Burt Reynolds Told Sandy Duncan He ‘Wanted to Kill’ Her Over Barney the Dinosaur

Sandy Duncan has had a long career in TV. However, it was her role in the beloved children’s franchise Barney that made Burt Reynolds joke that he wanted to kill her.

Duncan, 80, played the mom in Barney and the Backyard Gang, a series of direct-to-VHS tapes released in 1988 that marked the first appearance of everyone’s favorite big purple dinosaur.

During a resurfaced appearance on Nostalgia Tonight With Joe Sibilia, which is getting renewed attention, Duncan revealed that Reynolds’ kids were fans.

“Burt Reynolds, I can’t say [where] exactly, but we were at a big gathering, one of those events, and somebody behind my back creeped up and whispered in my ear, ‘I wanted to kill you,’ because he had a toddler, and he said, ‘All we have on television is you and Barney,’” she explained, per People.

Reynolds kids weren’t the only ones enamored with Barney and his message of positivity, love and accompanying catchy songs about those subjects. It wasn’t long before the successful VHS series got a pilot picked up for PBS.

Barney & Friends went on to be a worldwide phenomenon, delighting kids and introducing audiences to Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. However, when she was asked to reprise her role as the mother in the PBS series, the offer wasn’t good enough and Duncan says she respectfully passed.

“We lived in an apartment the next year in New York, and … the balloons [for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade] would get blown up right outside our window. And right outside our window was Barney,” she said with a laugh.

She went on to joke that her kids tell her she made the wrong call, because they could all own a private island, airplane and boat right now if she’d stuck with the Barney franchise, which is still going strong today. In 2024, an animated series called Barney’s World debuted on HBO Max.