CW doc ‘I Am Burt Reynolds’ lays bare the life and loves of the late actor

nypost.com:

directed by Adrian Buitenhuis, traces Reynolds’ storied Hollywood career — he was, in the 1970s, the world’s biggest movie star and sex symbol — from his early television roles to his breakout movies (“Deliverance,” “The Longest Yard,” “Smokey and the Bandit”) to his romances, including his marriage to Loni Anderson and their headlining divorce.Reynolds, who also won an Emmy for the CBS sitcom “Evening Shade,” died in 2018 at the age of 82.“I Am Burt Reynolds” premieres Dec.

30 (8 p.m.) on The CW as the first installment of its “I Am Films” series.“Burt’s story is the thread of someone who had been around since old Hollywood and how [the industry] evolved through him,” Buitenhuis told The Post. “When you go back through someone’s life and films in relationship to their personal life it changes how you look at their movies.“This is a man who hasn’t been given his due and it was an amazing story to be told — the scope of his generational, decades-long career with tons of great films to pull from and a family that was behind the idea.”Anderson, to whom Reynolds was married from 1988-1994, is an active participant in the documentary, as is Quinton Reynolds, 35, the son she and Reynolds adopted in 1988.“Loni and Burt, even during their big divorce, were in constant communication — they saw and talked to each other and the media version of what happened between them is totally off,” Buitenhuis said. “She still loves Burt and there’s no animosity there.