Dinah Shore’s Secret Trick to Keeping Burt Reynolds Happy

When it comes to Hollywood love stories, there’s one that, more often than not, gets overlooked: the story of Burt Reynolds and Dinah Shore, and it isn’t a story that ends with cheating or heartbreak. Instead, it’s a story of kindness and a real sense that these two people cared about each other deeply until the very end of their lives.

Burt first met the singer and actress-turned-TV-host when he appeared on her talk show, Dinah’s Place, in 1970. Despite a 19-year age gap, he was instantly smitten and spontaneously invited her to spend the weekend with him in Palm Springs. Dinah, then 53 and twice divorced, declined, but Burt was quite persistent. A little while later, they finally met up in Chicago, and the rest, as they say, was Hollywood history.