Robert Redford, one of Hollywood’s greatest stars and a lifelong environmental and human rights advocate, died in his house in Utah on Tuesday morning, at 89. His death was announced in a statement by publicity executive Cindi Berger, of Rogers & Cowan PMK, who said that the actor died in his sleep but did not name a cause.
After beginning his acting career in New York in the late 1950s, Redford dominated as a leading man during the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, playing some of the most charming and evocative male protagonists on the big screen in political thrillers like All the President’s Men and Three Days of the Condor and romances like The Way We Were and The Great Gatsby.
He shared the screen with the greatest actors of his day, starring opposite Paul Newman in The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, Glenn Close in The Natural, and Jane Fonda in Barefoot in the Park and The Chase. And in some cases, like the moving and mysterious Jeremiah Johnson, Sydney Pollack’s 1972 film about a war veteran who heads into the wilderness to live in isolation, he carried films firmly on his back.
While he only received one Oscar nomination for acting throughout his storied career — for 1973’s The Sting — he notably won a Golden Globe for his turn as Wade Lewis in 1965’s Inside Daisy Clover, his first major role on the big screen. The film, which also stars Natalie Wood, has been described by some sources as one of the first Hollywood titles in which a gay character, a closeted actor played by Redford, is not ashamed of his sexuality.
Robert Redford and Natalie Wood in a still from Inside Daisy Closer
Actors Robert Redford and Natalie Wood in the 1965 film ‘Inside Daisy Clover’Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
In the middle and later decades of his career, Redford increasingly moved behind the camera, winning an Academy Award for his 1980 directorial debut, Ordinary People, starring Mary Tyler Moore in an affecting performance as a grieving mother. In the ’90s, the former cinematic heartthrob picked up nomination after nomination for directing films like A River Runs Through It, starring Brad Pitt, and Quiz Show, starring John Turturro and Ralph Fiennes. And he delivered his final starring performance in 2018’s The Old Man & the Gun, after which he stepped away from the industry due to his declining health.
But Redford’s greatest contribution to the world of cinema was as the founder of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing filmmaking through the discovery of unique voices. Under the guidance of Redford and the institute, which was founded in 1981, a once-struggling film festival was transformed into a premiere destination for new directors and films from around the world — a legacy it continues to this day.
The legendary film star’s activism extended beyond the world of the movies, fighting for environmental causes beginning in the ’70s. In addition to opposing the construction of damaging structures like a highway and coal-fired power plant in Utah, Redford was a long-running trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the founder of The Redford Center, a nonprofit designed to advance environmental solutions through storytelling.
In 2013, Redford joined the fight for marriage equality, appearing at Equality Utah’s Annual Allies Dinner, where he addressed the room.
“I’m here for the same reason you are — equal rights for all. Like you, I believe there’s no place in our world for discrimination. None. I think it is un-American,” he said two years before the Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges, according to an Out report following the dinner. “If we change discriminatory laws in Utah, it sets a benchmark for people in other states; it allows people to see what can be done.”
Redford will be remembered as a true one of a kind, someone who made his name with classic good looks, capitalized on his fame to found organizations that would better the world, and left behind a body of powerful, politically minded art that will keep audiences entertained for generations to come.
This article originally appeared on Out: Legendary actor, activist, and ally Robert Redford dies at 89