Robert Redford, actor, director and Sundance founder, dies at 89
Robert Redford, the actor and director who became famous in Hollywood for roles in classic movies like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men," died on Tuesday morning. He also helped American independent cinema grow by starting the organization behind the Sundance Film Festival.
"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. He will be missed greatly," Cindi Berger, his publicist, said. "The family requests privacy."
Redford was best recognized as a leading man in the late 1960s and 1970s. His windswept hair and easy charm made him instantly identifiable and very popular.
Redford is most known for his appearances in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men." He also directed award-winning movies including "Ordinary People" and "A River Runs Through It."
Redford received two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards during the course of his more than sixty-year career. The Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement was one of these awards in 1994.
Redford kept acting into his latter years. He and Jane Fonda worked together again in the 2017 Netflix movie "Our Souls at Night." He declared that "The Old Man & the Gun," which he starred in at age 82, would be his last movie. However, he stressed he would not think about retiring.
In 2016, President Barack Obama gave Redford the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At the White House, he said that Americans "admire Bob not just for his amazing acting, but for having figured out what to do next."
Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, a seaside town. His parents were Martha Hart and Charles Robert Redford Sr., a milkman who later became an oil company accountant.
He graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1954 and briefly attended the University of Colorado Boulder. He then took his time walking about Europe, taking in the sights and sounds of France, Spain, and Italy.
He finally relocated to New York City and signed up for classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in the play “Tall Story” (1959) and went on to appear in several popular television shows of the early 1960s, including “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Twilight Zone.”
Redford graduated from the school in 1959 and earned his first acting job on an episode of "Perry Mason." He remarked that his acting career was "uphill from there."
His big acting break came in 1963, when he starred in Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” on Broadway – a role he would later reprise on the big screen with Jane Fonda.
At this point in time, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen and had kids. Scott, his first child, died of sudden infant death syndrome just a few months after he was born in 1959. Shauna came into the world in 1960, David in 1962, and Amy in 1970.
In 1985, Redford and Van Wagenen got a divorce. In 2009, he married artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford.
Redford never lost his love of creating stories via movies, and he always spoke up for environmental problems. When people asked him about retiring, he often said no.
Redford is survived by his wife, daughters Shauna Redford Schlosser and Amy Redford, along with seven grandchildren.
