Quentin Tarantino Was Named After A Famous Burt Reynolds Character

It's no secret that Quentin Tarantino was raised by a 16-year-old single mother, Connie McHugh (now Connie Zastoupil), in the 1960s and '70s. His biological Italian-American father, Tony Tarantino, left the family before his son even arrived in 1963. Connie named him Quentin, after the famous character, Quint Asper, whom the late Burt Reynolds played on the classic TV Western, "Gunsmoke." It was the very role that launched Reynolds's acting career and brought him fame and a wide array of opportunities in cinema that he always wanted. Asper was half-White and half-Comanche in the story, which might be the reason Connie chose his name, since she has some Cherokee roots herself. However, it's more of a coincidence that the filmmaker having the name of a Western character fell in love with h