One of the great lions of Hollywood has left us. Robert Redford has died at the age of 89 of unknown causes. The actor had been keeping out of the spotlight of late, even at the festival he helped launch, the Sundance Film Festival. His most recent lead role was in The Old Man & the Gun in 2018.
Robert Redford is probably who people think of first when the subject of Hollywood’s greatest leading men comes up. After beginning his career in television, Redford’s movie career took off with 1967’s Barefoot in the Park. He would go on to star in a series of stone cold classics including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jeremiah Johnson, Three Days of the Condor, All the President’s Men, and The Sting which earned him an Oscar for Best Actor.
Redford’s star continued to shine into the ’80s and ’90s with the films The Natural, Indecent Proposal, Sneakers, Legal Eagles, and Out of Africa. His directorial debut, 1980s Ordinary People, took Best Picture at the Oscars and earned him the Best Director award, as well.
Throughout his career, Redford was simultaneously a sex symbol, leading man, activist, and mentor to the next generation of filmmakers. He used the wealth and power his career afford him and used it to launch the Sundance Film Festival, which I have attended for the last 13 years. He also launched the producing label Wildwood Enterprises, and produced such unforgettable films as The Motorcycle Diaries, Slums of Beverly Hills, A River Runs Through It, and The Conspirator.
Redford slowed down in his latter years, but he reached a new generation of fans with his role as Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame.
I never had the chance to speak with Robert Redford. I’ve been in the same room with him, heard him speak, but that’s as close as I’ve gotten. Through Sundance, and the choices he made in running that festival as a place to help usher in new filmmakers, I feel like I got a sense of the man he was. As the festival prepares for its final year in Park City, a program tailored to be a tribute to Redford would be perfect.
Punch Drunk Critics sends its condolences to Redford’s friends and family.
