Reynolds takes on surrogacy

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 11

Reynolds takes on surrogacy

Burt Reynolds stars as Buddy Evans, a 44-year-old bachelor who has everything he wants except a child, in the film “Paternity” (tonight at 8.30, on Three). But when Evans decides to hire a surrogate mother to have a child he does not expect to fall in love with her or for her to leave town before the .baby is born. Burt Reynolds who has 33 movies to his credit .has been called the man women love and men want to be like. ■ He made his professional acting debut with Charlton Heston in a revival of “Mister Roberts,” and then moved to Los Angeles where his acting skills and willingness to perform stunts gained him a foothold in the industry. He ultimately landed an acting contract with Universal Studios about the same time as another, ,’ then struggling actor, called Clint Eastwood. After regular roles on . the television series ‘“Riverboat” and “Gunsmoke,” Reynolds moved to movies. But it was not until he had put in ten yearss as a supporing star that he hit - it big with his 1972 movie “Deliverance.” Combined with appearances on TV ; talk shows and a centre- = fold in a Cosmopolitan magazine, Reynolds’ ap-. > peal began to swell. - Though “Deliverance”

was a big critical success and the 1975 films “The Longest Yard” and “Hustle” were Reynolds’ key pictures, the actor is probably best known for his 1977 box-office smash “Smokey and The Bandit,” which grossed nearly SIOOM. In “Paternity,” Reynolds has a chance encounter with Jenny, an interior decorator (Lauren Hutton) whom he mistakes for a potential “mom.” Reynolds co-starred with Hutton in the 1976 movie “Gator” which he also directed. Hutton has also starred in “American Gigolo,” “Zorro The Gay Blade,” and more recently had a regular role on the television series “Falcon Crest.” Beverly D’Angelo takes on her first starring role in “Paternity” as a young waitress Maggie, who ends up being hired by Reynolds to be a surrogate mother. D’Angelo made her movie debut in 1977 in the “Sentinel” and went on to have a one line role in the Woody Allen hit “Annie Hall.” Soon bigger parts followed and D’Angelo had roles in “Every Which Way But Loose,” and as country singer Patsy Cline in "Coal Miners Daughter.” More recently she appeared in “European Vacation” and “Big Trouble.”