The actor Burt Reynolds is having to sell off hundreds of items of personal memorabilia in an attempt to pay outstanding mortgage payments.  The items, being auctioned at The Palms hotel in Las Vegas on 11 and 12 December, include two Golden Globes, a red leather jacket he wore in Smokey and the Bandit II, and – perhaps most kitsch of all – the pair of cowboy boots he wore in Striptease.  Earlier this year, Reynolds attempted to throw out a lawsuit from Bank of America who are trying to foreclose his Florida home, but he was unsuccessful. The bank claims Reynolds hasn’t made any payments on his £700,000 mortgage since 2010, one of three loans held on the property. Reynolds has unsuccessfully tried to sell it, slashing the price from £9m to £2.9m.  With his rich tan, burly frame and impeccable moustache, Reynolds was the epitome of 1970s manhood, becoming a huge box office draw following his breakthrough in Deliverance. He won a Golden Globe in 1998 for his comeback performance as porn director Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut film Boogie Nights. Divorces and ill-starred business ventures, like failed restaurant chains and American football teams, have however taken their toll on the fortune he amassed.  He is putting a positive spin on the auction, writing in its catalogue: “I’ve collected so many things that I truly adore but at this stage in my life I find it very difficult to manage them all. The fact of the matter is that it truly is the time to downsize and for these items that I have loved over the years find new homes where they can be cared for and appreciated.”  Other lots include items signed by sportsmen like Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretsky and Jack Nicklaus, gifts from Elizabeth Taylor and Jimmy Stewart, paintings and drawings by Henry Fonda and James Cagney, artworks of Native Americans (including one of himself dressed as a Navajo), a stuffed brown bear, a Smokey and the Bandit go-kart, tens of firearms, law enforcement badges, and one of his old American Express cards.
News: The actor, known for Smokey and the Bandit and Boogie Nights, is selling off over 600 personal memorabilia items in an auction