Alex Carson
Dinah Shore was a recording artist whose decades-spanning career started in the 1930s. Over the course of her life, Dinah was romantically involved with a variety of notable figures, including Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. However, it was a young Burt Reynolds who grew to consider Dinah the love of his life. Join Facts Verse as the truth about Dinah Shore’s affairs comes to light.
Dinah Shore Was the Love of Burt Reynolds’ Life
By the time the 1970s came around, legendary recording artist Dinah Shore had made a successful transition to television. Dinah acted on a couple of programs during her career, including Dinah’s Place. It was through her work on Dinah’s Place that the performer came in contact with a young Burt Reynolds, who had been hired onto the show to perform a small role. Dinah became smitten with the young man, and Burt was smitten back. This came in spite of the fact that the two had an age gap between of them of nearly two decades. Their relationship grew serious when Burt invited the recording artist to spend a weekend with him.
Dinah Shore was only with Burt Reynolds for four years, and he was only one of many men that the recording artist bedded during her day. However, the actor would go to his deathbed claiming that Dinah had been the true love of his life. According to the late Burt Reynolds, one of his and Dinah’s favorite things to do together was to play tennis. In addition to being older and wiser than her boyfriend, Dinah was also a better tennis player. Burt claimed that the way that he could tell that Dinah truly loved him was that she’d let him win. Besides tennis, they also enjoyed playing golf.
Both Dinah and Burt were proficient athletes, but tennis and golf weren’t the only things that the pair bonded over. They also both had Southern upbringings, with Dinah being raised in Tennessee and Burt being raised in Florida. Of course, they also shared a passion for entertainment, though they found themselves at much different places in their careers during their relationship. Burt was a fledgling performer that had yet to find his big break. Meanwhile, Dinah was a veteran performer that had made a name for herself decades prior and was now seeing some impressive career longevity. Dinah knew everyone in Hollywood, and Burt cherished her connections. Beyond this, he also appreciated her wisdom and experience. Dinah gave her boyfriend plenty of advice, and helped him become the superstar we think of him as.
Dinah Helped Make Burt Into a Celebrity
Plenty of attention came Burt Reynolds’ way as a result of his relationship with Dinah Shore, but not all of it was necessarily positive. On account of the massive age difference between the two, the tabloids enjoyed ribbing the couple. Dinah and Burt grew quite insecure about the tabloids’ perspective, but the remained steadfast that their love knew no age. Dinah had quite the love life before becoming involved with Burt, and Burt was no slouch himself. Dinah was married twice before becoming romantically involved with Burt, while Burt was also married before hooking up with the recording artist. One of Dinah’s marriages was to a man by the name of George Montgomery, to whom she was married for two decades.
Dinah Shore and George Montgomery were married from 1943 to 1963. George was a stuntman, and the two had two children over the course of their marriage. Dinah’s next marriage was short-lived. From 1963 to 1964, she was married to a man by the name of Maurice F. Smith. By the time that Dinah met Burt Reynolds, she was no longer interested in having any more children. Meanwhile, Burt was much younger and had yet to have any children of his own. This was the central conflict of the pair’s relationship. Prior to becoming involved with Dinah, Burt was married to an actress by the name of Judy Carne. The marriage was short-lived, lasting only from 1963 to 1965. Judy was known for her work on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. In between Judy and Dinah, Burt was involved with a Japanese actress by the name of Miko Mayama. Burt and Miko were even living together at the time that Burt and Dinah became romantically involved, with Miko reportedly expecting a marriage soon. Burt Reynolds had to let Miko Mayama down easy when he told her that he had moved on to someone else. Burt apparently agreed to pay the Japanese actress $500 a week for the next two years if she agreed to exit his life without a fuss so that Dinah could take her place. Miko accepted the offer without question, and she was out of Burt’s life within the same day. Besides their financial agreement, Burt also left Miko with the goodbye present of a Cadillac convertible.
By all accounts, Dinah Shore and Burt Reynolds had a great time together during the four years that they were romantically involved. However, it wasn’t meant to be. As we’ve already established, the big thing that came between the two performers was the fact that Burt wanted to have kids while Dinah felt that she was done with her childbearing years. Dinah already had two children, and she wasn’t anxious to give birth a third time. Burt suggested that the two could possibly adopt. Still, Dinah was adamant that she didn’t want to bring any more kids into her life. Beyond the tangible concern that Burt wanted to start a family while Dinah didn’t, there was also the matter that Dinah was afraid of having to see herself grow old in Burt’s eyes. At the age that she was, Dinah was aging much more noticeably than Burt. Though he was attracted to her at the time, she feared that he might lose his attraction to her as time went on.
Both Dinah and Burt Moved On After the Relationship
Though he would claim on his deathbed that she had been the love of his life, it was Burt Reynolds who broke up with Dinah Shore and not the other way around. Burt grew fed up with Dinah’s insistence that she didn’t want to start a family with him, and he attempted to move on with his life. Burt married television actress Loni Anderson in 1988, and the pair adopted a child by the name of Quinton. Despite this fact, Burt never truly moved on from Dinah and considered her to be the love of his life until his dying day. Burt’s marriage to Loni didn’t last very long, despite the fact that the pair adopted a son. Their marriage ended in 1994, the very same year that Dinah Shore passed away. As the marriage was coming to an end, Burt claimed that he tried to get ahold of Dinah. However, Dinah wasn’t interested in reminiscing. Burt Reynolds never remarried after divorcing from Loni Anderson, and he never had any children besides Quinton. On his deathbed, he claimed that Dinah Shore had been the love of his life. He blamed himself for the dissolution of their relationship, claiming that he had been petty. The actor passed away in 2018. Dinah and Burt certainly had something special, but the recording artist is remembered for much more than just the men that she hooked up with.
Dinah Shore was born in 1916, and she managed to make a name for herself as a recording artist at a time when the music industry wasn’t very kind towards women. Dinah stuck up for herself and didn’t allow herself to get taken advantage of by executives, which is a big part of how she managed to have such career longevity. Dinah wasn’t willing to sleep with anyone to get ahead, but she was never all that picky about who she became romantically involved with in her personal life. Early on in her career she became known for her involvement in a variety of romances. One figure that she was romantically involved with early on in her career was actor James Stewart. According to legend, the pair was so hot and heavy that they once almost married in Vegas.
Besides James Stewart, another notable figure that Dinah Shore hooked up with early on in her career was Frank Sinatra. Later on in life, she would become romantically involved with another member of the Rat Pack. In addition to being known for her romances, Dinah was also known for her involvement in supporting the troops during World War II. Once America entered the war, Dinah was one of the first celebrities that ventured overseas to entertain troops. It was during World War II that Dinah met and married her first husband. After Dinah’s first marriage ended and before she hooked up with Burt Reynolds, she was romantically involved with comedic performer Dick Martin. Dick Martin was one of the titular stars of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, which is quite the coincidence when you consider that Burt Reynolds was married to Judy Carne around the same time period. When Dinah met Burt, she was 53 years old.
After her relationship with Burt Reynolds ended, Dinah Shore was involved with a variety of other figures before her 1994 death. One of these figures was actor Wayne Rogers, who was known for his work on the television series M*A*S*H. Another was singer Andy Williams. Of all the figures that Dinah hooked up with after Burt Reynolds, the most notable one would have to be Dean Martin. For those keeping track, Dean was the second member of the Rat Pack that Dinah hooked up with. In 1993, the recording artist was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and she passed away the next year.
Recording artist Dinah Shore was romantically involved with a staggering number of prominent individuals over the course of her life. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Dinah Shore hooked up with both Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and that she almost married Burt Reynolds when she was in her 50s? Comment down below!
