RIP Robert Redford

 

Robert Redford dead at 89 

Hollywood icon starred in classics spanning five decades of film

Fox News

By Stephanie Giang-Paunon

September 16, 2025

 

Legendary actor Robert Redford has died. He was 89.

"Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah – the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved," his representative told Fox News Digital. "He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy."

The Hollywood icon was best known for classics like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting."

Before he became a rugged screen icon, Redford grew up in Santa Monica, California.

Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 18, 1936, the all-American heartthrob started out studying art and chasing a future as a painter before turning to acting, eventually landing at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Redford made early appearances on "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Untouchables" in the late '50s and early '60s. He also took his acting talents to the stage, landing a breakout role in Neil Simon’s "Barefoot in the Park" on Broadway in 1963.

In 1967, he reprised the role on screen alongside Jane Fonda for the movie adaptation.

During his illustrious career that spanned five decades of film, Redford became an Oscar-winning director as well as an activist.

After skyrocketing to fame in the ’60s, Redford dominated the ’70s box office with back-to-back hits like "The Candidate," "The Way We Were" and "All the President’s Men." He capped off the decade with an Oscar win for best director in 1980 for "Ordinary People," which also took home best picture.

Behind the camera, Redford elevated independent film. He took on gritty roles and built the Sundance Film Festival from the ground up.

What began as a training ground for undiscovered filmmakers in the mountains of Park City, Utah – where Redford initially planned to open a ski resort – quickly transformed into the most important independent film festival in the world.

"For me, the word to be underscored is ‘independence,’" Redford told the Associated Press in 2018. "I’ve always believed in that word. That’s what led to me eventually wanting to create a category that supported independent artists who weren’t given a chance to be heard.

The industry was pretty well controlled by the mainstream, which I was a part of. But I saw other stories out there that weren’t having a chance to be told and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can commit my energies to giving those people a chance.’ As I look back on it, I feel very good about that."

By 2025, the festival had grown so large that organizers announced they would be relocating out of Park City.

Redford didn’t just play the leading man — he additionally took on politics with the kind of boldness that became his Hollywood signature.

In 1972, Redford took on an American political role in "The Candidate," playing an idealistic U.S. Senate hopeful whose idealism crumbled by the final scene. He delivered one of the most iconic final lines in political cinema, "What do we do now?"

Four years later, Redford starred as real-life Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in "All the President’s Men," diving headfirst into the Watergate scandal.

Meanwhile, during Redford's acting career, he shared the screen with Hollywood icons including Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Paul Newman.

While Redford pulled back from acting in the '80s and '90s to focus on directing and building the indie film scene, he still starred in several popular films. He acted opposite Streep in the 1985 drama "Out of Africa," and nearly 30 years later stunned critics in the survival film "All Is Lost" in 2013.

His other directing efforts included "The Horse Whisperer," "The Milagro Beanfield War" and 1994's "Quiz Show," the last of which also earned best picture and director Oscar nominations. In 2002, Redford received an honorary Oscar, with academy organizers citing him as "actor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere."

Redford was married twice, most recently to Sibylle Szaggars. He had four children, two of whom have died – Scott Anthony, who died in infancy in 1959, and James Redford, an activist and filmmaker who died in 2020.

REDFORD, Robert (Charles Robert Redford Jr.)

Born: 8/18/1936, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

Died: 9/16/2025, Sundance, Utah, U.S.A.

 

Robert Redford’s westerns – producer, actor:

The Deputy (TV) – 1960 (Burt Johnson)

Maverick (TV) – 1960 (Jimmy Coleman)

Tate (TV) – 1960 (Tad Dundee)

Whispering Smith (TV) – 1961 (Johnny Gates)

The Virginian (TV) – 1963 (Matthew Cordell)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – 1969 (Sundance Kid)

Tell Them Willy Boy is Here – 1969 (Cooper)

Jeremiah Johnson – 1972 (Jeremiah Johnson)

The Electric Horseman – 1979 (Sonny)

The Horse Whisperer – 1998 (Tom Booker)

The American West – 2016 [producer, actor]

Dark Winds (TV) - 2025 (chess player) [producer]