Hollywood Acting and Directing Icon Robert Redford Dies at 89

Hollywood legend Robert Redford, the Oscar-winning actor and director whose career shaped modern cinema, passed away at 89 at his Utah home, according to publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK. He died peacefully in his sleep, with no cause of death specified.

Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. in Santa Monica in 1937, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his Broadway debut in the late 1950s. Television appearances on The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents led to his breakthrough in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park. By the late 1960s, Redford had emerged as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, captivating audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973), and The Great Gatsby (1974). His portrayal of journalist Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men (1976) remains iconic.

Redford expanded into directing, winning the Academy Award for Best Director in 1980 for his debut Ordinary People. He later became the driving force behind independent cinema by founding the Sundance Film Institute and Film Festival in 1981. His work in the 2000s included acclaimed roles in All Is Lost (2013) and The Old Man & the Gun (2018), before retiring after reprising his Marvel role in Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Over his six-decade career, Redford won three Golden Globes, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and countless accolades. In a 2010 interview, he expressed his wish to be remembered as someone who contributed meaningfully to culture and sustainability.

He married twice—first to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children, and later to Sibylle Szaggars, who survives him alongside seven grandchildren. Though marked by personal loss, including the deaths of his son Scott in infancy and filmmaker son James in 2020, Redford’s life and legacy remain a towering testament to cinematic artistry.