The 1987 movies Burt Reynolds blamed for turning him into “an endangered species”There comes a time in every fading star’s life when they need to face the facts and accept their days as a top-level actor are over. For Burt Reynolds, one specific year of his career confirmed those fears. He’d spent five consecutive years as the most bankable leading man in Hollywood, but once he fell off the top rung of the ladder for the first time, he’d spent the rest of his professional life hovering around the bottom, bar the occasional exception. In February, he’d wrapped shooting on the tedious comedic thriller Rent-A-Cop, which debuted in November, and also tanked. “But they were making me part of an endangered species: an old actor.