Cinema legend Robert Redford dead at 89
LOS ANGELES: Cinema legend Robert Redford, a screen great both in front of and behind the camera whose career spanned six decades, died early on Tuesday (Sep 16) at his home in Utah, his publicist said. He was 89.
Redford died in his sleep and no specific cause was given, according to a statement by Cindi Berger, chief executive of publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK.
"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," Berger said.
The tousled-haired and freckled heartthrob made his breakthrough alongside Paul Newman as the affable outlaw in the Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969.
After 20 years as an actor, he moved behind the camera, becoming an Oscar-winning director and co-founding the Sundance Festival for aspiring independent filmmakers.
A committed environmental activist, Redford also fought to preserve the natural landscape and resources of Utah, where he lived.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr on Aug 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, he was the son of an accountant. Redford had four children with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, one of whom died as an infant. He married German artist and longtime girlfriend Sibylle Szaggars in 2009.
‘INTELLECTUAL, ARTIST, COWBOY’
A household name in cinema worldwide, Redford won a directing Oscar for his 1980 film Ordinary People, as well as an honorary Academy Award in 2002.
"Robert Redford's work as an actor, director and producer always represents the man himself: the intellectual, the artist, the cowboy," Barbra Streisand said in 2002 when presenting him with a Lifetime Achievement honorary Oscar.
Tributes began pouring in on Tuesday.
"One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend," said Meryl Streep in a brief emailed statement.
Jane Fonda mourned Redford, a fellow activist, as "a beautiful person in every way."
"It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can't stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for," she said.
President Donald Trump hailed the actor as "great."
"Robert Redford had a series of years where there was nobody better," Trump told reporters as he left the White House after being informed of the actor’s death.
One of Redford's most beloved roles was in the classic political thriller All the President’s Men (1976), which told the story of how two journalists exposed the Watergate scandal that brought down U.S. president Richard Nixon.
He received his only best actor Oscar nomination for The Sting (1973), playing a Depression-era con artist.
‘REDEFINED CINEMA’
Redford’s greatest legacy may be the launch of the Sundance Film Festival in 1985, which became the world’s premier showcase for independent film.
Created as an antidote to Hollywood commercialism and lack of diversity, Sundance has nurtured filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford," the Sundance Institute said in a statement.
"Bob's vision of a space and a platform for independent voices launched a movement that, over four decades later, has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema in the US and around the world."
