Actor Robert Redford died at his home in Utah on Sept. 16 at the age of 89.
“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 said in a statement. “He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy.”
Redford starred in such movies as “All the President’s Men,” “The Horse Whisperer,” and “The Sting.”
He was born on Aug. 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Martha and Charles Redford. He was a descendant of immigrants, as his paternal great-great-grandfather and his wife moved from the UK to New York City in 1849.
Redford attended Van Nuys High School with future Major League Baseball pitcher Don Drysdale and graduated in 1954. He attended the University of Colorado but was kicked out after a year and a half for excessive drinking. He then traveled throughout Europe, living in Italy, France, and Spain.
He graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1959. He also studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
Redford made his Broadway debut in 1959 in “Tall Story,” a romantic comedy. He made his film debut in a movie adaptation of the play a year later.
His big break came in 1967 when he starred in “Barefoot in the Park,” a comedy. He achieved immediate success with additional films, including “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Downhill Racer,” “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here,” “Little Fauss and Big Halsy,” “The Hot Rock,” and “The Candidate.”
He also starred in “Jeremiah Johnson,” “The Way We Were,” “The Sting,” and “The Great Gatsby.”
He played Bob Woodward in “All the President’s Men,” the 1976 film about Washington Post reporters Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who reported that President Richard Nixon’s administration participated in covering up a break-in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, which, at the time, was the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The movie won four Academy Awards.
Redford won two Oscars, one in 1980 for “Ordinary People” and an honorary award in 2002. He was nominated for three Emmys but did not win. He won three Golden Globe Awards.
He retired from acting in 2018.
Redford was attracted to U.S. politics, as reflected in his starring roles in “All the President’s Men,” “The Candidate,” “Lions for Lambs,” and “The Conspirator.”
“I’m so depressed to think that this country with all of its potential could reduce itself to games being played with—what feels like the dialog is being done with stone-age tools,” he said. “It’s really depressing to think that instead of an exchange of ideas between two different ways of thinking, you’ve just got a war zone.”
Redford was involved in environmental, Native American, and civil rights issues. He supported both Democrats and Republicans.
He also supported independent filmmakers through his founding of the Sundance Institute, Sundance Film Festival, and Sundance Village.
Redford is survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars; his three children, whom he had with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen; and seven grandchildren.
