Burt Reynolds Cuts A Frail Figure At Fan Event

Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds looked extremely frail while making a rare public appearance at a fan event over the weekend.

The 79-year-old ‘Boogie Nights’ star was at the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia on Saturday promoting his upcoming memoir, 'But Enough About Me’.

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Taking to the stage wearing rose-tinted glasses and walking with a cane, he then took part in a Q&A session in which fans grilled him about his sturdy Hollywood career.

In a humour-filled exchange, he spoke about the supposed rivalry with Marlon Brando ('I didn’t have a rivalry, he had a rivalry’) and also joked when asked about how many Trans Ams were trashed in the making of his movie 'Hooper’.

“Oh, we had some dialogue,” he said, dryly.

He also named 'Deliverance’ as his favourite performance, and spoke about his relationship with Jackie Gleason, his 'Smokey and the Bandit’ co-star.

“You can’t be in a scene with Gleason, because you’re not going to be seen,” he said.

“He was wonderful. I loved him, and I still do. He was just a very special man.”

Of his new book, which he’s still writing but is due out in November, he said he plans to tell all about his many co-stars.

'I got along great with 98 per cent of them, and a few of them I didn’t like at all,” he said.

“When you write a book like this, you have to tell the whole thing, and there are days when everything isn’t wonderful and there were people who I thought were asses.

“I’m having a lot of fun, but it’s beginning to look a little bit like the dictionary. I started acting in a TV series in 1959 and I’ve been working ever since, so there’s an awful lot to reminisce about.”

Reynolds has been dogged with ill health for many years.

After being hit in the face with a metal chair during the movie 'City Heat’ in 1984, he became addicted to painkillers prescribed to ease his symptoms, an addiction which required years to break and trips to rehab.

He underwent back surgery in 2009, and then a quintuple heart bypass in 2010.

Last year, he began auctioning off vast amounts of his personal memorabilia, including the iconic Trans Am from the 'Smokey’ movies.

He raised £1.5 million from the auction in Las Vegas, after saying he was 'fed up of looking at pictures of himself’.

In all, over 600 items went under the hammer, from a pair of boxing gloves signed by Muhammed Ali, to his Golden Globe award for his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Boogie Nights’.

There was even the canoe that appeared in ‘Deliverance’, which sold for $17,500 (£11,000), while the red embroidered jacket from ‘Smokey’ sold for $34,375 (£21,858).

He also denied that he was selling the items because of money troubles.

“I want everyone to know that contrary to what all the news outlets are saying, I am not broke,” he said.

“I have been dealing with a business dispute for many years as well as a divorce settlement.

“I am simply selling some of my memorabilia that I have enjoyed for so many years but no have use nor room for them anymore.

“Quite frankly, I am sick of so many picture of myself in my own home.”

Image credits: Splash News/FILE