Robert Redford, Famed Actor, Director, And Activist, Has Died At 89

“Robert Redford passed distant connected September 16, 2025, astatine his location astatine Sundance successful the mountains of Utah ― the spot helium loved, surrounded by those helium loved,” Cindi Berger, main enforcement of the nationalist relations steadfast Rogers & Cowan PMK, told HuffPost. “He volition beryllium missed greatly. The household requests privacy.”

Redford served arsenic a starring antheral aboriginal successful his vocation earlier making a sanction for himself arsenic a director, winning an Oscar for the movie Ordinary People successful 1981. He earned a beingness accomplishment grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences successful 2002.

Among his iconic acting roles were John “Kelly” Hooker successful The Sting, Bob Woodward successful All the President’s Men, Roy Hobbs successful The Natural, Hubbell Gardiner successful The Way We Were, and the Sundance Kid successful Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

In 1969, helium opened the Sundance Mountain Resort successful Utah, the aforesaid twelvemonth Butch Cassidy was released. He was initially hesitant astir the resort’s sanction — a motion to his quality successful that movie — due to the fact that helium disquieted the movie would beryllium “a disaster” and felt utilizing the word would beryllium excessively “self-serving.” The radical helium was moving with convinced him to usage “Sundance.”

Redford helped recovered the Utah/US Film Festival successful 1978, and created the Sundance Institute, an enactment intended to foster autarkic storytelling talent, successful 1981. Eventually the movie festival changed its name, and grew into the largest autarkic movie festival successful the United States.

Redford told Democracy Now successful 2015 the festival was the effect of changes to the movie industry, which veered toward making blockbusters for younger audiences successful the 1980s.

“You tin person the large blockbusters. You tin person — with exertion coming along, creating much peculiar effects possibilities, you knew that they were going to usage that, and that’s great,” helium said. “But I felt it was going to beryllium astatine the disbursal of giving up those different kinds of films, truthful that’s what led to Sundance.” 

Redford besides became a person successful biology activism, moving to support wilderness spaces since the aboriginal 1970s and raising consciousness astir planetary warming since the 1980s. In 2005, helium founded the Redford Center with his children, an enactment that makes movies that advocator for assorted biology causes.

“We person 1 planet, and arsenic acold arsenic we know, that’s the lone 1 we’ve got,” Redford said successful 2014 portion accepting the Walden Woods Project’s Global Environmental Leadership Award. “We are, oregon should be, guardians of that planet.”

Redford was calved connected Aug. 18, 1936, successful Santa Monica, California. He graduated precocious schoolhouse successful 1954, attended a twelvemonth and a fractional of assemblage astatine the University of Colorado successful Boulder, and yet ended up successful New York, attending classes astatine the Pratt Institute successful Brooklyn and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

He made his Broadway debut arsenic an histrion successful 1959 successful the play Tall Story, which turned into a movie the adjacent year, giving Redford his movie debut. In 1960, Redford made appearances connected assorted tv shows, and arsenic soon arsenic 1963, helium got a Best Supporting Actor Emmy information for an anthology play connected ABC.

By the mid-1960s, Redford had pivoted to focusing connected movies. In 1966, helium won a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year, a class that nary longer exists.

Redford became an highly prolific histrion successful implicit a half-century successful this business, with nearly 100 credits. 

“When you get older, you larn definite beingness lessons,” Redford said to AARP The Magazine successful 2011. “You use that wisdom, and abruptly you say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a caller lease connected this thing. So let’s go.’”

Redford is survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars; his 2 daughters, Amy and Shauna; and their mother, his erstwhile wife, Lola Van Wagenen. He is preceded successful decease by his sons: Scott Anthony Redford, who died astatine 2 months aged successful 1959, and James, who died of crab successful 2020 astatine property 58.

Carly Ledbetter and Todd Van Luling contributed to this report.

This nonfiction primitively appeared on HuffPost.