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Burt’s First Comic Con: Burt Reynolds Looks Frail During Rare Public Appearance

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 03:46 PST, May 11, 2015

Burt Reynolds made his first Comic Con appearance over the weekend. The 79-year-old acting legend made, what has become in recent years, a rare public appearance. The Wizard World Comic Con event was held in Philadelphia.

The Comic Con appearance by Burt Reynolds included a question and answer session with the Smokey and the Bandit star. Reynolds wore rose-colored glasses and was adorned in a black velvet jacket, and used a walking cane for support.

Burt Reynolds referred to Sally Field as the “best leading lady” he ever had. The iconic actor and 1970s heartthrob has reportedly suffered from both health and financial issues in recent years. In 2010, Reynolds reportedly underwent a quintuple heart bypass and had back surgery in 2009. Burt Reynolds filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and faced foreclosure on his Jupiter, Florida home in 2011. The acting legend also spent some time in rehab for an addiction to prescription painkillers.

“I think it’s a good time to find out what it’s all about,” Burt Reynolds said about the Comic Con appearance during an interview before the Philadelphia event. “I always enjoy talking to fans and I’m usually very pleased with their curiosity about my career, what I’m doing, what I’m not doing, and why I’m not doing more.”

Burt Reynolds is currently working on a memoir. The book will reportedly be of extreme interest to the millions of fans of Reynolds’ hit movies of decades passed. The book will reportedly also focus on interactions with former co-stars.

“I got along great with 98 percent of them, and a few of them I didn’t like at all,” Reynolds added. “When you write a book like this, you have to tell the whole thing, and there are days when everything isn’t wonderful and there were people who I thought were a***s. I’m having a lot of fun, but it’s beginning to look a little bit like the dictionary. I started acting in a TV series in 1959 and I’ve been working ever since, so there’s an awful lot to reminisce about.”

[Image via: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Spike TV]

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