Robert Redford, Hollywood Legend and Sundance Founder, Dies at 89
One of the greatest movie stars in Hollywood history has died. Robert Redford, known for his work both in front of and behind the camera, passed away at his home in Utah on Tuesday. He was 89 years old.His death was announced via the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK, who said in a statement “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. The family requests privacy.” No cause of death was provided.Redford, who was born in California in 1936, was one of his generation’s most beloved actors. He became a hugely popular leading man in the 1960s, when he appeared in a string of hits like Barefoot in the Park, The Candidate, and especially Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, his first pairing with fellow star Paul Newman.The movie was a major hit, and set the stage for Redford and Newman’s reunion a few years later in the con man comedy The Sting, which became an even bigger blockbuster and a winner of seven Oscars including Best Picture. Redford was also nominated for Best Actor for his work in the film.Redford didn’t win the Oscar that time, but a few years later, Redford won an Oscar for Best Director for his feature directorial debut for 1980’s Ordinary People, a film about a wealthy family’s response to the death of one of its members. The film also won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for co-star Timothy Hutton — and the movie was a box office hit besides.Redford remained a major star and a major director for decades. His filmography includes such ’70s classics as Jeremiah Johnson, The Hot Rock, Three Days of the Condor, and All the President’s Men, based on the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodard about Watergate. (Redford played Woodward.)In the 1980s and ’90s, Redford’s films include The Natural, Out of Africa (another big Oscar winner), Sneakers, A River Runs Through It, and Quiz Show, a drama about the quiz show scandals of the 1950s. His biggest onscreen role in the last few years was as the corrupt bureaucrat Alexander Pierce in Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame.Still, despite that enormous body of work, which includes some of the most famous movies of the 20th century, Redford’s greatest legacy will likely be his role in the founding of the Sundance Institute, the non-profit organization he built to sport independent filmmakers. A few years after its inception, the group took over the pre-existing US Film Festival in Utah, which it eventually rebranded as the Sundance Film Festival. The name came from Redford’s character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.As the face and one of the guiding forces behind Sundance for decades, Redford helped launch and support the careers of countless filmmakers and actors. His impact on the worldwide independent film scene is almost immeasurable, and the Sundance Film Festival remains one of the most respected and influential film festivals in the world. (The festival recently announced it was leaving its longtime home in Park City, Utah for Boulder, Colorado.)Redford leaves behind an incrediblee filmography; if all he had done was star in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, he’d be remembered forever. But as long as the Sundance Film Festival and Institute continue to support and discover new artists, his impact will continue to grow.The 30 films of the last three decades that you absolutely need to see.
