Robert Redford was a fascinating paradox in Hollywood: incredibly successful and capable of achieving anything he set out to do in the film world, yet he frequently appeared to dislike the industry itself.
He appeared in several hugely successful films, including classics like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Out of Africa, and The Horse Whisperer.
Robert Redford, who recently passed away at 89, never received an acting Oscar, partly because he avoided the typical Hollywood scene – he didn’t attend parties or cultivate superficial relationships with other celebrities.
He preferred to spend his time at his mountain home in Utah, called Sundance, where he developed a ski resort and a festival showcasing independent films.
One studio executive dismissively said, ‘He certainly enjoys filming in the mountains. It suits his personality-he’s a cold, distant person. Robert Redford just comes across as cold.’
That explanation helps understand why Hollywood often distrusted him, but it overlooks his intense emotions and deep sadness, which were major forces in his life.
In 1980, he successfully began a second career as a film director with the movie *Ordinary People*. The film featured Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore as parents grieving the loss of a child – a painful experience that resonated personally with Redford.
Redford experienced profound grief throughout his life, first with the sudden loss of his infant son, Scott, and later with the death of his mother, Martha, who passed away at age 40 following complications from a difficult pregnancy. He never fully recovered from either loss.
Although he won an Oscar for directing *Ordinary People*, he still couldn’t come to terms with what he saw as the superficiality and dishonesty of the film industry.
He disliked watching the first rough cuts of the day’s footage. He’d often exclaim, “What am I even doing?” while viewing them.
He knew he was incredibly handsome, and during his most famous years in the 1970s, he confessed he couldn’t resist looking at his reflection whenever he saw one.
He refused to have a small cluster of moles removed from under his right cheekbone, not because he liked them, but because he didn’t want people to think he was trying to hide them. They made him so uncomfortable that he always requested to be filmed from his left side.
He found the most joy in extended trips into the wild, often walking or riding for weeks, simply to avoid seeing his own reflection.
He traveled across America – sometimes walking, sometimes riding a horse – at least twenty times. Because he was always on the move, he had no way to check his appearance, like seeing if his beard was neat or if he had a blemish on his face.
Early in his career, Redford broke his contract with a producer who asked him to film a movie titled Blue.
He told Lola that if anyone called, she should say he was on a month-long walk to Big Sur.
Big Sur, a stretch of rugged Californian coastland, was 800 miles away from Utah.
Alan Pakula, the director of the 1976 film *All the President’s Men*, felt he came closest to understanding the actor’s complex nature. He described him as having a quiet intensity and remarkable emotional control.
He’ll suddenly fall into a deep sadness, a dark mood taking over. Then, he’ll need to go away and be alone.
Redford explained his occasional sadness by saying it was likely due to his Irish heritage. However, Pakula believed there was a more profound reason, suggesting Redford’s depressions stemmed from a painful awareness that his life felt unreal, like a fabricated dream.
‘Every so often, he has to ask, ‘Is that really me it’s happening to?’
That question revealed the inner conflict within Redford. He admitted he disliked leaving his mountain home because when he did, he felt like a different person – the famous actor – inhabiting the same body, yet feeling completely separate from his true self.
According to Paul Newman, who starred alongside him in ‘Butch Cassidy,’ the funny thing was that nobody in Hollywood was better at *being* a legend.
He described Bob Redford as someone who commands respect even in the simplest of situations, joking that even the shower wouldn’t dare bother him with a spray.
It’s the little things – like water that’s always just the right temperature, and perfectly cooked eggs for breakfast – that make someone a superstar. It’s about consistent perfection in everyday details.
Even though they worked together for many years, Newman confessed he never truly got to know the person behind the public persona. They were friendly colleagues, but not close friends, despite enjoying similar playful, tough-guy antics and teasing.
He always seems approachable, like you could really connect with him, but it never quite happens. At least, I haven’t been able to. He maintains a certain emotional distance, and honestly, maybe that’s for the best.
Redford became a major Hollywood star after working with Paul Newman on the 1969 Western film, *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid*. He first gained recognition in 1967 with the hit movie *Barefoot in the Park*, co-starring Jane Fonda, after appearing in several smaller roles.
Before this point, he was seen as a typical, handsome Californian man – almost a dime a dozen. As one producer put it, there were plenty of actors just like him.
I’ve always been a bit obsessed with romantic leads, but Kurt Trampler, as Barefoot in the movie, was different. He had this incredible, almost mysterious quality that none of the other actors playing those roles ever managed to capture. There was just something about him that felt…distant, like you could never quite reach him, and honestly, that’s what made him so captivating.
Fonda saw it, and said she fell in love with him every time they worked together.
Oh my god, she said he was *amazing* at kissing, but then dropped this bomb – apparently he has this rule about ‘no love scenes.’ Basically, she was hinting that despite all the chemistry, she couldn’t get him into bed! It’s killing me to even think about it, like, what does that *mean*?! I just want to know *everything*.
After Barefoot became popular, Dustin Hoffman received an offer to act alongside Anne Bancroft in the film The Graduate later that same year.
Robert Redford declined the role, questioning to director Mike Nichols how anyone would believe him as a naive, recent college graduate who hadn’t had any romantic experience. Ultimately, the part went to Dustin Hoffman.
He didn’t like the scripts for Rosemary’s Baby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, so he turned down both projects.
He couldn’t decide between playing Butch Cassidy or the Sundance Kid, but after lunch with Newman, he was told he could choose whichever part he preferred – the clever, confident outlaw or his quiet, menacing partner.
The movie really resonated with his deep love for the Old West. Though he didn’t often do interviews, he wrote about his fascination with the Sundance Kid, explaining, ‘It’s strange, but as the world races forward with new technology, I find myself increasingly drawn to the past.’
It feels like we’ve lost a sense of what makes each of us unique and enthusiastic. Perhaps that’s why many of us are drawn to the romanticized image of the Wild West outlaw. I admit, I’m one of those who finds it appealing.
Six years after his film became a huge hit, he honored it by retracing the 600-mile route of Butch Cassidy, traveling from Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming, to Page, Arizona. He described the extreme cold, saying it was so severe that ‘the horse’s bones were frozen’.
Oh my gosh, by the early 70s, Robert Redford was *everything*. Seriously, he was the new Clark Gable – the biggest, most gorgeous star since forever! He did this movie, ‘Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here,’ and it was just… incredible. It was about a Native American man wrongly accused of murder and on the run, and Redford completely *became* that character. I was obsessed!
Redford followed up with *The Candidate*, the first of his serious political dramas. Then, in 1973, he teamed up again with Robert Newman and *Sundance* director George Roy Hill for *The Sting*, a witty caper set in 1930s Chicago where they played charming con artists.
He appeared with Barbra Streisand in the romantic film *The Way We Were* that same year. The following year, he starred as the lead in *The Great Gatsby*. His popularity quickly became overwhelming.
According to William Goldman, the writer of the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, no actor during his career ever generated as much public excitement and attention as the one he was referring to.
I always tell people that finding healthy outlets for stress is key, and this guy really took that to heart! He wasn’t just sitting around dwelling on things – he threw himself into everything active he could find, from the slopes with skiing to the thrill of motor racing and even a good match of tennis. It was all about keeping busy and finding joy in movement.
Dustin Hoffman, a fellow actor in the film *All The President’s Men*, described him as a challenging person to compete against. Hoffman believed his intense drive and fast pace were simply his way of relaxing and releasing stress.
People generally avoided competing with him. Robert Shaw, his co-star in The Sting, recounted that even when Shaw had a limp from a fall, his opponent showed no mercy during a table tennis match. Shaw described him as fiercely competitive, saying that if he were in a group with this man and fell off his horse, the man wouldn’t bother helping him – he’d leave him to get back on his own.
People visiting Robert Redford’s Sundance ranch frequently came back with injuries from skiing or horseback riding. According to director Alan Pakula, Redford wanted to gauge your reaction to challenges and see if you’d reveal your fears.
Let me tell you a bit about my background. I was born in Santa Monica back in 1936, and things weren’t easy growing up. My dad, Charles, worked hard – first as a milkman, then as an accountant for Standard Oil. He was often busy, so it was actually my uncle David who really stepped in as a father figure for me. He had a huge impact on who I am today.
I can’t even *begin* to tell you how much it devastated him. When Robert was just eight years old, his amazing uncle – his *hero* – was killed in the war. Apparently, it happened so fast… he was in a Jeep crossing a bridge in Europe, and they were getting shot at. Just… gone. It absolutely broke his heart, and honestly, I think it shaped the rest of his life.
Martha Redford, Robert’s mother, worked hard to nurture his interests, even teaching him to drive before he reached ten years old. Growing up in rural Texas, she was fascinated by Native American culture, and this interest was passed on to her son, becoming a lifelong passion for him as well.
When Redford was eighteen, his mother passed away, and shortly after, his father remarried. This loss deeply affected him, and he began drinking heavily. While on a baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado, he struggled and was expelled after being caught stealing from locker rooms.
He began breaking into empty houses to have whisky binges. But he saved himself:
I just *get* him, you know? He explained it perfectly. Some people just…snap under pressure. They face unbelievable struggles, things that feel endless, and they just lose hope. They give up. But *he*… he’s different. He’s one of the ones who doesn’t break, who keeps going even when everything is awful. It’s like he has this inner strength, this refusal to quit that I completely admire. It’s honestly inspiring to hear him talk about it.
Acting was essential to him. While studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, he met and fell in love with Lola Van Wagenen, who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They eloped to Las Vegas to get married in 1958. He was 21 and they had just $300 to their name.
A year after their first son was born, tragedy struck when baby Scott passed away in his crib at just ten weeks old. Their second son, James, arrived in 1962, seven weeks early.
Redford explained that his family had faced many private difficulties, and he wanted to keep those struggles confidential to protect them. He and his wife also had two daughters, Shauna and Amy.
Robert Redford and Lola Van Wagenen were married for nearly three decades. After their divorce, he later found love with Sibylle Szaggars, but they waited another thirteen years before tying the knot.
Oh my gosh, he was *instrumental* in making Sundance what it is today! Back in the ’80s, he really pushed to create a space for filmmakers who wanted to do things *differently*, you know? A place where they didn’t have to play by Hollywood’s rules. It’s all thanks to him that so many amazing, independent films even *exist*!
His acolytes included Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and Jim Jarmusch.
He carefully chose the movies he acted in to finance his other projects. For example, in ‘Out of Africa’, he played a carefree pilot alongside Meryl Streep, who recently honored him, saying, ‘One of the lions has passed’.
Robert Redford directed Brad Pitt in the 1992 film, *A River Runs Through It*, and went on to both star in and direct *The Horse Whisperer* in 1998, alongside Kristin Scott Thomas.
He famously portrayed a wealthy man in the 1993 film *Indecent Proposal* who offers Demi Moore a million dollars for a night together. The movie was popular but also sparked criticism, with many women jokingly claiming they’d be happy to accept the offer without payment.
In 2013, he starred in *All Is Lost*, playing a sailor struggling to survive a storm at sea-a film where he was the only actor. Then, in 2018, he revealed he was retiring from acting.
He explained that while fame and success can bring many good things, they also come with a loss of privacy.
When people start seeing you as an object, you begin to feel that way yourself. Eventually, you might lose your sense of individuality and privacy altogether.
That ability to be private was Redford’s most fiercely guarded attribute.
He explained that life isn’t about following simple rules or being a ‘good person’ in the traditional sense. It’s about achieving success. Being well-liked or kind isn’t always the most important thing.
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2025-09-17 02:36