Robert Redford, Academy Award-winning actor, director, activist, and Sundance Institute founder, has passed away at the age of 89.
His death was announced by his longtime publicist Cindi Berger, Rogers and Cowan PMK Chairman and CEO, who reported that Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his Sundance, Utah, home surrounded by loved ones.
“Robert Redford died… where he loved, with those he loved. He will be deeply missed,” Berger said in a statement, noting the family is asking for privacy.
A Hollywood icon and reluctant star
Redford became famous in movies such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969) with Paul Newman, and “All the President’s Men” (1976), and gained a reputation as a bright, charming actor. He emerged as one of Hollywood’s best-known stars in the 1970s, starring in classics like The Great Gatsby, Jeremiah Johnson, and The Way We Were.
Even though he was a matinee idol, Redford frequently rebelled against typecasting himself as a mere pretty face leading man. “I didn’t see myself the way others saw me… it was very flattering, but restrictive,” he once declared. His insistence on breaking the box that Hollywood placed him in finally extended to his doing his own directing.
His directing debut, “Ordinary People” (1980), took home the Academy Award for Best Picture and Redford received the Oscar for Best Director. He directed increasingly acclaimed films such as “A River Runs Through It” (1992), Quiz Show (1994), and The Horse Whisperer (1998).
Starting Sundance and championing independent film
Redford’s most lasting contribution may be that work outside the Hollywood studio system. In 1981, he established the Sundance Institute, which produced the annual Sundance Film Festival, the top showcase for American independent film.
Sundance spawned innumerable directors, among them Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), and Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station). Redford imagined the festival to be a launching pad for emerging voices and “taking risks” with film, providing independent artists with a venue where they could tell their tales.
A committed environmentalist
Redford was also a devoted environmental activist. Upon relocating to Utah in 1961, he started initiatives aimed at protecting the natural beauty of the American West. His Sundance retreat became a sanctuary not just for movies but also for his conservation activities.
In 2020, at the time of horrific wildfires in the western United States, Redford wrote an opinion column for CNN blasting the failure to prioritize climate change. His passion for the Earth stayed at the forefront throughout his life.
Later career and last roles
Even at an advanced age, Redford kept acting. He collaborated again with veteran co-star Jane Fonda in Netflix’s “Our Souls at Night” in 2017. A year after that, at age 82, he appeared in “The Old Man & the Gun”, which he intimated would be his last on-screen role.
“Retirement to me is ending something or resigning from something,” he said in an interview in 2018. “There’s this life you have to live, why not live it as much as you can as long as you can?”
Personal life and family
Robert Redford was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1936. His father served as a milkman and accountant, while his mother, who he reported always encouraged his artistic aspirations, died young, prior to her 40th birthday.
Following a tumultuous academic career involving loss of a baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of partying, Redford went on to travel abroad in Europe and study art before becoming an actor. He went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where his acting career really took off.
Redford wed Lola Van Wagenen in 1958, with whom he had four children. His first son, Scott, passed away in infancy, and his son David James Redford, a documentary filmmaker and activist, passed away from cancer in 2020. His daughters Shauna and Amy, as well as his grandchildren, predecease him. Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1985, and in 2009 he wed artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford.
Iconic collaborations and influence
Redford’s on-screen relationship with Paul Newman characterized much of his early professional life, the pair appearing in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and subsequently The Sting (1973), which won the Best Picture award. They were one of Hollywood’s favorite on-screen pairs due to their on-screen chemistry.
Redford additionally collaborated with director Sydney Pollack on several films, such as Jeremiah Johnson and Out of Africa. These projects underscored Redford’s intent to break barriers as an actor and a storyteller.
Legacy and awards
Redford’s lifetime contribution to film was acknowledged in 2002 with an honorary Oscar. Apart from awards, his legacy lies in redefining Hollywood to include independent voices and utilizing his voice to promote environmental and social causes.
“I’d like to maximize what I’ve been blessed with,” he said to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2015. “You just keep propelling yourself ahead, you experiment with things, and that’s rejuvenating.”
Robert Redford is not only leaving behind a storied Hollywood career but also a lasting legacy as a cultural icon, environmentalist, and guide for generations of filmmakers. His death marks the end of a chapter in American film history, but his impact will be felt for decades.
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