Looking Back at Burt Reynolds' PEOPLE Covers

OCTOBER 28, 1974

The actor first graced PEOPLE's cover with then-love Dinah Shore, who was 19 years his senior. The two met after he appeared on her TV variety show Dinah's Place in 1971.

APRIL 23, 1979

A profile on Reynolds in 1979 brought a PEOPLE reporter to the actor's Florida horse ranch, where he spoke about his newly opened dinner theater, career regrets and then-love Sally Field.

JUNE 7, 1982

His relationship with actress Loni Anderson new, Reynolds told PEOPLE, "Whether this relationship will go any further than it has right now, I have no idea. Loni and I are both trying very hard to get acquainted and to like each other without too many explosions and broadsides from the press."

MAY 16, 1988

The couple's top-secret wedding at his ranch in Jupiter, Florida, was documented by PEOPLE.

''I'm a very lucky man,'' he said at the reception, which followed a 20-minute ceremony. ''I'm surrounded by love and dear friends, and I married my best friend today.'' Loni didn't miss a beat. ''I feel like Cinderella,'' she returned. ''I married Prince Charming.''

NOVEMBER 6, 1989

The couple further opened up to PEOPLE following the adoption of their son Quinton. "I never knew I could fall in love with anyone the way I have fallen in love with Quinton," Reynolds told PEOPLE.

JUNE 28, 1993

By 1993 the tides had turned, and Reynolds announced the pair's shocking split.

His rep announced that the couple's marriage was ''irretrievably broken.'' Though the actor has ''the highest respect and regard for Miss Anderson,'' the statement said, ''he feels his priorities and hers have become different.'' Loni had no comment at all.

SEPTEMBER 13, 1993

In PEOPLE's 1993 cover story, allegations of cheating, bad parenting and bad cooking (yes!) went back and forth between the two stars, in a divorce that turned nasty due to custody battles and a loophole in their prenup.