Robert Redford, the Academy Award-winning actor and director who became one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men and founded the influential Sundance Film Festival, died Tuesday morning, September 16, at his home in Utah. He was 89.
Cindi Berger, his longtime publicist and CEO of Rogers & Cowan PMK, confirmed Redford’s death in a statement. “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,” his representative confirmed. The family has requested privacy.
Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Martha Hart and Charles Robert Redford Sr., a milkman who later became an oil company accountant. He grew up in Van Nuys in what he described as a lower working-class neighborhood. After graduating from Van Nuys High School in 1954, Redford briefly attended the University of Colorado on a partial baseball scholarship but left during his sophomore year to travel through Europe, where he studied painting in France, Spain, and Italy.
Returning to the United States, Redford enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, graduating in 1959. He made his Broadway debut in “Tall Story” that same year and appeared in popular television shows of the early 1960s, including “Perry Mason,” “The Untouchables,” “The Twilight Zone,” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”
Redford’s breakthrough came with his starring role opposite Elizabeth Ashley in the original Broadway production of Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” in 1963. The success led to supporting roles in films including “Inside Daisy Clover” in 1965, which earned him a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. He reprised his Broadway role in the 1967 film adaptation of “Barefoot in the Park” opposite Jane Fonda, beginning a frequent collaboration between the two actors.
The 1969 Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” catapulted Redford to stardom. Starring opposite Paul Newman as charming Wild West outlaws, the film became the year’s top-grossing movie and established one of cinema’s most electric star pairings. Redford and Newman reunited for “The Sting” in 1973, which became the second-highest-grossing film that year and earned Redford his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Throughout the 1970s, Redford starred in a series of commercially and critically successful films that cemented his status as an A-list box office draw. Notable performances included the political satire “The Candidate” in 1972, the existential Western “Jeremiah Johnson” the same year, and the romantic drama “The Way We Were” opposite Barbra Streisand in 1973. He also appeared in “The Great Gatsby” in 1974 and “Three Days of the Condor” in 1975.
One of Redford’s most significant films was “All the President’s Men” in 1976, in which he starred alongside Dustin Hoffman as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The political thriller about the Watergate investigation became a box office hit and earned eight Oscar nominations, winning four. The film was later added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 2010 for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
Redford made his directorial debut with “Ordinary People” in 1980, a family drama starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton. The film was both a financial and critical success, earning six Oscar nominations and winning four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Redford. He would go on to direct eight more feature films, including “A River Runs Through It” in 1992, “Quiz Show” in 1994, and “The Horse Whisperer” in 1998.
Beyond his film career, Redford’s most enduring legacy may be the Sundance Institute, which he founded in 1981 at his Utah ski resort. The nonprofit organization sponsors the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, showcasing independent films and launching the careers of countless filmmakers, from Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers to Christopher Nolan. The festival has been the launching pad for numerous talents and helped establish the American independent film movement.
Redford was also known for his environmental activism and progressive political views, which developed during his travels in Europe as a young man. He became a passionate environmentalist and supporter of Native American and LGBTQ rights throughout his life. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, recognizing his contributions to American culture and his lifelong advocacy for environmental preservation.
In his personal life, Redford was first married to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children. Their son Scott died at two and a half months from sudden infant death syndrome in 1959, and another son, Jamie, died of cancer in October 2020. He married his second wife, Sibylle Szaggars, in 2009. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, Shauna and Amy.
Redford announced in 2018 that “The Old Man and the Gun” would be his final acting role, effectively retiring from performing after a career spanning more than six decades. Over his extensive career, he won two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, including the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award in 1994, and received an honorary Oscar in 2002.