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| - We have yet to find evidence that might help to confirm these claims about Reynolds. The rumor appeared to spawn either out of a June 2024 TikTok video or an IMDb.com trivia page entry, neither of which provided any sources for their claims.
A rumor circulating online tells the story of how Oscar-nominated actor Burt Reynolds allegedly needed around 63 takes to finish his lines for the final scene of the 1989 animated musical film, "All Dogs Go to Heaven."
For example, on Aug. 17, TikTok user @bronwyngilmour posted a video (archived) captioned, "When you learn little Judith Barsi was murdered by her father after recording her lines and it took Burt Reynolds 63 takes to record this scene." The video received more than 33,000 likes and 610,000 views. Other TikTok videos promoting all or part of the same rumor received millions of views.
According to the rumor, Reynolds, who provided the voice of the dog character, Charlie, was quite broken up about the death of Barsi, who had already finished recording her lines as the voice of the orphan character, Anne-Marie. The rumor said that Reynolds was so devastated that, while preparing to record his part of the movie's final scene in which Charlie says goodbye to Anne-Marie, he asked for a "closed studio" and reflected on a photo of Barsi.
However, we have yet to find evidence that might help to confirm these claims about Reynolds, who died in 2018. The rumor appeared to spawn either out of a June 2024 TikTok video or a fairly recent IMDb.com trivia page entry, neither of which provided any sources for their claims. For these reasons, we have rated this rumor as "Unfounded."
"All Dogs Go to Heaven" was released in U.S. movie theaters on Nov. 17, 1989 — the same day as the Disney animated feature, "The Little Mermaid." Don Bluth directed "Dogs." Gary Goldman and Dan Kuenster served as co-directors. At the time, a newspaper advertisement billed the movie as, "Don Bluth ('An American Tail,' 'The Land Before Time') weighs in with another animated feature, this one a musical about an orphan girl whose ability to talk to animals leads her on an adventure through New Orleans in 1939."
In this story, we've documented the apparent origins of this rumor, all in chronological order. First, though, we'll begin with the history of Barsi's 1988 death and information from Bluth himself.
The Death of Judith Barsi
One aspect of this rumor not in question was the tragic and shocking death of 11-year-old Barsi, who investigators said was killed by her father, Jozsef, on July 27, 1988.
On Aug. 4, 1988, The Associated Press (AP) published the following news:
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A child actress who was upset over death threats from her father had been referred to social workers several months before she and her mother were killed last week by the girl's father, it was reported.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services closed its investigation at the beginning of June in the case of 10-year-old Judith Barsi at the request of the child's mother, said department director Robert Chaffee.
"It was satisfactorily resolved, as far as the client was concerned," he told the Commission on Children's Services this week.
Judith and her mother, Maria Barsi, 48, were shot in the head by Jozsef Barsi, 55, on the morning of July 27, police said. The father then set their San Fernando Valley home on fire before going into the garage and fatally shooting himself in the head, authorities said.
The AP story reported Judith's agent, Ruth Hansen, said the young girl had become so disturbed prior to her death that she had pulled out her eyelashes. According to the Los Angeles Times (archived), Hansen said she plucked out not only her own eyelashes but also her cat's whiskers.
An article published by United Press Internation (UPI) on the day after the deaths mentioned investigators searching the burned home found Judith's body in her bed and Maria's body in a hallway. The story said Jozsef soaked both victims in gasoline. A separate story from AP only said he doused the house with gasoline but did not mention the bodies. The AP's story cited fire batallion chief Jack Monroe for the information.
UPI's reporting further noted that Judith previously played the role of a girl slain by her father in the 1984 TV miniseries, "Fatal Vision."
One of Judith's prominent roles before her death was as Ducky in the 1988 animated film, "The Land Before Time." The character featured the memorable catchphrase, "Yep yep yep!"
Meridian Magazine Article from 2012
On July 9, 2012, the Latter-day Saints publication Meridian Magazine featured an interview with Bluth that touched on the subject of Barsi's death. However, the information published in the story did not help to confirm the rumor about Reynolds. The article simply provided some insight into how Barsi's death affected the crew for "All Dogs Go to Heaven":
There were also more poignant blows like hearing that Judith Barsi who did the unforgettable and adorable voices of both Ducky in "Land Before Time" and Anne-Marie in "All Dogs Go to Heaven," was killed by her father a year and half before the latter film was completed. Don said that the news "nearly paralyzed us." Those that were working on Anne-Marie each had cassette recordings of her voice to help in the animating process and he said, "we couldn't listen to the voice. Everybody would start tearing up….so it stopped everything for a while."
Key Piece of Evidence from 2016
In our search for proof that might confirm the rumor about Reynolds needing around 63 takes to record the final scene for "All Dogs Go to Heaven," we stumbled upon a May 5, 2016, article co-authored by Bluth and Goldman.
The article, which as of 2024 only existed in archived form on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, began, "In February of 1988, we were able to get Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise together in a Los Angeles recording studio to rehearse and record Burt and Dom's voices for 'All Dogs Go To Heaven.'" In other words, the article indicated Reynolds recorded either some or all of his lines in early 1988, months before Barsi's death.
The same story also mentioned, "Don stepped away from Burt and came into the control booth where the recording engineer worked with Gary and Dom DeLuise." This statement confirmed that Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were present for at least some of the recordings, if not all of them. Again, the idea promoted with the rumor claimed Reynolds wanted everyone to leave but the recording engineer, or what some users referred to as a "closed studio." The idea that Reynolds would ask two of the lead crew members on the film — including the main director himself — to leave the studio appeared questionable, at best.
Bluth previously posted (archived) a photo of Reynolds recording lines next to DeLuise, providing a glimpse inside the studio where the actor likely also recorded the lines for the final scene. This same photo also appeared in the blog article but the Wayback Machine did not properly archive the image.
From left to right: Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Don Bluth in a February 1988 recording session for "All Dogs Go to Heaven." (Credit: @DonBluth/X)
June 2024: Rumor Promoted on TikTok
On June 1, 2024, TikTok user @ghostfacepanda333 posted a video (archived) displaying the caption, "The final scene of 'All Dogs Go to Heaven' is much sadder than you think." Near the end of August, the video had received over 1.5 million likes and around 14 million views.
In the video, the user claimed that, following Barsi's death, Reynolds had already recorded all of his lines except those for the final scene of the film:
Reynolds had asked for a closed studio which meant it would just be him and the audio engineer present at the time. They would end up losing track of how many takes it took Burt Reynolds to get through the scene without breaking down. They even had to go back and redraw part of the scene because it was the best take that Burt Reynolds did but it still had him choking up at one point. The final scene of "All Dogs Go to Heaven" wasn't Charlie saying goodbye to Anne-Marie. It was Burt Reynolds saying goodbye to Judith Barsi.
The user, @ghostfacepanda333, did not mention the number of takes Reynolds went through to finish the scene, nor did he say anything about Reynolds looking at a photo of Barsi while recording his lines. Other users subsequently made these claims, as we'll reveal later in this story.
Upon reaching out to the user, they provided the following information after we initially published this article:
I initially came across the story in a YouTube comment section of all places. I corresponded with the person who made the comment and he said he was a relative of one of the editors of the film. I'm not sure if he referred to Lisa Dornery or Jonathan Carr. He said that's where he claimed get his information regarding the story. He sent me audio files of outtakes from the session that seemed legitimate. Reynolds had recorded lines previously, but had yet to do his final scene. That's why there are sources with images of him along with other voice actors. I've spent a couple hours trying to find the conversation with this individual on YouTube but can't get anywhere. My laptop with the audio files is long gone, it was in my car and my car was stolen, never recovered.
We will update this story if we learn more from this user in the future.
IMDb.com Trivia Page
As of August 2024, the IMDb.com trivia page (archived) for "All Dogs Go to Heaven" featured at least one brief entry related to the rumor. The entry did not display an author or date. Further, the entry appeared fairly new, seeing as it did not show up in a February 2023 archived page capture on the Wayback Machine. It's unclear if a user added the trivia entry before or after @ghostfacepanda333 created his video. Either way, the fact that these two pieces of content existed as the apparent earliest mentions of the rumor indicated the claims about Reynolds and the nearly 35-year-old film were born on the internet.
The trivia entry mentioned Reynolds took "nearly 70 takes" to record his lines for the final scene, as opposed to other versions of the rumor reporting 63 takes, and read, in part, "Burt Reynolds was also so heartbroken that he asked if he could redo his 'Goodbye isn't forever' lines, and did so while looking at a photo of her. Reportedly, it took Reynolds nearly 70 takes to get the lines right, and in the final film his voice can be heard breaking, especially on the line, 'I'll miss you too.'" Of course, one simple factor could account for Reynolds' emotional tone: acting.
IMDb.com invites users to contribute their own trivia entries. In other words, just like unsourced claims made in a TikTok video, an IMDb.com trivia page alone would likely not be considered a reliable source of information.
Further Posts and Articles
Our searches for other users who promoted this rumor found several people's posts on Facebook (archived), iFunny (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived). None of these users provided any source material to back up the claims.
For example, three TikTok videos mentioning the rumor on July 12, Aug. 17 and Aug. 23 received a combined tens of millions of views.
A thread (archived) on X also displayed more than 10 million combined views. In a reply, at least one user asked (archived) for a source to support the post's claims. Another inquisitive user replied (archived) to the same post, "I don't mean to kill the mood but I've been looking on the internet and apparently it might just be a rumor from the film's IMDB" — a reference to the unsourced IMDb.com trivia entry.
From Aug. 21-22, the websites Dexerto.com (archived), Distractify (archived) and FandomWire (archived) published articles promoting the rumor about Reynolds in the recording session. The articles featured words including "allegedly" and reportedly," simply referencing the TikTok videos or other posts that spread the claims about Reynolds.
For example, Distractify ended its story with, "We can't verify for sure whether or not the story is true, but either way, it was a beautiful movie that featured an enormously talented young actress who was taken from the world too soon. RIP, Judith Barsi."
Additional Notes
Some users looked for sources regarding the rumor on Reddit in posts and replies, all created after @ghostfacepanda333 uploaded his June 1, 2024, TikTok video, and perhaps also after the publishing of the IMDb.com trivia entry.
Also, in 1989, the Oakland Tribune newspaper published that Reynolds originally approached Bluth, Goldman and Kuenster seven years earlier, apparently during or around 1982, with the idea for a story that eventually became the basis of the script for "All Dogs Go to Heaven."
In preparation for this article, we contacted representatives for Bluth, Goldman and Kuenster, as well as other crew members also involved in the making of "All Dogs Go to Heaven." We will update this story if we receive any responses.
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