Robert Redford, Oscar-winning director, actor, and liberal activist, passes away at 89

Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died Tuesday at 89.

Robert died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement. No cause of death was provided.

Robert Redford, the golden boy passes away

After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Robert was one of the biggest stars of the ’70s with such films as The Candidate, All the President’s Men and The Way We Were, capping that decade with the best director Oscar for 1980’s Ordinary People, which also won best picture in 1980. His wavy blond hair and boyish grin made him the most desired of leading men, but he worked hard to transcend his looks — whether through his political advocacy, his willingness to take on unglamorous roles or his dedication to providing a platform for low-budget movies.

His roles ranged from journalist Bob Woodward to a mountain man in Jeremiah Johnson to a double agent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his co-stars included Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. But his most famous screen partner was his old friend and fellow activist and practical joker Paul Newman, their films a variation of their warm, teasing relationship off screen. Robert played the wily outlaw opposite Paul in 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a box-office smash from which Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute and festival got its name. He also teamed with Paul on 1973’s best picture Oscar winner, The Sting, which earned Robert a best-actor nomination as a young con artiste in 1930s Chicago.

Film roles after the ’70s became more sporadic as Robert concentrated on directing and producing, and his new role as patriarch of the independent-film movement in the 1980s and ’90s through his Sundance Institute. But he starred in 1985’s best picture champion Out of Africa and in 2013 received some of the best reviews of his career as a shipwrecked sailor in All is Lost, in which he was the film’s only performer. In 2018, he was praised again in what he called his farewell movie, The Old Man and the Gun.

“I just figure that I’ve had a long career that I’m very pleased with. It’s been so long, ever since I was 21,” he told AP shortly before the film out. “I figure now as I’m getting into my 80s, it’s maybe time to move toward retirement and spend more time with my wife and family.”

Redford was married twice, most recently to Sibylle Szaggars. He had four children, two of whom have died — Scott Anthony, who died in infancy, in 1959; and James Redford, an activist and filmmaker who died in 2020.

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