Burt Reynolds and Dinah Shore arrive for the 1974 Oscars. (Getty Images)

As actors Anne Hathaway and James Franco take the stage as co-hosts of tonight’s Academy Awards telecast on ABC, there’s a lot of curious anticipation:

Will they be funny, in a role given largely to comedians over the ceremony’s 83-year history? Will they choke? Is this going to be a great, glittery train wreck?

Among those curious television viewers will be at least one local who knows all about the challenges that Hathaway and Franco are about to tackle. And he’s got some words of wisdom.

“I would say ‘Don’t get too brave,’ ” advises Jupiter’s Burt Reynolds, who co-hosted the broadcast in 1974 with David Niven, John Huston and Diana Ross.

“We saw what happened (with Ricky Gervais) in the Golden Globes. I do think he’s funny. Very funny. But I never saw anybody try to commit hari-kiri in front of that many people before.”

Reynolds, 75, has Oscar cred not just from his hosting gig but from attending as a nominee in 1998 for Best Supporting Actor in Boogie Nights. And he’s got lots of memories, stories and more thoughts on what he remembers about being Oscar’s master of ceremonies: “A magical night for me, to be in that position as an actor and not a comedian.”

On this year’s hosts: “Anne is a wonderful personality and seems like a very nice girl. … James Franco, I don’t really know. But my advice to him would be to be as dignified and classy as you know how to be, and not to be cocky. It’s not a time to be cocky. You’re going to be surrounded by people who obviously think you’re capable of doing this, or otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten the call. I was on that (host selection) committee for a couple of years, and they’re brutal when picking people: ‘No, no, no. Not him. He cries too much.’ “

On co-hosting the 1974 Oscars: “David Niven was so grand and so wonderful. Before the show, he said ‘Old boy, I think there’s going to be a streaker.’ I went on first, and you know this guy was rolled up somewhere the entire time I was on, for an hour or so. When I left the stage, it wasn’t maybe 10 minutes, and this guy goes flying across the stage. And David said, ‘The only laugh that man will ever get is by stripping … and showing his shortcomings.’ And I thought, ‘I had a good joke. Why the hell couldn’t he have come on when I was on there?’ “

On nerves: “I thought I would not be weak in the knees, but I was stunned when I walked out there. It’s one thing to do it at rehearsal, when there’s nobody there, and another to walk out when the place is filled to the rafters and you see a couple of people you don’t like. It’s an unbelievable feeling, like suddenly being stuck in the middle of the Barnum & Bailey circus. I was too dumb to be scared, though. I had no nerves about it.”

On his favorite Oscar hosts: “Steve Martin was the best. (He has) a brilliant sense of humor, and is a dear, dear friend of mine. I think they should have stayed with him. Billy Crystal — he can’t do anything wrong by me. He was brilliant. I thought (that after a while) he had used up all his jokes, but I think he’s wonderful. I think it really needs to be a comedian.”

On attending as a nominee for ‘Boogie Nights’: “Best Supporting Actor goes first, and I had won every single thing — the Golden Globe, the New York Film Festival, everything. I was sitting with Charles Durning, who I love and adore more than anybody. And they didn’t call my name. (Robin) Williams got up and went down the aisle and I literally saluted him. He said I shot the bird at him, which made me so angry that I wanted to shoot him the bird. What saved me, when I knew I had to sit there for the next hour and a half with people patting me on the back and saying ‘You shoulda won,’ was Charlie. He reached over and said, ‘I made it through World War II. What the hell is this thing?’ “

On advice for this year’s nominees: “I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a Valium. And there’s basically nothing wrong with sitting with people who understand the B.S. part of it, that’s it’s a popularity contest: If that’s the case, then I’m not as popular as I thought! It really does come down to voting. My problem was that everybody thought I would win, and that can work against you. Try not to make it the most important moment in your life. Make it one of the happiest. To be in that circle of people for the rest of your life and to get that moniker ‘Academy Award nominee’? I can live with that.”

On his Oscar picks for this year: “I’ve seen them all. I’m on the voting list. The King’s Speech was stunning. And I thought Jeff Bridges (of True Grit) outdid himself, but the one who should win is the little girl (Hailee Steinfeld). She was amazing, and you know what? They went all over the U.S. hunting for this girl, and they found her in the (San Fernando) Valley, right under their noses. She was wonderful, a classic example of someone taking what was happening to them at the moment and making it work. She looked like she could whip anyone, like if they gave her any sass, she would shoot them.”