Burt & Loni: a match made in Hell

I’m sorry but how do you marry someone you “never liked?”

R1 Ask my ex, who never even saw her boobs once in 5 years.

What?

I remember one tv interview, Dateline or some such, with Burt trashing her mercilessly. He wouldn't admit to her having any good qualities whatsoever. When the interviewer, casting around for something positive, suggested she was a good mother Burt reacted with wide-eyed wonder and shouted "a good mother??!! She wouldn't let her son hug her because it would wrinkle her dress! That's a good mother??"

It was bizarre. After the segment was over the host said that Burt wanted to apologize for it. Upon reflection he found it mean-spirited. Sounds like he found some better meds..

Burt was a piece of trash. He’s a guy who believed his own tough guy persona and punched a director once.

He openly admitted to having multiple affairs while married to Loni, then accused her of having one, which she vehemently denied. He was also physically abusive to her.

It all checks out 100%.

What a jerk he was. “Boogie Nights” completely rejuvenated his dead career - he had been a punchline before that. And all he did was trash the movie and the director.

I remember it was during his time with Loni that he was having serious trouble with his jaw (TMJ?) and he lost a lot of weight. Allegations were made that he had AIDS and was hiding that. He’s said that she stood by him and supported him through all of that. This health problem lasted a while.

I found a clip where he talks about it.

Did anyone read Sally Field's autography?

His exes don't have much good to say about him. I think the Dinah Shore thing was a bearding situation.

Dinah Shore was a saint.

Was Burt gay? He did date an Asian girl early on, so for DLers, that's proof. I think they were even on a TV game show together where he pranked the host by pretending to attack him.

I think that Burt was probably a charming sociopath. Something was off. But I sure jerked off to those bare-assed football jersey photos back in the day!

I miss Dinah. What a lovely woman in every possible way.

r1 You're sorry?

[quote]I remember it was during his time with Loni that he was having serious trouble with his jaw (TMJ?) and he lost a lot of weight.

His jaw was destroyed by a metal chair when a stunt went awry on "City Heat." Loni talks about that and his recovery and lingering pill addiction in her memoir and attributes his violent outbursts to it, which was generous of her since his history of domestic violence easily predated it.

Here's a 1992 TV Guide interview with Reynolds about the injury. He mentions how patient Loni was with his addiction. But it wasn't long before he started trashing her to any reporter who asked.

Burt’s one and only true love was Dom Deluise.

Burt was the definition of closet case

Burt desperately wanted validation from his Hollywood peers. He had been the number one box office star longer than anyone else in history (a record that still stands to this day) but it was never enough. He wanted the respect along with the commercial success. He said as much when his won the Emmy for Evening Shade.

Part of that was his own fault as he did projects out of loyalty to friends then taking work that might make him grow as an actor. Passing up Terms of Endearment to do another Cannonball Run or Stroker Ace was ludicrous. By the time he started taking his work more seriously, the business had passed him by, and the public moved on to actors like Tom Cruise, Schwarzenegger and Stallone.

Burt had a type: brunette pixie. Loni was brunette under all that goop. I think he would have married Kristy McNichol if she had been older (and straight).