Burt Reynolds’ Burning Toupee Terror

Burt Reynolds survived a chilling brush with death — when a fireball from a stunt gone wrong actually left the actor’s mustache, eyebrows and toupee smoldering!

The disaster unfolded while Burt was filming the 1990s TV sitcom "Evening Shade," near the peak of his fame. His character, a high school football coach, was putting out a stove fire when a blast from a prop fire extinguisher accidentally blew the flames in his face!

Burt fell to the floor and crew members doused him with a real fire extinguisher! “It was terrifying!” an insider on the set told The National ENQUIRER. “After five minutes Burt got up, spitting out fire extinguisher foam. “I heard him say, ‘Thank the Lord I can still see. I thought for a moment that I’d burned my eyeballs out!’”

Although the gutsy actor wanted to go on with the show, he was rushed by ambulance to Sherman Oaks Community Hospital, treated for burns on his head and hands, and tested to make sure he hadn't ingested any chemicals from the extinguisher's dousing.

“Burt was really shook up, and tried to mask his fear by cracking jokes,” said the source. “He said to one nurse, ‘Has this been a hair-raising experience or what?’ But you could tell that he was a nervous wreck.”