MILLIANS: The Burt Reynolds lookalike

Published 8:14 am Monday, September 30, 2024

He had a long way to go and a short time to get there.

Buford Prosser was cutting grass in the backyard of his home in Gordon when a neighbor called and told Buford’s wife Peggy, “Y’all better hurry up and go.”

Buford had already decided he was not going to enter the Burt Reynolds Lookalike contest at Hatcher Square Mall.

But Peggy prevailed, and Buford came in the house, used a wash cloth to wipe the sweat off his face and changed into an orange shirt that sorta looked like the color Burt Reynolds would wear.

Buford didn’t even have a cowboy hat like the one Reynolds wore in the movie “Smokey and the Bandit.”

But he had something none of the other 14 contestants in the contest that day in 1980 had: He was a dead ringer for Reynolds, mustache and all.

“It was a wild ride” to make it to Hatcher Square Mall from Gordon, Peggy said. 

Almost as wild a ride as Reynolds and Sally Field had in a 1978 Trans Am in “Smokey and the Bandit. That’s what reminded me of Jerry Reed’s theme song from the movie: “East Bound and Down.” 

Only, the Prossers were north bound and down. 

They made it, and they still had enough time to go in one of the Hatcher Square stores to pick out a cowboy hat.

“Hold it up real high when you leave here so the buzzer won’t go off,” the store owner said, “because I’m giving that hat to you.”

All the country was in a “Smokey and the Bandit” craze (in fact, the movie turned into a trilogy), so the Hatcher Square folks and radio station WIZY in Gordon decided to hold the Burt Reynolds Lookalike contest. 

Buford Prosser won easily. Peggy said only one of the other contestants even looked a little like Reynolds. I guess the other 13 contestants showed up hoping for weaker competition.

Peggy was watching as the contest was beginning and a lady behind her said, “He (Buford) even chews gum like Burt Reynolds.” Peggy told her: “He chews gum like that — period.”

Buford and Peggy had not had a chance to see “Smokey and the Bandit.”

But Buford’s prizes for winning the contest included movie tickets, as well $75 in gift certificates.

Fame was just a television appearance away. The Prossers got that, too. 

They were invited to appear on the popular “Del Ward Show” on WMAZ Channel 13 in Macon. Buford and Peggy went, and they took along their son, Brad, who was about 9 and wearing his new Dallas Cowboys jersey.

“So many people saw us on TV that didn’t know about the contest,” Peggy said.

People started coming up and telling Buford he looked like Reynolds. 

People started kidding Peggy, asking if she was Sally Field. She’d say, “No, but I wish I had her money.”

Then Hollywood came calling. Buford’s cousin worked in TV and movies in California. He encouraged Buford to come out and sign with the William Morris talent agency.

But they had their family and friends in Wilkinson County, and both worked at Freeport Kaolin. They decided to pass on Hollywood.

Peggy wrote up an item and sent a photo to the company newsletter, earning Buford more acclaim.

The Prossers never got to meet Burt Reynolds, but they were still big fans.

Peggy enjoyed “Smokey and the Bandit.” She said it was “hilarious,” and that she saw some of Reynolds’ other movies. She enjoyed his comedy and his acting.

As an aside, I knew the name Buford sounded familiar in movie lore. The name of the sheriff in “Bandit” was Buford T. Justice, who was played by Jackie Gleason. 

The name of the sheriff in the movie “Walking Tall” was Buford Pusser, who was played by Joe Don Baker.

Alas, Buford Prosser, the winner of the Hatcher Square Mall’s Burt Reynolds Lookalike contest in 1980, was tragically killed in an accident several years ago. 

Peggy Prosser is happily retired, remarried, enjoying her family and living in Gordon.

She’ll always have her memories of the lookalike contest Buford almost didn’t enter, and the way people would come up to Buford and tell him how much he looked like Burt Reynolds.

She’s happy to be in Wilkinson County, not Hollywood.

—Rick Millians, a 1970 Baldwin High graduate, is retired after working at newspapers in Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina.