• A plaque and a palm tree weren't enough to mark the swagger and star power of Burt Reynolds. That's why a bronze bust, mustachioed of course, and sporting his "Smokey and the Bandit" cowboy hat, was unveiled on Monday, three years after his death. "Anybody else want to touch him?" Loni Anderson, Reynolds' wife from 1988 to 1994, asked the small crowd that gathered around the sculpture after the unveiling at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. "Yes, he's made to be touched!" said Caroline P.M. Jones, the artist who made it. Reynolds died at age 82 in 2018 at a hospital in Jupiter, Fla. It is not clear why it took until this year for his ashes to reach the Hollywood gravesite. Anderson and her son with Reynolds, Quinton, chose the spot where Reynolds' cremains were laid to rest in February, because it was next to a palm tree and water, which evoked his native Florida. A simple plaque with his name marked the spot. But after Hollywood Forever co-owner Tyler Cassity told them that the many visitors to his grave would appreciate more of a monument, something to look at, to touch, to take photos with. So the bust was commissioned. "It's absolutely beautiful, it's exactly what we both envisioned," Quinton Reynolds said after a brief private ceremony where a crowd of several dozen people who were close to Reynolds gathered to mark the occasion. Reynolds became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and biggest sex symbols in the world in the 1970s and '80s, known for his mustache, his cocky laugh and his maverick swagger. He starred in two "Smokey and the Bandit" films along with "Deliverance," "Breaking In," "White Lightning," "Starting Over," "Gator," "The Longest Yard" and "Boogie Nights," for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
• Britney's back on Instagram. After taking a brief weeklong hiatus from Instagram, Britney Spears returned to social media by posting celebratory images of her weekend away with new fiance Sam Asghari on Monday. "Some shots from my weekend getaway to celebrate my engagement with my ... holy s-- ... FIANCE," she captioned the two photos of herself. "I still can't believe it !!!! I couldn't stay away from the gram too long so I'm back already." Last week, the 39-year-old pop star announced she would be "taking a little break" from social media to mark her engagement. Asghari, 27, proposed to Spears on Sept. 12. The couple had been dating for five years before Asghari popped the question. When Spears and Asghari tie the knot, it will mark the third marriage for Spears. She was previously married to childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004 and Kevin Federline, with whom she shares two children before the couple filed for divorce in 2006. The engagement also comes as Spears' father, Jamie, has agreed to terminate her longstanding conservatorship.
