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The actor, director, and producer Robert Redford, one of the most iconic faces of Hollywood and a pioneer of independent cinema with the creation of the Sundance Institute and Festival, passed away this Tuesday at the age of 89 at his residence in Utah, according to his publicist and several American media outlets.
According to his public relations firm Rogers & Cowan PMK, as confirmed to the New York Times and cited by Reuters, Redford passed away in his sleep at his home in Provo, Utah.
In a subsequent statement reported by AP News, his representative Cindi Berger specified that the death occurred at his home in Sundance, “the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.” The causes of death have not been revealed.
From teenage idol to cultural icon
Born in 1936 in Santa Monica, California, Redford began his career as an actor in the 1960s and became one of the biggest stars of American cinema in the 1970s.
His wavy blonde hair and youthful smile propelled him to become a Hollywood heartthrob, but early on he sought to transcend that image through complex roles, political engagement, and projects far removed from glamour.
Redford starred in iconic titles like The Candidate (1972), All the President's Men (1976), and The Way We Were (1973). His artistic partnership with Paul Newman led to two classics of cinema: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), which inspired the name of the Sundance Institute, and The Sting (1973), winner of the Oscar for Best Picture.
In 1980, Redford established himself as a director by winning the Academy Award for Ordinary People, which also won the award for Best Picture. This marked the beginning of a filmmaking career in which he explored family dramas, political narratives, and literary adaptations.
The father of independent cinema
Beyond his career in front of and behind the camera, Redford left a significant legacy in the industry by promoting the independent film movement in the United States.
With the establishment of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, founded in Utah in the 1980s, a platform was created for new voices outside the mainstream industry.
In statements to the AP agency in 2018, Redford stated that he was driven by "the word independence." "I have always believed in it. Cinema was dominated by commercialism, and I saw that there were other stories that were not being told. I thought I could devote my energies to giving them a chance," he explained.
Thanks to Sundance, filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Darren Aronofsky found a platform to showcase their early works. The festival became a global benchmark for cinema and, in 2025, announced its move to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027.
A long and recognized career
Although he focused his work on directing and producing since the 1980s, Redford continued to act intermittently in prominent projects. In 1985, he co-starred in Out of Africa, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. In 2013, he was the sole actor in All Is Lost, a drama about a castaway that received some of the best reviews of his career.
In 2018, he released The Old Man and the Gun, which he presented as his farewell to cinema. "I believe I have had a long career that I am very proud of. Now, as I enter my 80s, it may be time to retire and spend more time with my wife and family," he said at the time to the AP agency.
Personal life
Redford was married twice, the last time to the German painter Sibylle Szaggars. He had four children, two of whom passed away: Scott Anthony, who died in 1959 as an infant, and James Redford, a documentary filmmaker and activist who died in 2020.
A farewell worthy of a legend
With his death, Hollywood bids farewell not only to one of its great box office idols but also to a creator who transformed the industry by paving the way for generations of filmmakers.
“Change is inevitable; we must always evolve and grow. This has been the foundation of our survival,” Redford said in a statement in 2025 about the future of the Sundance Festival. His words encapsulate a life marked by innovation and the pursuit of creative freedom.
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