See Burt Reynolds in Last Public Appearance at Bubba Fest in August

Just weeks before Burt Reynolds passed away following a heart attack at the age of 82 Thursday, the Hollywood legend was happily signing autographs for fans at Bubba Fest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Reynolds attended the August film festival, reported The Daily Times, after starring in The Last Movie Star, which was shot in Knoxville.

Click here for photos of his final appearance.

“Some movies reflect me better than others,” Reynolds reportedly said at a panel regarding the film during the festival. “[The Last Movie Star] turned out to be a personal movie. I like it and fans seem to like it, too. I usually don’t get [praise] for a movie unless there are cars in it.”

Reynolds also opened up about his passion for both cars and horses alike during his final public appearance for fans.

“My favorite car is the Trans Am,” Reynolds said. “I live out in the country in Florida and have several horses. Cars are not like horses. It isn’t too hard to drive a car, but not just anybody can ride a horse. Some horses I own will only let me ride them, while there are some that won’t even have anything to do with me.”

Reynolds famously worked with friends and fellow actors Dom DeLuise and Jerry Reed, who passed away themselves in 2009 and 2008, respectively, but remained on his mind until his final days, based on his panel comments.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of them,” Reynolds said. “Dom could give you the giggles by doing anything. He couldn’t stand pain. I would step on his foot, he would start crying, and then we would all start laughing. We would put things like that in the closing credit gag reels. Sometimes the gag reels were better than the movie.”

The Smokey and the Bandit star also hypothesized about what life would have held for him if he hadn’t gone into acting.

“I think I would have been a teacher,” he said. “They don’t make a lot of money, but they help transform lives. At my acting school in Florida, I show up on Friday nights and talk to acting students. They need a teacher that has been in wars [in the acting business]. I have lost many wars, but I have won a few. Students need to know what to really expect in the acting world.”

Photo credit: Manny Hernandez / Contributor, Getty