With his undeniable charm and classic American good looks, Robert Redford, who passed away at 89, was truly the eternal ‘Sundance Kid.’ He was a quintessential US screen legend, celebrated for his captivating performances both in front of and behind the camera.
This tousled-haired heartthrob shot to stardom alongside Paul Newman as the charismatic outlaw in the iconic 1969 Western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
After two decades as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors, Redford shifted his focus to directing, earning an Oscar, and co-founding the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. This festival became a vital launchpad for a new wave of independent filmmakers, including talents like Quentin Tarantino.
French producer Alain Terzian, upon bestowing Redford with France’s equivalent of an Oscar in 2019, aptly noted, “Few careers have had such an impact on the history of cinema.”
A Journey Not Without Its Bumps
Despite his eventual towering success, Redford’s early life wasn’t a straightforward climb. Born in Santa Monica, California, to an accountant father, he faced personal tragedy when his mother passed away in 1955, just a year after his high school graduation.
He initially earned a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado, but his heavy drinking led to its loss a year later. Redford then embarked on a period of travel across Europe before enrolling in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1959.
Following a series of television appearances, his significant breakthrough on the big screen came with the romantic comedy Barefoot In The Park (1967), where he starred opposite Jane Fonda.
Just two years later, his career skyrocketed with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a film chronicling two outlaw friends as they fled to Bolivia to escape American authorities.
The movie instantly became a classic, cementing Redford’s status and further elevating the career of his lifelong friend, the older Paul Newman.
The duo reunited in 1973 as 1930s con artists in The Sting, a role that earned Redford his sole Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Mastery Behind the Lens
Now a household name, Redford graced a string of major films, including The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and the critically acclaimed All the President’s Men (1976), where he portrayed Bob Woodward, one of the Washington Post journalists who exposed the Watergate scandal.
The beloved baseball classic The Natural followed in 1984. Then, Redford captivated a new generation with his role in the epic romance Out of Africa (1985), co-starring with Meryl Streep.
Achieving another significant career milestone, he won an Oscar for his directorial debut with Ordinary People the following year.
He later shared the screen with a young Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It (1992) and appeared in the Oscar-nominated Quiz Show (1994).
When presenting Redford, an outspoken liberal and environmentalist, with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 2002, singer Barbra Streisand remarked, “Robert Redford’s work… always represents the man himself: the intellectual, the artist, the cowboy.”
Streisand, who played his love interest in The Way We Were (1973), described him as, “He’s always interesting, he’s always interested. He’s very smart, very private, he’s self-assured, but shy.”
Champion of Independent Cinema
Redford always considered his role in establishing the independent Sundance Film Festival in 1985 among his proudest accomplishments.
Conceived to support aspiring filmmakers who felt marginalized by Hollywood’s commercialism and lack of diversity, the festival has nurtured visionary independent directors like Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, and Steven Soderbergh.
In 2013, Redford reflected that embracing the independent film scene was crucial for his own longevity in the movie business. “Had I given in to living in the (Hollywood) system, I don’t know that I would be here right now,” he stated.
At 76, he returned to the screen for one of his most powerful leading roles in years: a solo performance as a lost yachtsman in All Is Lost (2013).
He also made appearances in Marvel Studios’ superhero blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and a cameo in its record-breaking Avengers: Endgame (2019).
In 2018, Redford identified the #MeToo movement as the most significant transformation in Hollywood during his 60-year career. He called it a “tipping point” that he believed would fundamentally alter the industry’s approach to women and issues of sexual misconduct.
Redford had four children with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen; one tragically passed away in infancy.
He married German artist and long-time partner Sibylle Szaggars in 2009.