Sally Field’s heart is heavy. The actress spoke out after the death of her ex-boyfriend and Smokey and the Bandit costar Burt Reynolds.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even 40 years later,” she tells Us Weekly in a statement. “My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy.”
Us Weekly broke the news that Reynolds died at the age of 82 on Thursday, September 6, after suffering cardiac arrest at a hospital in Florida.
The legendary actor first met Field, 71, on the set of Smokey and the Bandit in 1977. They began dating that year and were together for five years. Decades later, Reynolds called her “the love of my life.”
“I miss her terribly,” he told Vanity Fair in November 2015. “Even now, it’s hard on me. I don’t know why I was so stupid. Men are like that, you know. You find the perfect person, and then you do everything you can to screw it up.”
Reynolds and Field reprised their roles as Bandit and Carrie, respectively, in Smokey and the Bandit II in 1980. They were also costars in the 1978 films Hooper and The End.
The Mrs. Doubtfire star was married to Steve Craig from 1968 to 1975, and Alan Griesman from 1984 to 1993. She share sons Peter, 48, and Eli, 46, with Craig, and son Sam, 30, with Griesman.
Meanwhile, Reynolds was wed to Judy Carne from 1963 to 1965, and Loni Anderson from 1988 to 1993. He is survived by Quinton, his 30-year-old son with Anderson.
