Grammy winner, good-old-boy actor
Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jerry Reed, a Grammy Award-winning singer who became a good-old-boy actor in car chase movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, has died Monday of complications from emphysema, his longtime booking agent said. He was 71.
As a singer in the 1970 s and early 1980 s, Reed had a string of hits including “Amos Moses,” “ When You’re Hot, You’re Hot, ” “East Bound and Down,” “ She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft ) ” and “The Bird.” In the mid-70 s, he began acting in such movies as Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good old boy. But he was an ornery heavy in Gator, directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998 ’s The Waterboy, starring Adam Sandler.
Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, “U. S. Male” and “Guitar Man” in 1968. Reed also wrote “A Thing Called Love,” recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash.
Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.
He won a Grammy Award for “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” in 1971.
A year earlier he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkins for their collaboration, Me and Jerry. In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for Sneakin’ Around.
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