Hollywood legend Robert Redford dies
By CNN, September 16, 2025Robert Redford, the dashing actor and Oscar-winning director who eschewed his status as a Hollywood leading man to champion causes close to his heart, has died at the age of 89, according to his publicist Cindi Berger, Chairman and CEO of Rogers and 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. He will be missed greatly,” Berger said in a statement to CNN. “The family requests privacy.”
Known for his starring roles in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “All the President’s Men,” Redford also directed award-winning films such as “Ordinary People” and “A River Runs Through It.”
His passion for the art of filmmaking led to his creation of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit that supports independent film and theatre and is known for its annual Sundance Film Festival.
Redford was also a dedicated environmentalist, moving to Utah in 1961 and leading efforts to preserve the natural landscape of the state and the American West.
Robert Redford addresses the media during a press conference at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
In October 2020, Redford voiced his concern about the lack of focus on climate change in the midst of devastating wildfires in the western United States, in an opinion piece he wrote for CNN.
That same month, Redford’s 58-year-old son died from cancer.
David James Redford – the third of four children born to Robert Redford and his former wife Lola Van Wagenen – had followed in his father’s footsteps as an activist, filmmaker and philanthropist.
A star is born
When he returned to the US, Redford began studying theatre at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Shy and closed off, Redford said he didn’t fit in with the other drama students who were eager to show off their acting skills.
After a performance in front of his class with a fellow student that ended in frustration and disaster, Redford said his teacher pulled him aside and encouraged him to stick with acting.
Redford said he “will forever be indebted” to Newman, whom he credited with helping him get the role. The two actors had great on-screen chemistry, became lifelong friends and reunited in “The Sting” in 1973, which won the Academy Award for best picture.
A reluctant leading man
Redford starred in a string of hit movies throughout the 1970s: “Jeremiah Johnson”; “The Way We Were,” co-starring Barbra Streisand; “The Great Gatsby”; and with Dustin Hoffman in 1976’s “All The President’s Men,” about the Watergate scandal.
Redford made his directing debut in 1980 with “Ordinary People,” a drama about an unhappy suburban family, which earned the Academy Award for Best Picture and another one for him as best director.
He continued starring in hit films such as “The Natural” in 1984, which tapped into his passion for baseball, and 1993’s “An Indecent Proposal,” which paired him with a much younger Demi Moore.
“I didn’t see myself the way others saw me, and I was feeling kind of trapped because I couldn’t go outside the box of … good-looking leading man,” he said. “It was very flattering, but it was feeling restrictive … so it took many years to break loose of that.”
A lasting impact
Redford’s passion for the environment and independent filmmaking merged when he founded the Sundance Institute in 1981.
The nonprofit supports “risk-taking and new voices in American film” as well as theatre, and Redford’s Sundance resort in a canyon above Provo, Utah, hosts annual workshops for playwrights and screenwriters.
Redford’s lifelong impact on the film industry was recognised in 2002 with an honorary Oscar.
In his later years, Redford never lost his passion for storytelling through film and remained an outspoken champion of environmental causes. He frequently demurred when asked about retiring.
“I want to make the most of what I’ve been given,” Redford told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2015. “You keep pushing yourself forward, you try new things and that’s invigorating.”