Robert Redford, the larger-than-life figure in American cinema whose career spanned more than six decades, has died at age 89. He passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home in Sundance, Utah, in the mountains he loved and helped transform into a cultural landmark.
The cause of death was not immediately disclosed. News of his passing prompted tributes from across film, television, and the arts, honoring a life that reshaped both Hollywood and independent cinema.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, Redford rose from television guest roles to become one of the defining screen presences of the late 1960s and 1970s. With striking charisma and a thoughtful approach to character, he anchored a run of classics that helped define an era.
Among his most enduring performances are the wry outlaw in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the charming con man in The Sting, the crusading journalist in All the President’s Men, the romantic lead in The Way We Were, and the rugged frontiersman in Jeremiah Johnson. He later brought a weathered grace to Out of Africa and delivered a master class in near wordless storytelling in All Is Lost.
Redford’s impact behind the camera proved just as significant. His directorial debut Ordinary People in 1980 was a critical and commercial success and earned him the Academy Award for Best Director as well as Best Picture honors. He continued to explore intimate, morally complex stories with films such as A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show, and The Horse Whisperer, confirming his reputation as a filmmaker who favored nuance, restraint, and human truth over spectacle.
If his acting and directing had been his only legacy, Redford would still rank among the most influential artists of his generation. Yet his creation of the Sundance Institute in 1981 and the Sundance Film Festival soon after changed the landscape for American independent film.
By building a year-round home for emerging storytellers and a high-profile showcase each winter, Redford opened doors for voices that might never have been heard within the traditional studio system. Sundance nurtured generations of writers, directors, and producers who went on to shape global cinema. It also created an ecosystem where risk-taking and originality could find financing, mentorship, and an audience.
Throughout his life, Redford spoke openly through his choices about the subjects that mattered to him. Environmental protection, access to the arts, and civic engagement were recurring threads in his work and philanthropy. He used his fame not as an endpoint but as a platform, steering attention toward new artists and urgent ideas. That sensibility also informed his later career on screen, where he often selected roles that questioned power, examined the media, or reflected on legacy and aging.
Redford married twice, first to historian Lola Van Wagenen and later to artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford. He had four children. His son James, a filmmaker and advocate, died in 2020. Redford also had several grandchildren. Friends and collaborators often described him as a generous colleague and a quiet but persistent champion who preferred to work rather than bask in celebrity.
The breadth of his career is hard to capture in a single measure. He was a matinee idol who could carry a blockbuster, a filmmaker of taste and patience, and the founder of a cultural institution that permanently expanded what American film could be. His image on screen was often one of unflappable cool, but his body of work reveals an artist drawn to vulnerability, consequence, and the complicated choices people make when ideals collide with reality.
As audiences revisit the films that first made him a household name and the many works he guided into existence, what remains is a legacy of craft and commitment. Robert Redford believed that storytelling could entertain, challenge, and enrich public life. In that belief, he built not only a remarkable career but a lasting home for others to follow. He will be remembered as a star, a filmmaker, and a builder who left the art form stronger than he found it.
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