Robert Redford Dies

Redford was one of the defining movie stars of the 1970s, crossing with ease between the Hollywood new wave and the mainstream film industry, before also becoming an Oscar-winning director and producer in the ensuing decades.

Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford Sr. and Martha Woodruff Redford, and he grew up in Van Nuys where he attended Van Nuys High School. After graduation he enrolled at the University of Colorado in Boulder on a baseball scholarship but left after a year and a half,

traveling in Europe before returning to the United States to study painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and later acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which he graduated in 1959. Redford began his career on stage, appearing on Broadway in Tall Story and Barefoot in the Park, the latter of which brought him critical attention.

Movies

  • 1960 Tall Story
  • 1962 War Hunt
  • 1965 Inside Daisy Clover
  • 1965 Situation Hopeless… But Not Serious
  • 1966 This Property Is Condemned
  • 1966 The Chase
  • 1967 Barefoot in the Park
  • 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • 1969 Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
  • 1969 Downhill Racer
  • 1970 Little Fauss and Big Halsy
  • 1972 Jeremiah Johnson
  • 1972 The Candidate
  • 1972 The Hot Rock
  • 1973 The Sting
  • 1973 The Way We Were
  • 1974 The Great Gatsby
  • 1975 Three Days of the Condor
  • 1975 The Great Waldo Pepper
  • 1976 All the President’s Men
  • 1977 A Bridge Too Far
  • 1979 The Electric Horseman
  • 1980 Brubaker
  • 1984 The Natural
  • 1985 Out of Africa
  • 1986 Legal Eagles
  • 1990 Havana
  • 1992 Sneakers
  • 1993 Indecent Proposal
  • 1993 La Classe américaine
  • 1996 Up Close & Personal
  • 1998 The Horse Whisperer
  • 2001 The Last Castle
  • 2001 Spy Game
  • 2004 The Clearing
  • 2005 An Unfinished Life
  • 2006 Charlotte’s Web (voice)
  • 2007 Lions for Lambs
  • 2012 The Company You Keep
  • 2013 All Is Lost
  • 2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  • 2015 A Walk in the Woods
  • 2015 Truth
  • 2016 Pete’s Dragon
  • 2017 The Discovery
  • 2017 Our Souls at Night
  • 2018 The Old Man & the Gun
  • 2019 Avengers: Endgame
  • 2020 Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia

His early film roles included Inside Daisy Clover (1965), but his breakthrough came with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) opposite Paul Newman, which made him a household name. Throughout the 1970s he starred in some of the era’s most iconic films,

including The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), and All the President’s Men (1976). Over the decades he became one of Hollywood’s most bankable and respected actors, admired for his understated style and choice of roles.

TV

  • 1960 Maverick
  • 1960 Rescue 8
  • 1960 The Deputy
  • 1960 Playhouse 90
  • 1960 Tate (2 episodes)
  • 1960 Moment of Fear
  • 1960 Perry Mason
  • 1960 The Play of the Week
  • 1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  • 1961 Route 66
  • 1961 Whispering Smith
  • 1961 Naked City
  • 1962–1963 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (2 episodes)
  • 1963 Dr. Kildare
  • 1963 The Twilight Zone
  • 1963 The Untouchables
  • 1963 The Virginian
  • 2004 Tanner on Tanner
  • 2023 White House Plumbers (voice)
  • 2025 Dark Winds

In addition to acting, Redford became a significant director and producer. His directorial debut Ordinary People (1980) won him Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, and he went on to direct A River Runs Through It (1992), Quiz Show (1994), and The Horse Whisperer (1998), among others.

Producer

  • 1988 The Milagro Beanfield War
  • 1992 A River Runs Through It
  • 1994 Quiz Show
  • 1998 The Horse Whisperer
  • 1998 A Civil Action
  • 2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance
  • 2007 Lions for Lambs
  • 2010 The Conspirator
  • 2012 The Company You Keep

Exec_Producer

  • Promised Land (1987)
  • Some Girls (1988)
  • The Dark Wind (1991)
  • She’s the One (1996)
  • No Looking Back (1998)
  • Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
  • How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog (2002)
  • Love in the Time of Money (2002)
  • People I Know (2002)
  • Skinwalkers (2002) (TV movie)
  • The Motorcycle Diaries (2002)
  • The March (2013) (Documentary)
  • Drunktown’s Finest (2014)
  • The Adderall Diaries (2015)
  • American Epic (2017)
  • The American Epic Sessions (2017)
  • The Mustang (2019)

Beyond film, he played a pivotal role in shaping the future of American independent cinema by founding the Sundance Institute1 in 1981 and establishing the Sundance Film Festival, which became one of the most important platforms for emerging filmmakers worldwide. Redford’s personal life included his marriage to historian

Lola Van Wagenen in 1958, with whom he had four children: Scott, who died in infancy, Shauna, David (who died in 2020), and Amy; the couple divorced in the mid-1980s. In 2009 he married German artist Sibylle Szaggars, who remained with him until his death. He was honored with numerous awards, including an Academy Award for Best Director, an Honorary Academy Award, five Golden Globes, a BAFTA, the Cecil B. DeMille Award,

the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and an Honorary César, as well as recognition for his environmental and humanitarian work. Robert Redford died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife Sibylle Szaggars, his daughters Shauna and Amy, and seven grandchildren, and he was predeceased by his sons Scott and James.

Footnotes
  1. The Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 by Robert Redford with the mission of supporting independent filmmakers and promoting innovative storytelling in cinema and other media. Located in Park City, Utah, the Institute provides year-round programs including labs, workshops, and grants that help filmmakers develop, produce, and distribute their projects, from feature films to documentaries and short films. Its most prominent initiative is the Sundance Film Festival, which has grown into one of the most influential platforms for independent film in the world, showcasing new voices and discovering talent that often goes on to shape the broader film industry. Beyond film, the Institute also fosters work in theater, music, and other forms of storytelling, aiming to nurture creativity, diversity, and experimentation in the arts. ↩︎
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Author: Doyle

I was born in Atlanta, moved to Alpharetta at 4, lived there for 53 years and moved to Decatur in 2016. I've worked at such places as Richway, North Fulton Medical Center, Management Science America (Computer Tech/Project Manager) and Stacy's Compounding Pharmacy (Pharmacy Tech).

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