Robert Redford

**Charles Robert Redford Jr.** (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025), was an American film actor, director, producer, businessman, activist and model. One of Hollywood's biggest superstars, Redford kept his appeal as the decades passed. In 1978, Redford founded the Sundance Film Festival.

During his career, Redford won many awards including an Academy Award; a BAFTA Award; and five Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994; the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996; the Academy Honorary Award in 2002; the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005; the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016; and the Honorary César in 2019.

## Early life

Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on August 18, 1936 in Santa Monica, California. He had a paternal half-brother, William. Redford was of Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry. Redford's family lived in Van Nuys while his father worked in El Segundo.

Redford had a mild case of polio when he was 11.

After graduating from high school in 1954, he went to the University of Colorado in Boulder for a year and a half. While at Colorado, Redford began drinking a lot and, as a result, lost his half-scholarship and was kicked out of school. He later studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and took classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, New York.

## Career

Redford started his career in television acting in _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ and _The Twilight Zone_ before making his Broadway debut playing a newlywed husband in Neil Simon's _Barefoot in the Park_ (1963). Redford had his first movie role in _War Hunt_ (1962) before having the lead roles in _Barefoot in the Park_ (1967), _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ (1969), _Jeremiah Johnson_ (1972), _The Candidate_ (1972), and _The Sting_ (1973).

Redford became more popular when he was in _The Way We Were_ (1973); _Three Days of the Condor_ (1975); _All the President's Men_ (1976); _The Electric Horseman_ (1979), _Brubaker_ (1980), _The Natural_ (1984); and _Out of Africa_ (1985). Redford also played Alexander Pierce in _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ (2014) and _Avengers: Endgame_ (2019).

Redford directed his first movie _Ordinary People_ in 1980. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. He went on to direct eight movies including the drama _The Milagro Beanfield War_ (1984); the period drama _A River Runs Through It_ (1992); the historical drama _Quiz Show_ (1994); the neo-western _The Horse Whisperer_ (1998); and the sports fantasy _The Legend of Bagger Vance_ (2000).

Redford co-founded the Sundance Resort and Film Institute in 1981. He was also known for his work as a political activist where he supported environmentalism, Native American and indigenous people's rights, and LGBT rights.

In August 2018, Redford officially announced his retirement from acting.

## Personal life and death

On August 9, 1958, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen. They had four children: Scott Anthony Redford, Shauna Jean Redford, David James Redford, and Amy Hart Redford. Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1985.

In July 2009, Redford and his longtime girlfriend, Sibylle Szaggars, married at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Hamburg, Germany.

In May 2011, _Robert Redford: The Biography_ was published by Alfred A. Knopf, written by Michael Feeney Callan.

Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah at the age of 89 on September 16, 2025.

### Actor

- _Inside Daisy Clover_ (1965)
- _This Property Is Condemned_ (1966)
- _The Chase_ (1966)
- _Barefoot in the Park_ (1967)
- _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ (1969)
- _Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here_ (1969)
- _Jeremiah Johnson_ (1972)
- _The Candidate_ (1972)
- _The Hot Rock_ (1972)
- _The Sting_ (1973)
- _The Way We Were_ (1973)
- _The Great Gatsby_ (1974)
- _Three Days of the Condor_ (1975)
- _The Great Waldo Pepper_ (1975)
- _All the President's Men_ (1976)
- _A Bridge Too Far_ (1977)
- _The Electric Horseman_ (1979)
- _Brubaker_ (1980)
- _The Natural_ (1984)
- _Out of Africa_ (1985)
- _Legal Eagles_ (1986)
- _Havana_ (1990)
- _Sneakers_ (1992)
- _Indecent Proposal_ (1993)
- _Up Close & Personal_ (1996)
- _Spy Game_ (2001)
- _The Last Castle_ (2001)
- _All Is Lost_ (2013)
- _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ (2014)
- _Pete's Dragon_ (2016)
- _The Discovery_ (2017)

### Director

- _Ordinary People_ (1980)
- _The Milagro Beanfield War_ (1988)
- _A River Runs Through It_ (1992)
- _Quiz Show_ (1994)
- _The Horse Whisperer_ (1998)
- _The Legend of Bagger Vance_ (2000)

### Producer

- ''Chicagoland (2014)

## Other websites

- the Sundance Institute
- Sundance Resort

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Robert Redford
- **image**: Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here – Robert Redford photo.jpg
- **caption**: Redford in 1971
- **birthname**: Charles Robert Redford, Jr.
- **birth place**: Santa Monica, California, United States, U.S.
- **death place**: Sundance Resort, Sundance, Utah, U.S.
- **nationality**: United States, American
- **spouse**:

- **children**: 4; including James Redford (filmmaker), James and Amy Redford, Amy
- **parents**: Charles Redford Sr.
Martha Hart
- **signature**: Unterschrift Robert Redford US-amerikanischer Schauspieler.png