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A second camera assistant named Quinton Reynolds reportedly lives a low-key life in Los Angeles, getting steady work for shows like “NCIS” and TV movies about Christmas and zombies.
But now Quinton Reynolds is in the news as the only son of Burt Reynolds, who died Sept. 6 at age 82. It’s been reported that Reynolds “intentionally” left Quinton Reynolds out of his will and instead named his niece, Nancy Lee Brown Hess, as the trustee of his estate.
This all sounds rather ominous, but Reynolds briefly mentioned in his will that he made provisions in his trust for 30-year-old Quinton, according to documents obtained by The Blast.
“I intentionally omit him from this, my Last Will and Testament, as I have provided for him during my lifetime in my Declaration of Trust,” states the document, which was executed in 2011. The terms of the trust are not known.
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The issue with not naming Quinton Reynolds as executor may have to do with legal maneuvering to protect Reynolds’ estate from taxes or outstanding debts. Or it may reflect the complicated relationship between the one-time “Smokey and the Bandit” heartthrob and his only child.
Indeed, things were complicated for a time, according to numerous reports.
More than 20 years ago, Quinton Reynolds was at the center of one of the nastiest divorces in celebrity history: the 1993 breakup of his parents, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson.
The couple married in a private but lavish ceremony at Reynolds’ Florida ranch in 1988. Reynolds was 52 and Anderson was 41. Reynolds liked to shower his new wife with diamonds, paintings, and furs, Entertainment Tonight reported. They soon adopted Quinton, announcing his arrival into their lives with a birth announcement in the Palm Beach Post.
But the marriage lasted only six years.
Following the split, the couple made tabloid headlines with their increasingly nasty back-and-forth allegations about each other. Reynolds accused the former “WKRP in Cincinnati” star of being an under-employed actress, a bad mother and of being unfaithful. Anderson claimed the former box-office champion was erratic and physically abusive, especially when she said he was high on prescription pain and anti-anxiety medications, the Daily Mail reported.
At one point following their 1993 divorce, Anderson insisted that a nanny always accompany then-7-year-old Quinton when he visited his father in Florida. The tabloids took the demand to infer she was afraid of sexual abuse, but Anderson told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1995 that this was never a concern.
“I’m concerned about Burt’s erratic behavior. … Quinton is small and I want him to be protected.” His regular nanny had refused to go because, Anderson told the Chronicle, “Burt threw a chair at her,” so a substitute nanny was employed to make the trips.
Not surprisingly, the animosity between Reynolds and Anderson made things difficult for Reynolds to bond with his son.
Closer Weekly recently reported that the father and son went through a tough period, but eventually were able to work through that difficult time and became very close.
“There’s nothing I can do about things that weren’t happy or good,” Burt Reynolds told Closer Weekly in an interview published earlier this month. “I just try not to dwell on those. Regrets are not healthy — it’s best to try and let go of those things that can’t be changed. All of my experiences made me who I am today, and I’m grateful for the positive ones. I don’t think of my past as anything negative, and if it is negative, I’ve forgotten it.”
In a 2015 interview with People, while promoting his memoir, “But Enough About Me,” Reynolds said that marrying Anderson had been a mistake.
“I should have known that you don’t marry an actress,” Reynolds said. “That was a really dumb move on my part.”
But Reynolds only had nice things to say about his son in an interview some time before his death. He called Quinton Reynolds “my greatest achievement.”
“He’s a wonderful young man and is now working as a camera assistant in Hollywood,” Reynolds told Closer Weekly. “He never asked for any help with his career, he did it all himself, and I’m so proud of him. I love him very much.”
When he died, Reynolds reportedly had a net worth of $5 million. He lived out his final years at his Florida estate after his friend bought the property for $3.3 million and rented it to him for a low price because the screen legend had been struggling financially, the Daily Mail reported.
Anderson put her contentious past with Reynolds behind her when she released a statement following his death. She also paid tribute to him as Quinton’s father.
“Burt was a wonderful director and actor,” her statement read. “He was a big part of my life for 12 years and Quinton’s father for 30 years. We will miss him and his great laugh.”
