More Information Than You Requested about Burt Reynold's Tallywacker

True Tales of Debauchery from Ronnie Spector, Ice-T, and a bear rug-loving Bandit

Welcome to part two of my ongoing series, featuring the best (and sometimes worst) conversations with celebrities about sex. You can read the first one, with NSFW tales from Sammy Hagar, Danny DeVito, and Ace Frehley, by going here.

BURT REYNOLDS

Eric Spitznagel: Let’s talk about your 1972 nude centerfold for Cosmo. It was meant to be sexy, but it was also . . .

Burt Reynolds: A little ridiculous.

ES: Hey, you said it.

BR: I was trying to poke fun at myself. There’s a lot of things people don’t know about that photo. For one thing, I was pretty smashed when we shot it. I’d brought along a couple of bottles of vodka—you know, for liquid courage—but I ended up drinking them mostly for warmth. It was freezing in the studio.

ES: Did the temperature have, um . . . an unflattering effect on your man business?

BR: Did it shrink my tallywacker? Well, I wasn’t holding a hand over it because I was shy. Cold isn’t helpful in that area. It wasn’t happy, if you know what I mean.

The Burt Reynolds bear rug photo, reproduced as an éclair.

ES: But readers loved it. You became a sex symbol overnight.

BR: It was a little too much. I couldn’t go outside without getting catcalls. They’d walk right up to me and say the filthiest things. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I like it when a woman waits for a man to come over to her. When there’s a little bit of back and forth, a little seduction. But this was just ridiculous. There was a woman in Nova Scotia who was sending me her pubic hair.