Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
"You may or may not ever see a male nude centerfold in Cosmopolitan, but I hope you do."
-Helen Gurley Brown to female
Cosmopolitan staffers, 1971.
In 1972, after a decade and a half in the business, Burt Reynolds was finally on the brink of stardom. Now 36, Burt had been an actor since the late 1950's.
His first movie was Angel Baby in 1961. Since then, he had appeared in several mediocre to bad films (usually typecast as a Native American) and had either starred or had recurring roles in three TV series- Gunsmoke, Dan August and Hawk. Burt claims he was "the first actor in history to be in a cancelled TV series on each of the three networks" (CBS, ABC and NBC).
But the sweet smell of success seemed to finally be wafting Burt's way. He had just wrapped on the film version of James Dickey's powerful novel Deliverance. Burt was heavily counting on this major release (co-starring Academy Award nominee Jon Voight) to finally put him over into "grade A" films and roles. He knew he had done his finest acting to date in Deliverance.
Burt Reynolds was also by this time gaining a reputation as "a personality." He enjoyed making the rounds of the TV talk shows, especially The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Unlike many good-looking actors, Burt displayed a quick wit and a very keen sense of humor. Because he was so naturally funny and quick on his feet, Burt became the first non-comedian Johnny Carson ever asked to host The Tonight Show in his absence.
One night early in 1972, after he had finished filming Deliverance and was awaiting its release, he was hosting The Tonight Show. Appearing with him on the show was Helen Gurley Brown, editor of the popular women's magazine Cosmopolitan and author of the best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl. On the show, he and Helen started bantering back and forth.