{"id":142672,"date":"2025-09-17T05:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T05:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/142672\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T05:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T05:05:09","slug":"robert-redford-death-butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid-star-and-hollywood-legend-dies-aged-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/142672\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Redford death: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star and Hollywood legend dies aged 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Robert Redford<\/a>, Hollywood<\/a>\u2019s former golden boy and star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance<\/a> Kid,has died aged 89.<\/a><\/p>\n

The actor and Oscar-winning director<\/a>\u2019s death was confirmed in a statement by Cindi Berger, chief executive of the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK. She said that Redford died in his sleep at home in Utah, \u201csurrounded by those he loved\u201d. A specific cause of death was not disclosed.<\/p>\n

Redford was a screen idol,<\/a> and at the height of his fame, in the Sixties and Seventies, had a global reputation both as a respected actor and a sex symbol, with his sandy blonde hair, megawatt smile and romantic roles opposite stars from Jane Fonda to Barbra Streisand.<\/p>\n

Born in Santa Monica, California, in 1936, he moved to New York in the 1950s with hopes of being a painter, but found himself drawn to acting instead. In 1967, he got his big-screen breakthrough with a role playing a newlywed opposite Fonda in the romcom Barefoot in the Park.<\/p>\n

Across a six-decade career, Redford made more than 50 movies. He said his two favourites were his collaborations with Paul Newman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).<\/p>\n

Redford was 32 when he starred in the former, playing the Sundance Kid, in what would become the most famous role of his career. The brilliant buddy movie told the story of Wild West outlaws Butch Cassidy\u00a0(Paul Newman) and his partner, the Sundance Kid, who are on the run from the authorities after a series of train robberies.<\/p>\n

The Sting, in which Redford played a conman, came four years later. Surprisingly, it earned him his only ever Oscar nomination. While the film won seven Academy Awards, Redford lost out to Save the Tiger star Jack Lemmon.<\/p>\n

\"Redford<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Redford and Paul Newman in \u2018Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u2019 (Getty)<\/p>\n

Other acting highlights over the course of his career include playing a skier in Downhill Racer (1969), a young Democrat hopeful in The Candidate (1972), and as an investigative journalist in Watergate drama All the President\u2019s Men (1976).<\/p>\n

In 1980, he made his directorial film debut with\u00a0Ordinary People, which won the\u00a0Academy Award for Best Picture the following year\u00a0\u2013 Redford received the Best Director prize.<\/p>\n

He continued directing films such as\u00a0A River Runs Through It\u00a0(1992),\u00a0Quiz Show\u00a0(1994),\u00a0The Legend of Bagger Vance\u00a0(2000),\u00a0Lions for Lambs\u00a0(2007),\u00a0The Conspirator\u00a0(2010), and\u00a0The Company You Keep\u00a0(2012). Redford directed many huge stars, from Meryl Streep and Scarlett Johansson to Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron.<\/p>\n

\"Redford<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Redford and Dustin Hoffman in \u2018All The President\u2019s Men\u2019 (Warner Bros\/Kobal\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

In 2002, he received the\u00a0Academy Honorary Award\u00a0as an \u201cactor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

With his Hollywood<\/a> earnings, Redford bought land in a\u00a0ski area\u00a0in Utah called Timp Haven. He renamed the place Sundance, after his film character, and went on to create the\u00a0Sundance Film Festival, celebrating independent films.<\/p>\n

He also founded the\u00a0Sundance Institute, Sundance Cinemas, Sundance Catalog, and the\u00a0Sundance Channel.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Redford announced he would retire from acting <\/a>following the release of his final film\u00a0The Old Man & The Gun.<\/a><\/p>\n

The then-81-year-old told Entertainment Weekly: \u201cNever say never but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting. I\u2019ll move towards retirement after this \u2018cause I\u2019ve been doing it since I was 21. I thought, well, that\u2019s enough. And why not go out with something that\u2019s very upbeat and positive?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Old Man & The Gun\u00a0saw Redford star alongside\u00a0Casey Affleck, Danny Glover,\u00a0Tom Waits\u00a0and Sissy Spacek as the real-life Forrest Tucker, a career criminal and notorious prison escape artist.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Independent<\/a> in 2016 about being seen as a sex symbol, especially in the Sixties and Seventies, he said: \u201cHow could you not like it? I liked it a lot. I wasn\u2019t expecting it and it just happened around a couple of films. At first I was very flattered, I thought: \u2018Gee, this really feels good.\u2019 Then I got nervous about what it would do to my life if I really went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that he decided to seek solace in solitude: \u201cThat\u2019s why I bought the land in Utah. It was a retreat where I would go away so I could have time with nature and raise my family and not ever get tied into that. But it hasn\u2019t been easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Redford<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Redford at the Venice Film Festival in 2012 (Getty)<\/p>\n

Redford was an activist throughout most of his career, predominantly fighting for environmental causes.<\/p>\n

He used his status to raise awareness about clean energy, and was on the board of the Natural Resources Defence Council for decades.<\/p>\n

He also lent his name and funding to a\u00a0wildlife preserve in Utah.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Rolling Stone about his activism in 2021, Redford said: \u201cI was attending a conference in Denver, in 1989, where there was a presentation by two scientists who explained Earth\u2019s temperatures were rising \u2013 they called it global warming. They explained what would happen if we ignored this threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat moment was my wake-up call. I knew they were speaking the truth. Because one thing we\u2019ve learned is that time waits for no one. I realised that when there\u2019s something you have to do, you better act, and act quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redford married his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, in 1958. The couple had four children together: Scott, Shauna, David and Amy. Scott died of sudden death syndrome when he was just 10 weeks old. David died from cancer in 2020 at the age of 58.<\/p>\n

It is thought that they divorced in 1985. In the Nineties, Redford met Sibylle Szaggars, and she moved in with him at his home in Sundance. They got married in 2009.<\/p>\n

He is survived by Szaggars, his two daughters and seven grandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-142672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}