Robert Redford has passed away at the age of 89 at his home in Utah. Redford was a giant of Hollywood, a giant of the film arts. Even though he will be remembered for his brilliant body of work as an actor, it’s worth noting that one of his biggest legacies is everything he built with Sundance. Not just the film festival which has launched hundreds of careers in independent film, but the Sundance Institute.
Robert Redford, the big-screen charmer turned Oscar-winning director whose hit movies often helped America make sense of itself and who, off screen, evangelized for environmental causes and fostered the Sundance-centered independent film movement, died early Tuesday morning at his home in Utah. He was 89.
His death, in the mountains outside Provo, was announced in a statement by Cindi Berger, the chief executive of the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK. She said he had died in his sleep but did not provide a specific cause. He was in “the place he loved surrounded by those he loved,” the statement said.
With a distaste for Hollywood’s dumb-it-down approach to moviemaking, Mr. Redford typically demanded that his films carry cultural weight, in many cases making serious topics like grief and political corruption resonate with audiences, in no small part because of his immense star power.
As an actor, his biggest films included “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), with its loving look at rogues in a dying West, and “All the President’s Men” (1976), about the journalistic pursuit of President Richard M. Nixon in the Watergate era. In “Three Days of the Condor” (1975) he was an introverted C.I.A. codebreaker caught in a murderous cat-and-mouse game. “The Sting” (1973), about Depression-era grifters, gave Mr. Redford his first and only Oscar nomination as an actor.
I came very close to watching one of my favorite Redford movies for the millionth time last weekend: Legal Eagles. I f–king love that movie and he’s so funny and light in that. He was such an underrated actor, so good at being a leading man and a romantic lead. His leading ladies always fell for him too, Barbra Streisand still adores him. My other favorites: All the President’s Men, Three Days of the Condor, Out of Africa and The Way We Were. He’s also brilliant in Barefoot in the Park. Of course, people always remember him in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That was the beginning of his decades-long friendship with Paul Newman. Anyway, what a man, and what a giant.
Update: I cannot believe I forgot Sneakers and Quiz Show! Spy Game is also amazing.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Photoshot/Avalon, AB/Avalon.
