Robert Redford

Robert Redford
Redford in 1971
Born
Charles Robert Redford, Jr.

(1936-08-18)August 18, 1936
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
DiedSeptember 16, 2025(2025-09-16) (aged 89)
Sundance, Utah, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • businessman
Spouse(s)
Lola van Wagenen
​
​
(m. 1958; div. 1985)​

Sybille Szaggars
​
(m. 2009)​
Children4; including James and Amy
Parent(s)Charles Redford Sr.
Martha Hart
Signature

Charles Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025), was an American film actor, director, producer, businessman, activist and model. One of Hollywood's biggest superstars, Redford kept his appeal as the decades passed. In 1978, Redford founded the Sundance Film Festival.

During his career, Redford won many awards including an Academy Award; a BAFTA Award; and five Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994; the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996; the Academy Honorary Award in 2002; the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005; the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016; and the Honorary César in 2019.

Early life

Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on August 18, 1936 in Santa Monica, California. He had a paternal half-brother, William. Redford was of Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry. Redford's family lived in Van Nuys while his father worked in El Segundo.

Redford had a mild case of polio when he was 11.

After graduating from high school in 1954, he went to the University of Colorado in Boulder for a year and a half. While at Colorado, Redford began drinking a lot and, as a result, lost his half-scholarship and was kicked out of school. He later studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and took classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, New York.

Career

Redford in 2005

Redford started his career in television acting in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone before making his Broadway debut playing a newlywed husband in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963). Redford had his first movie role in War Hunt (1962) before having the lead roles in Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), and The Sting (1973).

Redford became more popular when he was in The Way We Were (1973); Three Days of the Condor (1975); All the President's Men (1976); The Electric Horseman (1979), Brubaker (1980), The Natural (1984); and Out of Africa (1985). Redford also played Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Redford directed his first movie Ordinary People in 1980. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. He went on to direct eight movies including the drama The Milagro Beanfield War (1984); the period drama A River Runs Through It (1992); the historical drama Quiz Show (1994); the neo-western The Horse Whisperer (1998); and the sports fantasy The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000).

Redford co-founded the Sundance Resort and Film Institute in 1981. He was also known for his work as a political activist where he supported environmentalism, Native American and indigenous people's rights, and LGBT rights.

In August 2018, Redford officially announced his retirement from acting.

Personal life and death

On August 9, 1958, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen. They had four children: Scott Anthony Redford, Shauna Jean Redford, David James Redford, and Amy Hart Redford. Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1985.

In July 2009, Redford and his longtime girlfriend, Sibylle Szaggars, married at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Hamburg, Germany.

In May 2011, Robert Redford: The Biography was published by Alfred A. Knopf, written by Michael Feeney Callan.

Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah at the age of 89 on September 16, 2025.

Movies

Actor

Director

Producer

References

  1. ↑ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1220/1221. Aug 17–24, 2012. p. 28.
  2. ↑ Schlosser, Conor (8 November 2024). "Keeping Nature in the Picture: An Interview with Robert Redford". Orion. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  3. ↑ Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2005
  4. ↑ Callan, Michael Feeney (2011). Robert Redford: The Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780857206190. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  5. ↑ Farber, Stephen (October 20, 1991). "Sponsored Archives: A Robert Redford Retrospective, Redford Turns West Again". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  6. ↑ "New England Historic Genealogical Society". Archived from the original on December 12, 2005. Retrieved April 27, 2008.. Web.archive.org (December 12, 2005). Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Redford discusses how Texas saved itself from serious environmental harm". Chron. March 23, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Polio battle sparked Redford's Jonas doco". Special Broadcasting Service. Australian Associated Press. February 13, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Robert Redford". Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  10. ↑ De Forest, Ben (August 10, 1983). "Redford plays a natural". The Dispatch. (Lexington, North Carolina). Associated Press. p. 9.
  11. ↑ "Redford visits 'party school'". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. May 14, 1987. p. 7D.
  12. ↑ Robertson, Nan (October 4, 1984). "Academy of Dramatic Arts at 100". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ Pulver, Andrew (2018-08-06). "Robert Redford confirms retirement from acting". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  14. ↑ Fox, Courtney (February 12, 2021). "Robert Redford: Meet The Hollywood Legend's Four Children". Wide Open Country. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  15. ↑ "James Redford, filmmaker and son of Robert Redford, dies at 58". Entertainment Weekly.
  16. ↑ "James Redford Dead: Filmmaker and Son of Robert Redford Was 58". The Hollywood Reporter. October 19, 2020.
  17. ↑ Braun, Kelly (18 August 2022). "Robert Redford's Family: Get to Know Kids James, Shauna, Amy and Scott". Closer Weekly. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  18. ↑ "Walter Scott's Personality Parade." The Salt Lake Tribune. July 21, 1991.
  19. ↑ "Robert Redford marries long-term girlfriend". The Daily Telegraph. London. July 15, 2009. Archived from the original on April 11, 2010. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  20. ↑ Callan, Michael Feeney. Robert Redford: The Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. ISBN 9780307272971.
  21. ↑ "Robert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist, Dies at 89". The New York Times. 2025-09-16. Retrieved 2025-09-16.

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