Legendary actor, director, and co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival and Institute, Robert Redford, has died at the age of 89. The icon passed away in his sleep at his home in Utah, according to his publicist, Cindi Berger of Rogers & Cowan.
Born in Santa Monica, California, on Aug. 18th, 1936, Redford would study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before premiering on Broadway in Tall Story in 1959, followed by a variety of stage, TV, and film roles such as Barefoot in the Park, The Twilight Zone, and War Hunt in the 1960s.
His big break would come opposite Paul Newman in George Roy Hill’s 1969 Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, leading to an array of 70s New Hollywood classics, such as The Way We Were, The Sting, Jeremiah Johnson, Downhill Racer, Three Days of the Condor, The Great Gatsby, and All The President’s Men, earning him the moniker of “Hollywood’s Golden Boy”.
In 1980, he transitioned into directing with the drama Ordinary People, which would win four Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture. He would helm several other films, including The Milagro Beanfield War, A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show, The Horse Whisperer, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Conspirator in the following decades.
In 1981, he founded the Sundance Institute, named for the character from the aforementioned film, to champion independent artists and filmmakers. In 1985, the organization took control of the U.S. Film Festival and renamed it the Sundance Film Festival, which has gone on to help launch the careers of filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, and many others to this day.
Outside of the film industry, Redford became a passionate environmentalist and supporter of Native American and LGBTQ rights, as well as holding a rebellious and anti-establishment view of the government throughout his life, that he said came from meeting then Senator Richard Nixon as a boy:
He shook my hand and gave me the award…and the vibe that went through me was so extreme, I said, ‘What in the hell, who is this guy? What a creep’…And it hit me, I think that stuck…Of course, I associated that with politics.
Redford is survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars, daughters Shauna Schlosser Redford and Amy Redford, and seven grandchildren.
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