美国国家公共电台 NPR Burt Reynolds, Swaggering Star Actor, Has Died At 82

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Burt Reynolds has died at the age of 82. He played a man on a hunting trip gone wrong in "Deliverance." He played an unstoppable beer smuggler¹ in "Smokey And The Bandit." Bob Mondello offers an appreciation².

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE³: The smile, the moustache, the twinkle in his eye - without them, would anyone have buckled⁴ up for that bootlegging run from Texarkana to Atlanta? Sheriff Jackie Gleason was Smokey; Burt Reynolds, the bandit. And the plot hinged on whether the Bandit and a truck-driving pal⁶ could blow through Smokey's roadblocks and make the run in 28 hours.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT")

JERRY REED: (As Cledus Snow) That ain't never been done, not in no rig.

BURT REYNOLDS: (As Bandit) That's 'cause you and I ain't never done it in no rig. You got to stop thinking so negative, son. Of course we can make it. We ain't never not made it yet, have we?

REED: (As Cledus) No.

REYNOLDS: (As Bandit) You see.

MONDELLO: Audiences enjoyed the ride so much that theater owners voted Burt Reynolds the top box-office attraction in the country in 1977, which was, let's note, the year "Star Wars" hit theaters. Reynolds had been offered the part of Han Solo, actually, and turned it down - just as he turned down the role of 007 the year it went to George Lazenby and as he would later turn down "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "Terms Of Endearment⁷" and "Pretty Woman." No one ever accused him of being smart about choosing film roles. But smart in them? No question.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DELIVERANCE")

REYNOLDS: (As Lewis) You don't beat this river.

MONDELLO: "Deliverance" was the film that made him famous. Years of bit parts on TV hadn't prepared audiences for his scarily ripped outdoorsman who led Jon Voight, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty on what would end up being a harrowing canoe trip in the Georgia backwoods. Dueling⁸ banjos, hillbilly rapists and Reynolds using a bow and arrow...

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

MONDELLO: ...To spear fish and to even the odds⁹ in what he saw, at the outset, as a chance to meet nature on its own terms.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DELIVERANCE")

REYNOLDS: (As Lewis) Machines are going to fail. And the system's going to fail.

JON VOIGHT: (As Ed) And then what?

REYNOLDS: (As Lewis) Then, survival - who has the ability to survive? That's the game.

MONDELLO: After "Deliverance" put him on the map, Reynolds more or less owned the rest of that decade. He played football players in "The Longest Yard" and "Semi-Tough." The bootleg thing kept coming back in "White Lightning" and "Lucky Lady."

Off-screen, he cultivated a less predictable vibe, whether posing nude¹⁰ on a bearskin rug for Cosmo or telling interviewers that Sally Field was the love of his life, even though he married two other women. His mistakes on screen included singing in "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS (TELEVISION EDIT)")

REYNOLDS: (As Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd, singing) I'd go riding high like a knight¹¹ in shining armor.

MONDELLO: I can sing, he admitted to interviewers, as well as Fred Astaire can act. He had no quips to offer for his business acumen¹². Reynolds briefly¹³ owned a football team, a nightclub, a dinner theater and a chain of restaurants before declaring bankruptcy¹⁴. He also took 22 years to pay a divorce settlement to Loni Anderson. And somehow, he kept coming back - most famously perhaps in the 1997 award-winner "Boogie Nights," where he played a porn director who had dreams of making movies that were more than just porn.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BOOGIE NIGHTS")

REYNOLDS: (As Jack⁵ Horner) This is the best work we've ever done.

RICKY JAY: (As Kurt Longjohn) Well, it's a real film, Jack.

REYNOLDS: (As Jack Horner) It feels good.

JAY: (As Kurt Longjohn) You made it fly.

REYNOLDS: (As Jack Horner) You know, this is the film I want them to remember me by.

MONDELLO: And they did, with an Oscar nomination¹⁵ for best supporting actor and lots more work. Almost 20 years and 60 roles later, he published a memoir¹⁶ called "But Enough About Me," a jokey title for a best-seller that proved beyond doubt that audiences still weren't tired of hearing about Burt Reynolds.

I'm Bob Mondello.

1 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

2 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 buckled   

a. 有带扣的

参考例句：

• She buckled her belt. 她扣上了腰带。
• The accident buckled the wheel of my bicycle. 我自行车的轮子在事故中弄弯了。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

7 endearment   

n.表示亲爱的行为

参考例句：

• This endearment indicated the highest degree of delight in the old cooper.这个称呼是老箍桶匠快乐到了极点的表示。
• To every endearment and attention he continued listless.对于每一种亲爱的表示和每一种的照顾，他一直漫不在意。

8 dueling   

n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• More light-hearted But somewhat puzzled, Vladimir prepared to meet Eugene on the dueling ground. 弗拉基米尔心里轻松了一些，但仍感到有些困惑，在这种心情下，他准备去决斗场地迎战叶甫盖尼。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• They had been dueling for hours and finally called a draw. 他们一直决斗了数小时，最后打成平局。

9 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

10 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

11 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

12 acumen   

n.敏锐，聪明

参考例句：

• She has considerable business acumen.她的经营能力绝非一般。
• His business acumen has made his very successful.他的商业头脑使他很成功。

13 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

14 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

15 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

16 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。