Hollywood autobiographies are so much fun. They allow us a peak behind the golden curtain, where we get to look past the glitz and glamour to understand what may have truly gone down. While press releases are all show, memoirs tend to reveal the business. This is especially true when a piece of writing comes towards the end of a star’s career. What else have they got to lose? Why not reveal all those deep, dark secrets kept hidden in the closet for decades?
One such revelatory document is Burt Reynolds’ 1994 autobiography My Life. Although Reynolds still had some fuel left in the tank (and some of his best work still ahead), he was ready to close a few chapters of his career by putting it all down on paper. Among the biggest revelations was what he needed to get off his chest about Gunsmoke.
Reynolds joined the cast when the producers were looking to replace Chester. That’s why, …