This reminds me of an auction of Burt Reynold's personal property about 5 years ago. I happened to be a friend of James Best's and told him about it, since he and Burt were good friends. I happened to mention Burt's Arvo Ojala gun belt because Jimmie was in so many westerns and was an incredible marksman. He was also a quick draw. We were at a wild west film festival in the late 90s and Jimmie could still draw and hit a target in .44 seconds... in his 70's! Jimmie immediately said something to the effect of "Hey! That's mine! Burt borrowed it and never gave it back." Sure enough, I looked on the Julien's auction site and the description says it was marked "James Best". LMAO.
https://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/146/lot/60190/BURT-REYNOLDS-ARVO-OJALA-JAMES-BEST-GUN-BELT-AND-HOLSTERBurt was in pathetic financial condition the last two decades of his life. He did this kind of endorsement of the "authentic Smokey and the Bandit Trans-Am" auction several times in his last few years. Each time he looked more and more feeble and less and less convincing.
In the early 80's when he made Sharkey's Machine in Atlanta, he tried to launch a production studio there. He needed city cooperation - TIF financing or something - and they didn't go for it. He certainly had the right idea, but was about 30 years early.
I recall seeing City Heat - a not so well executed film with Burt and Clint. Assumed to be a guaranteed hit with those two, it underperformed. More importantly it was the downfall of Reynolds after he was injured in a fight sequence, causing a TMJ injury which led to pain medication addiction. Everything seemed to be downhill from there. I always found it interesting that at the time of that film Eastwood and Reynolds were on par as film stars, and afterwards Reynolds hit the skids and never did much of note. Eastwood honed the saw and became a fine director and acted in a number of successful films, and continues to direct to this day. What divergent paths.