Burt Reynolds, the legendary screen actor who died on September 6, 2018, was married twice, once to actress Judy Carne and once to actress Loni Anderson. Both of Burt Reynolds’ marriages were to people in the television industry, and both of them ended in divorce, one many acrimoniously.
Judy Carne was Reynolds’ first wife, but their union ended in divorce. They were married from 1962 to 1965. Reynolds was later married to Anderson, a union that lasted from 1988 to 1998. The legendary actor died of a heart attack at the age of 82, TMZ reported. His family released this statement:
Here’s what you need to know:
Loni Anderson & Burt Reynolds Were a Hollywood Power Couple But the Relationship Became Acrimonious
According to SFGate, things went ugly fast between Anderson and Reynolds when he served with her divorce papers. At one point, Reynolds even accused Anderson of being a bad mother, of infidelity, and threw her out of their home in Florida, according to the newspaper.
They were together for 12 years and were married for five of those years. She told the newspaper that she received a $2.3 million house as part of the divorce settlement but said Reynolds didn’t always pay child support for their son, Quinton. Reynolds had started dating a cocktail waitress named Pam Seals, the newspaper reported.
Anderson sensationally accused Reynolds of physical abuse as the recriminations raged, blaming it on his use of prescription drugs.
Judy Carne, the Daughter of a Grocer, Was Born in England & Starred on Laugh In
Judy Carne was born Joyce Botterill in Northampton, England in 1939, according to her IMDB profile, which she says she was the “daughter of a grocer” who was trained in both music and dance growing up.
Carne is known for her sense of humor, but also the tragedies she suffered in her life. She started her career on British television, before coming to America in 1962, IMDB reports. She was known as a “light comedienne” who appeared on television in sitcoms and also in film. Over the years, she appeared on some very famous shows, such as “I Dream of Jeannie” and “The Patty Duke Show.”
Burt Reynolds was one of Judy Carne’s three husbands. According to IMDB, she was also married two other times, once to Robert Bergman in the 1970s, and once to a man named John McCook. Carne’s life was punctuated by tragedy. According to The Sun, she became a heroin addict and was injured in a car accident, which worsened her addiction.
She wrote an autobiography that chronicled these problems. It was called Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside: The Bittersweet Saga of the Sock-It-To-Me Girl.
Judy Carne, who died in 2015 at the age of 76, is probably best known as the “Sock it to Me” girl on the show Laugh-In. The Washington Post explains that she would appear on stage and say “Sock it to me.” Then, something would happen. For example, someone might dump water on her.
Burt Reynolds Had Many Famous Girlfriends Over the Years
Reynolds had a thing for actresses. He also dated several famous actresses who were his girlfriends but never became his wife, most notably Sally Field and Dinah Shore.
Reynolds is survived by one child, Quinton, the boy he adopted with Loni Anderson when they were a couple.
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