” which he was in his prime.
 
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