Robert Redford dead: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid film icon dies at 89

Robert Redford, the big-screen actor turned Oscar-winning director, has died at the age of 89. The screen legend died early Tuesday morning in his sleep at his home in Utah surrounded by loved ones.

The actor, director, producer, and environmentalist is best known for his roles in classic films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President’s Men, The Way We Were and Out of Africa. He won an Oscar for directing Ordinary People in 1980 and received an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar in 2002 for his services to film.

At his peak, Robert was a silver screen favourite and regarded as one of the most handsome men in Hollywood – with cinema goers swooning over his dashing good looks and boyish blond hair. But Robert wasn’t just a pretty face, and was praised for his versatility playing both heroes and flawed characters throughout his career.

Robert announced his retirement from acting in 2018, after starring in The Old Man & the Gun before making a brief cameo appearance in the TV show Dark Winds, on which he worked as an executive producer.

Regarded as one of the last remaining legends of classic Hollywood, Robert began his acting career on stage in the late 1950s and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his Broadway debut in the play Tall Story in 1959.

He went on to appear in several TV shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, and Route 66. His breakthrough role came in Neil Simon’s Broadway hit Barefoot in the Park in 1963, which led to his film debut in War Hunt and meteoric rise to the top as one of Hollywood’s most dashing leading men.

Robert branched into directing in his 40s, and went on to win an Academy Award for Ordinary People. It also won Redford three other Oscars, including best picture.

He also directed The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992) and Quiz Show (1994). Quiz Show, which dramatised a notorious 1950s TV scandal, was nominated for four Oscars

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In 1981, Redford founded the Sundance Institute, which is a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating fresh cinematic voices.

The festival has helped launched the careers of directors including Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh and provided a launchpad for films such as Reservoir Dogs, Sex, Lies And Videotape, The Blair Witch Project, Little Miss Sunshine and recent Oscar-winner Coda.

While maintaining a huge influence on cinema both off and on camera, Robert was also renowned for his colourful personal life . He was twice married, first to American producer Lola Van Wagenen from 1958 to 1985 before marrying German born environmentalist Sibylle Szaggars in 2009.

Before her first date with Robert, Sibylle said she rented ‘six or eight’ of his movies to watch incase he brought them up – admitting she was unaware of his huge fame.

“It was a wonderful beginning of a relationship, because it began as two human beings meeting each other and finding a connection as two human beings, rather than being coloured by success,” Robert said. The two tied the knot in a private ceremony in front of 30 family members and friends at the luxurious Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Sibylle’s hometown of Hamburg, Germany, in July 2009.

He has four children with Van Wagenen: the late Scott, Shauna, the late James, and Amy. He also had relationships with famous actresses including Sonia Braga and Lena Olin.

One of his most famous romantic roles was starring opposite Barbra Streisand in 1973’s The Way We Were. While the pair were seen falling in love on screen, off screen things were very different with the tempestuous leads coming to blows.

Director Sydney Pollack recalled Robert voicing his concerns over working with Barbra from the start due to her perceived “controlling” reputation on set.

“She has never been tested,” Robert told Pollack. “Her reputation is as a very controlling person. She will direct herself. It’ll never work.”

He was also concerned about the Funny Girl star’s musical background, saying, “She’s not going to sing, is she? I [don’t] want her to sing in the middle of the movie.”

The tension between the stars continued during production, with Robert wearing “two athletic supporters for his love scene with Streisand, who chose to don a bikini” to not get too close with the actress, who was known for being romantically involved with her co-stars.

Despite the tension, the movie went on to be a huge box office hit and was nominated for several awards.

While he went on to become one of Hollywood’s most in demand actors, Robert spoke about a number of ordeals he overcame during his humble upbringing including being diagnosed with polio as a child.

The devastating disease can lead to severe breathing issues, paralysis, and often death. “It wasn’t an iron lung case. It was a case of mild polio, but it was severe enough to put me in bed for two weeks,” Redford told NPR’s Fresh Air.

The star explained that he developed the disease after swimming in the ocean, saying, “I couldn’t move very well, but I was not paralysed.”

The actor would later pay tribute to Jonas Salk — the scientist who discovered the polio vaccine in the 1950s — as part of a 2014 short film series.

“I was around when the polio epidemic was still a threat,” Redford remarked in the documentary (via Express). “So when Jonas Salk invented the vaccine, it was just earth-shattering news.”

His teenage years also proved challenging with Robert bullied by a gang. He said on one occasion he was told to jump off a high building to prove his manliness and almost died in the process.

Speaking in his 2011 memoir, Robert Redford: The Biography” he reflected: “I toughened up fast if only for survival.”

Following the announcement of Robert’s death today, Meryl Streep has paid tribute. Streep, who starred in Out Of Africa and Lions For Lambs opposite Redford, said in a statement: “One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend.”

A statement from publicist Cindi Berger, chairman and chief executive of talent agency Rogers and Cowan PMK, announcing Robert’s death said: “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.”

Source: Mirror