Burt Reynolds didn't "intend" to break Sally Field's heart.

Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds

The 79-year-old actor insists he "really adored" his frequent co-star - who he dated for several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s - but her mother always knew the actress would get hurt by the romance.

He said: "I really adored her. It was real. She's very, very, special. Her mother and I... I loved her mother.

"[Her mother said], 'I know you're going to break her heart, but please be gentle.'

"I said, 'I don't know how you could break somebody's heart and be gentle, but I don't intend to break her heart. You never intend to."

Before romancing Sally, the 'Boogie Nights' star was in a relationship with singer Dinah Shore, who was 20 years his senior, but eventually broke things off because he wanted to have children.

And Burt has nothing but kind words for the TV personality.

He gushed to People magazine: "There's nobody better.

"I never, ever heard her say anything bad about anybody. Ever. I don't know how she did it."

With both Sally and Dinah, Burt thinks he moved on too quickly, while they had the opposite problem.

He said: "I moved on from them much too soon. And they probably moved on a little too late."