Robert Redford, the magnetic Hollywood star who transformed American independent cinema through his creation of the Sundance Film Festival, died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday morning at his home in the Utah mountains, his publicist has confirmed. He was 89.
Cindi Berger, chief executive of Rogers & Cowan PMK publicity firm, announced the Oscar-winning actor and director’s death in a statement, saying he passed away at his Sundance residence “surrounded by those he loved.” The family has requested privacy and no specific cause of death was provided beyond confirming he died whilst sleeping.
The charismatic performer’s death marks the end of a remarkable six-decade career that saw him evolve from a handsome leading man into one of Hollywood’s most respected directors and a pioneering champion of independent filmmaking. His influence extended far beyond the silver screen, reshaping the American film industry through his tireless support of emerging talent.
From Sundance Kid to Cinema Revolutionary
Redford burst into Hollywood stardom in 1969 when he starred opposite Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a Western about lovable outlaws that became the year’s highest-grossing film. The role of the sharpshooting Sundance Kid would prove so iconic that Redford later named his film institute and festival after the character.
“I will forever be indebted to Paul,” Redford once said of Newman, who championed him for the role when studio executives wanted a bigger name. The pair’s on-screen chemistry was undeniable, and they reunited for the 1973 con-artist caper “The Sting,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned Redford his only acting Oscar nomination.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on 18 August 1936 in Santa Monica, California, the future star grew up in a working-class family. His father worked as a milkman before becoming an accountant for an oil company, whilst his mother Martha Hart provided the encouragement that would propel him towards the arts.
Breaking Through as Actor and Director
Throughout the 1970s, Redford dominated the box office with a string of memorable performances. He portrayed Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in the Watergate thriller “All the President’s Men” (1976), starred opposite Barbra Streisand in the romantic drama “The Way We Were” (1973), and played the mysterious Jay Gatsby in the 1974 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel.
Sydney Pollack, who directed Redford in seven films, described him as “a very instinctive, impulsive actor” in a 2002 Variety interview. “I don’t think there’s anything studied or premeditated about the work. He’s the opposite of the actor who wants to rehearse and pin things down.”
Redford made his directorial debut in 1980 with “Ordinary People,” a devastating family drama starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton. The film swept the Academy Awards, winning four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Redford, establishing him as a serious filmmaker.
Creating the Sundance Legacy
In 1981, Redford founded the Sundance Institute, transforming a modest Utah ski resort into the epicentre of American independent cinema. The annual Sundance Film Festival, held in Park City, Utah, became instrumental in launching the careers of filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, and the Coen Brothers.
“The goal for me was very simple: to celebrate people who don’t get celebrated, who are ignored or undiscovered and who deserve to be discovered,” Redford told Collider in 2019 about his reasons for founding the institute.
The festival helped launch groundbreaking independent films including “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Clerks,” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” fundamentally altering the landscape of American cinema. What began as a small showcase evolved into a major industry event attracting distributors, agents, and talent scouts from around the world.
Environmental Activist and Political Voice
Beyond his contributions to cinema, Redford was a passionate environmental activist who moved to Utah in 1961, purchasing two acres of land for just $500 (£380) and building a cabin himself. “I discovered how important nature was in my life,” he told CNN, “and I wanted to be where nature was extreme and where I thought it could maybe be everlasting.”
His political films often reflected his liberal activism, including “The Candidate” (1972), a satire about California politics, and “Lions for Lambs” (2007), which examined American complicity in Afghanistan. He was a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and used his celebrity platform to advocate for environmental causes throughout his life.
President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, noting that Americans “admire Bob not just for his remarkable acting, but for having figured out what to do next.”
Personal Struggles and Family Life
Redford’s personal life included both triumph and tragedy. He married Lola Van Wagenen in 1958, and they had four children together. Their first child, Scott, died from sudden infant death syndrome at just two and a half months old in 1959, a loss that deeply affected the actor.
The couple had three more children: Shauna, who became a painter; David James, who worked as a writer and producer before his death in 2020; and Amy, who followed her father into the entertainment industry as an actress, director, and producer.
Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1985, and he later married German painter Sibylle Szaggars in 2009. He leaves behind his wife, two surviving children from his first marriage, and seven grandchildren.
Final Years and Lasting Impact
Redford continued acting well into his eighties, earning critical acclaim for his nearly wordless performance in 2013’s survival drama “All Is Lost” and appearing in Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014) as villain Alexander Pierce. His final screen performance came in 2018’s “The Old Man & the Gun,” where he played real-life bank robber Forrest Tucker.
In total, Redford directed nine feature films, including “A River Runs Through It” (1992), “Quiz Show” (1994), and “The Horse Whisperer” (1998). His 1994 film “Quiz Show,” about the television quiz show scandals of the 1950s, earned him his second Best Director Oscar nomination and universal critical acclaim.
David Ansen of Newsweek wrote: “Robert Redford may have become a more complacent movie star in the last decade, but he has become a more daring and accomplished filmmaker.”
Throughout his career, Redford won two Academy Awards, including an honorary Oscar in 2002, and three Golden Globe Awards, including the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement honour in 1994. He also received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honors.
A Complex Legacy
Whilst celebrated for his contributions to cinema, Redford remained ambivalent about his heartthrob status, often choosing roles that subverted his golden-boy image. He deliberately took on challenging parts like the mountain man in “Jeremiah Johnson” (1972) to avoid being typecast as merely a romantic lead.
“I grew up in kind of a rough neighbourhood,” he once recalled. “We’d go to matinees, any time there was a love scene on the screen, we’d go, ‘Oh boo, you tell ’em lover,’ and make fun of the scene. The idea that I would be that guy is just too much for me to take!”
Earlier this year, the Sundance Film Festival announced it would be relocating from Utah to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027, citing Boulder’s arts and technology scene as aligning with Redford’s original vision for the festival.
Robert Redford’s death leaves a void in American cinema that extends far beyond his performances. He was an artist who understood that film could be both entertainment and art, commerce and conscience. Through Sundance, he ensured that independent voices would continue to be heard long after his own had fallen silent.
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Image Credit:
Robert Redford (cropped, 2012 at U.S. Embassy in London) — photo by a U.S. Department of State employee, Public Domain
