I really am impressed and think it is great that you got it.
The next clue I was thinking of leaving was that Burt Reynolds was friends with him.
They also started or worked together at a theatre that Burt owned.
CNR was involved with directing plays and an acting teacher.
He did one of those one actor monolog plays, as so many others have done, about his life called Life of Reilly, which I would like to see.
He talks about the circus fire here.
Pay attention to what his mother told him when he left for it!
"Please vote to preserve the unique character of Warren…" - Robert Duvall

Thank you, it was a pleasure. Now when do I get my prize?
I looked first for celebrities who survived the 1937 zeppelin explosion/fire and didn't find any.

Bingo!
We have a winner!
Well done.
Just like those who got fried in that fire!
"Please vote to preserve the unique character of Warren…" - Robert Duvall

Charles Nelson Reiley, born 1931, survived the famous Hartford Circus Fire of 1944, at age 13.
I read all your clues and I am certain this is your guy.
At age 13, he survived the 1944 Hartford circus fire[4] which killed 167 people in Connecticut, and he was afraid to sit in an audience ever again after that. Because of the event's trauma, he rarely attended theater, stating that the large crowds reminded him of what happened that day.[5]
-Wikipedia

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Okay, we give up. Who the @#$%^&*! is it???!!

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…also, Cain's birthday is awfully close to Elizabeth Taylor's (hers is on February 27th, his is on the 26th. Awfully close - - just 18 years apart, lol).
Oh well, if that's not the answer, "eye" will keep looking around.