Robert Redford, the Oscar-winning actor, director and godfather of independent cinema as the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, has died at the age of 89.<\/p>\n
Redford died \u201cat his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah \u2013 the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved\u201d, publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
No cause of death was provided.<\/p>\n
The iconic American actor and director is best known for his acclaimed performances in 1976\u2019s All the President\u2019s Men and 1969\u2019s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where he made his breakthrough alongside Paul Newman as an affable outlaw in a hippy Western.<\/p>\n
The tousled-haired, freckled actor made hearts beat faster in romantic roles such as Out of Africa, got political in\u00a0 The Candidate and All the President\u2019s Men, and skewered his golden-boy image in roles like the alcoholic ex-rodeo champ in The Electric Horseman and the middle-aged millionaire who offers to buy sex in Indecent Proposal.<\/p>\n
Redford was born in 1936 in West Los Angeles. His father was a milkman, and his mother, who he called \u201cthe strong member of the family\u201d, was a stay-at-home mom, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) noted in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always about breaking the rules,\u201d he told THR. \u201cI wanted to be away from Los Angeles because I felt it was going to the dogs. I didn\u2019t want to be wherever I was. And I felt a certain suffocation. I wanted to be free.\u201d<\/p>\n
He never won the best actor Oscar, but his first outing as a director \u2013 the 1980 family drama Ordinary People \u2013 won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.<\/p>\n
Redford also starred in 1973\u2019s The Sting with Paul Newman, with whom he enjoyed a long, personal friendship before Newman passed away in 2008.<\/p>\n
Their film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid made blue-eyed Redford an overnight star, but he never felt comfortable with celebrity or the male starlet image that persisted late into his 60s.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have been so busy relating to how I look, it\u2019s a miracle I didn\u2019t become a self-conscious blob of protoplasm. It\u2019s not easy being Robert Redford,\u201d he once told New York Magazine.<\/p>\n
His wavy blond hair and boyish grin made him the most desired of leading men, but he worked hard to transcend his looks \u2013 whether through his political advocacy, his willingness to take on unglamorous roles, or his dedication to providing a platform for low-budget movies.<\/p>\n
Intensely private, he bought land in remote Utah in the early 1970s for his family retreat and enjoyed a level of privacy unknown to most superstars. He was married for more than 25 years to his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, before their divorce in 1985. The pair had four children. One son died when he was only months old. His other son died in 2020.<\/p>\n
He is survived by two daughters and German artist Sibylle Szaggars, who he married in 2009.<\/p>\n
He used the millions he made as an actor to launch the Sundance Institute and Festival in the 1970s, promoting independent filmmaking long before small and quirky were fashionable. The festival has become one of the most influential independent film showcases in the world.<\/p>\n
Redford used his star status to also quietly champion environmental causes such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Wildlife Federation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people have analysis. I have Utah,\u201d he once remarked.<\/p>\n
Redford\u2019s interest in politics began after he travelled across Europe following his mother\u2019s death in his late teens, with notable experiences in Spain, Italy and France.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first time I developed any kind of a political view,\u201d he told THR in 2014, \u201cbecause I couldn\u2019t care less about politics when I was growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he never showed an interest in entering politics, he often espoused a liberal viewpoint. In a 2017 interview, during the first term of US President Donald Trump, he told Esquire magazine that \u201cpolitics is in a very dark place right now\u201d and that Trump should \u201cquit for our benefit\u201d.<\/p>\n
He told THR in 2014 that he had developed \u201ckind of a dark view of life, looking at my own country\u201d.<\/p>\n