Robert Redford Bio
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025) was an American actor, director, and producer, celebrated for his magnetic presence as a leading man during the American New Wave. Across a career spanning more than six decades, Redford earned widespread recognition and numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards, including a Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994. He also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996, the Academy Honorary Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Honorary César in 2019.
Redford was widely regarded as one of the defining movie stars of the 1970s and a towering figure in American cinema. Beyond his on-screen work, he was a passionate advocate for independent film, environmental causes, and progressive political causes. He died on September 16, 2025, at his home in Sundance, Utah, at the age of 89.
Early Life and Background
Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Martha Woodruff Redford, who was from Austin, Texas, and Charles Robert Redford Sr., an accountant. He had a paternal half-brother named William. Redford was of Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry, and his family lived in Van Nuys while his father worked in El Segundo. As a child, he and his family often traveled to Austin to visit his maternal grandfather, and Redford credited his lifelong environmentalism and love of nature to his childhood in Texas.
Redford attended Van Nuys High School, where he was classmates with baseball pitcher Don Drysdale. He described himself as a poor student, finding inspiration outside the classroom in art and sports. As a young athlete, he hit tennis balls with Pancho Gonzalez at the Los Angeles Tennis Club to help the champion warm up for matches. Redford had a mild case of polio when he was 11.
After graduating from high school in 1954, Redford attended the University of Colorado in Boulder for about a year and a half, where he joined Kappa Sigma fraternity. He began drinking heavily, lost his half-scholarship, and was expelled. He then traveled through Europe, living in France, Spain, and Italy. He later studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and took classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, completing his training in 1959.
Path to Acting
Redford’s acting career began in New York City, where he worked both on stage and in television. His Broadway debut was a small role in Tall Story (1959), followed by parts in The Highest Tree (1959) and Sunday in New York (1961). His biggest early success came as the stuffy newlywed husband of Elizabeth Ashley in the original 1963 cast of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park.
Beginning in 1960, Redford appeared as a guest star on numerous television drama programs, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Naked City, Maverick, Perry Mason, and Route 66. He earned an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Voice of Charlie Pont (1962). He made his uncredited film debut in the adaptation of Tall Story (1960) and received his first credited film role in War Hunt (1962).
Redford’s breakout into film stardom began with Inside Daisy Clover (1965), which earned him a Golden Globe for best new star, followed by This Property Is Condemned (1966) and Arthur Penn’s The Chase (1966), the latter marking his first pairing with Jane Fonda. These early performances established him as a rising leading man ready for major Hollywood stardom.
Robert Redford Career
Early Career (1959-1966)
During his early career, Redford built a solid foundation through stage work, television guest appearances, and supporting film roles. His Broadway success in Barefoot in the Park led to larger film opportunities, including War Hunt (1962) and Inside Daisy Clover (1965), the latter earning him a Golden Globe for best new star. He also won a BAFTA Award for his role in Downhill Racer (1969) and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), establishing his reputation for thoughtful, understated performances.
Redford continued appearing in notable films throughout the 1960s, including The Chase (1966) and This Property Is Condemned (1966) alongside Natalie Wood. By the end of the decade, he was widely recognized as a major talent, transitioning from a respected supporting player into one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men.
Breakthrough (1967-1979)
Redford achieved major Hollywood stardom with the big-screen version of Barefoot in the Park (1967), co-starring Jane Fonda. He then delivered a defining performance as the Sundance Kid in George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) opposite Paul Newman, a film that became a cultural landmark and made him a major box-office star. He also starred in Downhill Racer (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), and The Sting (1973), with the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
His dominance continued with a string of major hits, including The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and All the President’s Men (1976), in which he portrayed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward alongside Dustin Hoffman. Each year between 1974 and 1976, movie exhibitors voted Redford Hollywood’s top box-office star, making him the first performer since Bing Crosby in 1946 to have three films in a year’s top-ten-grossing titles.
Notable Works and Milestones
Redford’s signature works include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President’s Men, Out of Africa, and The Natural. His directorial debut Ordinary People (1980) won four Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. He also co-founded the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival in 1978, helping launch a new generation of independent filmmakers and earning him a reputation as the godfather of independent cinema.
Robert Redford Award Nominations
Robert Redford received numerous award nominations throughout his distinguished career, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for The Sting (1973), a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director for A River Runs Through It (1992), and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor for All Is Lost (2013) and The Old Man & the Gun (2018). He was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Voice of Charlie Pont (1962) and received various other honors recognizing his contributions to film and American culture.
Robert Redford Awards Won
Robert Redford earned widespread recognition and numerous major awards across his career, including an Academy Award for Best Director for Ordinary People (1980), a BAFTA Award, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Golden Globe for best new star for Inside Daisy Clover (1965). He also received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996, the Academy Honorary Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, the Honorary César in 2019, and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 74th Venice Film Festival in 2017.
Robert Redford Family
Redford was the son of Charles Robert Redford Sr., an accountant, and Martha Woodruff Redford, who was from Austin, Texas. He had a paternal half-brother named William. He credited his childhood visits to Texas and his maternal grandfather with shaping his lifelong love of nature and the environment.
Personal Life
On August 9, 1958, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen in Las Vegas, and the couple had four children: Scott Anthony, Shauna Jean, David James, and Amy Hart. Their son Scott died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of two and a half months, and their son James, a writer and producer, died of cancer in 2020. Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1982. On July 11, 2009, Redford married his longtime girlfriend, Sibylle Szaggars, at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, and the couple shared his home in Sundance, Utah. Redford had seven grandchildren.
