Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025) was an American actor, filmmaker, and cultural icon whose career spanned more than six decades. Widely admired for both his artistry and his activism, Redford earned some of the highest honors in film and public life: an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award (1994), the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award (1996), an Academy Honorary Award (2002), Kennedy Center Honors (2005), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016), and the Honorary César (2019). In 2014, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Redford’s career began on stage in the late 1950s and quickly expanded into television, including a memorable 1962 role on The Twilight Zone. His Broadway breakthrough came in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park (1963). Hollywood soon followed: he made his film debut in War Hunt (1962) and became a leading man in Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), and The Candidate (1972). He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for The Sting (1973), opposite Paul Newman, and went on to star in landmark films such as The Way We Were (1973), All the President’s Men (1976), and The Electric Horseman (1979).
As a director, Redford won the Academy Award for Ordinary People (1980), cementing his reputation as a filmmaker of rare sensitivity. Beyond Hollywood, he founded the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, transforming the landscape of independent cinema.
Robert Redford died at his home in Utah on September 16, 2025, at the age of 89. He leaves behind a legacy as one of America’s most enduring stars, a visionary filmmaker, and a champion of independent voices in film.
Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025) was an American actor, filmmaker, and cultural icon whose career spanned more than six decades. Widely admired for both his artistry and his activism, Redford earned some of the highest honors in film and public life: an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award (1994), the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award (1996), an Academy Honorary Award (2002), Kennedy Center Honors (2005), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016), and the Honorary César (2019). In 2014, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Redford’s career began on stage in the late 1950s and quickly expanded into television, including a memorable 1962 role on The Twilight Zone. His Broadway breakthrough came in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park (1963). Hollywood soon followed: he made his film debut in War Hunt (1962) and became a leading man in Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), and The Candidate (1972). He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for The Sting (1973), opposite Paul Newman, and went on to star in landmark films such as The Way We Were (1973), All the President’s Men (1976), and The Electric Horseman (1979).
As a director, Redford won the Academy Award for Ordinary People (1980), cementing his reputation as a filmmaker of rare sensitivity. Beyond Hollywood, he founded the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, transforming the landscape of independent cinema.
Robert Redford died at his home in Utah on September 16, 2025, at the age of 89. He leaves behind a legacy as one of America’s most enduring stars, a visionary filmmaker, and a champion of independent voices in film.
