Robert Redford, whose magnetic presence on film and unwavering commitment to nurturing independent voices reshaped American cinema over six decades, died on September 16, 2025. He was 89. According to his publicist, Cindi Berger of Rogers & Cowan PMK, he passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in the mountains of Utah, surrounded by family.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. in Santa Monica, California, on August 18, 1936, Redford first found his footing in acting after studying briefly at the University of Colorado, then at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His early years—marked by restlessness, artistic aspiration, and the search for purpose—set the stage for a career that would traverse both commercial stardom and creative risk.
Rise to Stardom
Redford became a defining face of late-20th-century Hollywood almost overnight. With his blond hair, striking looks, and effortless charisma, he drew audiences in—but what distinguished him was a depth, a willingness to embody characters who carried contradictions: fugitives, rebels, romantic idealists wrestling with disillusionment.
In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), opposite Paul Newman, he became not only a star but a symbol. The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), and All the President’s Men (1976) revealed his range, from Western myth to political thriller, from romance to moral complexity.
Filmmaker, Visionary, Institution Builder
Redford was more than an actor. He turned director and producer, and in 1980 won the Academy Award for Best Director for Ordinary People, a film that tested the emotional fabric of suburban America with piercing clarity. His later directorial work, including Quiz Show (1994), deepened this interest in ethical ambiguity and the ways public life and personal truth collide.
Perhaps his most enduring legacy lies in the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, which he founded in 1981. What began as a modest endeavor in Park City, Utah blossomed into the foremost showcase for independent and artist-driven cinema in the United States. Through Sundance, filmmakers who might have been ignored by the mainstream—genres, stories, perspectives outside the Hollywood spotlight—found both a platform and a proving ground.
Off-Screen Passions and Private Life
Redford’s life was one of layered public presence and almost equally strong private retreat. His deep engagement with environmental causes, conservation, and the natural world mirrored his own love for wilderness: the mountains, the landscapes of Utah, the silence and space beyond the studio lot. He often spoke of solitude, of driving long stretches on open roads, of the solace of nature as counterpoint to the glare of fame.
He was married twice: first to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children (two of whom preceded him in death), and later to the German artist Sibylle Szaggars. He is survived by his wife, his daughters, grandchildren, and the many collaborators and protégés who regarded him as both icon and ally.
Legacy and Influence
To reflect on Robert Redford’s legacy is to chart the shifting map of American film itself—from the studio-system movies of the 1950s, through the New Hollywood of the 1970s, into the rise of independent and auteur cinema. He was a conduit between tradition and reinvention: an actor capable of mainstream popularity, yet restless enough to push norms as a director and institution builder.
He leaves behind a body of work rich with roles that oscillate between mythic and vulnerable, a festival that has changed how films are discovered and supported, and a legacy that binds artistry with advocacy. For those who believed that film could be both beautiful and necessary, Robert Redford was never just a star—he was a compass.
In remembering Robert Redford, we do not lose only a performer, or a director, or a founder: we lose, in part, our capacity to see what American cinema might be when shaped by soul as much as spectacle.
Images from a LIFE article from 1970: https://www.life.com/people/robert-redford-portraits-1969/
My World of Interiors 