Died at 90
male
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was a European-American/Native-American actor, director, and producer, considered a symbol and icon of American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in several different television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966), and Dan August (1970–1971). Although Reynolds had leading roles in such films as Navajo Joe (1966), his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972). Reynolds played the leading role – often a lovable rogue – in a number of subsequent box office hits, such as The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Semi-Tough (1977), The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), Sharky's Machine (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and Cannonball Run II (1984), several of which he directed himself. He was nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Reynolds was voted the world's number one box office star for five consecutive years (from 1978 to 1982) in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, a record he shares with Bing Crosby. After a number of box office failures, Reynolds returned to television, starring in the sitcom Evening Shade (1990–1994), which won him a Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His performance as high-minded pornographer Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997) brought him renewed critical attention, earning him another Golden Globe (for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture), with nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
14-year-old Elijah "Eli" Solinski lives in Detroit with his stern adoptive father Hal, a widower. While scavenging an abandoned building for copper wiring to sell, Eli discovers the aftermath of a skirmish, with armored corpses and high-tech weaponry strewn about. He picks up a strange weapon, but drops it and flees after it mechanically activates. That evening, Eli's newly paroled older brother Jimmy, Hal's biological son, returns home to Hal's chagrin. Eli dreams of the weapon and sneaks out to retrieve it. Sneaking back in, he overhears Hal and Jimmy arguing. Jimmy owes $60,000 in protection money to Taylor, a local crime lord, and asks Hal to help him steal the money from Hal's employer. Hal refuses and kicks Jimmy out. The next night, Hal catches Jimmy and Taylor breaking into his office's safe. Hal is unwilling to walk away, so Taylor shoots and kills him. Jimmy kills Taylor's brother in the ensuing scuffle and flees with the money. Jimmy convinces Eli that Hal is stuck at a work emergency and wants to meet them at Lake Tahoe. Eli secretly packs the weapon, and they leave moments before Taylor and his gang arrive to ransack the house. Taylor vows to kill Jimmy, as well as Eli to avenge his own brother's death.
