As soon as the news broke Thursday that Burt Reynolds had died at the age of 82 in Jupiter, Florida, the entertainment industry began offering their warmest memories.
The actor, who starred in such films as “Deliverance,” “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Boogie Nights,” died of a cardiac arrest, according to his agent Todd Eisner. No additional details were released.
Everyone from his “Boogie Nights” co-star Mark Wahlberg, who called the ’70s icon a “legend,” to Arnold Schwarzenegger remembered Reynolds as a one-of-a-kind screen presence who will be sorely missed.
“He was a trailblazer. He showed the way to transition from being an athlete to being the highest paid actor, and he always inspired me,” Schwarzenegger wrote.
Legendary singer Dolly Parton posted a moving tribute to Reynolds on Twitter, featuring a photo of the pair from when they co-starred in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
“You will always be my favorite sheriff, rest in peace my little buddy,” she wrote. “I will always love you, Dolly.”
Sylvester Stallone remembered the late actor as having a “great sense of humor” and said Reynolds always said he should have been cast as Colonel Trautman in Stallone’s 1982 Rambo movie, “First Blood.”
Reba McEntire, who starred in the 1993 TV movie “The Man From Left Field” alongside Reynolds, called the actor “my good friend”
Read more beautiful tributes from Ricky Gervais, Wesley Snipes, Steve Harvey, Kevin Smith and others below: