Actor, Director, & Producer Robert Redford 1936-2025 Memorial Video - Portraits

Charles Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025) was an American actor, director, and producer. He was known as a leading man who gained stardom during the American New Wave. Over a career spanning more than six decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, five Golden Globe Awards (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994). Redford also received various honors including 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 began his career on television in the late 1950s, appearing in anthology series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. He made his Broadway debut in Neil Simon’s comedy Barefoot in the Park (1963), playing a newlywed opposite Elizabeth Ashley. He soon transitioned to film, taking roles in War Hunt (1962) and Inside Daisy Clover (1965), before achieving stardom with Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). His subsequent performances in Downhill Racer (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), and The Sting (1973) established him as one of Hollywood’s leading actors, with the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination.

His stardom continued with films such as The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President’s Men (1976), The Electric Horseman (1979), The Natural (1984), and Out of Africa (1985). Later credits include Sneakers (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), All Is Lost (2013), Truth (2015), Our Souls at Night (2017), and The Old Man & the Gun (2018). He also played Alexander Pierce in the MCU films Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), the latter serving as his final on-screen role.

Redford made his directorial debut with the family drama Ordinary People (1980), which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. His later directing credits include The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992), Quiz Show (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). A major advocate for independent cinema, Redford co-founded the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival in 1978, helping to foster a new generation of filmmakers. Beyond his artistic career, he was noted for his environmental activism, his support of Native American and Indigenous rights, and his advocacy for LGBTQ equality.

On September 16, 2025, Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, at age 89. Several of Redford's co-stars paid tribute to him, including frequent collaborator Jane Fonda, who wrote, "He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America that we have to keep fighting for." His Out of Africa co-star Meryl Streep wrote, "One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace, my lovely friend." His The Way We Were co-star Barbra Streisand released a lengthy statement, which read in part, "Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting—and one of the finest actors ever." His All the President's Men co-star Dustin Hoffman paid tribute to Redford, writing, "Working with Redford...was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had...I'll miss him." Journalist Bob Woodward, whom Redford portrayed in All the President's Men, also paid tribute.

Others who commented on Redford's death include politicians such as U.S. president Donald Trump, former president Barack Obama, the former First Lady Hillary Clinton and former vice president Al Gore. Numerous prominent figures from the entertainment industry paid tribute to Redford, including filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard and actors such as Morgan Freeman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Edward Norton, Josh Brolin, Ethan Hawke, and Antonio Banderas.

Redford is set to be interred on his Sundance property following a low-key funeral.