The Natural hero of both Hollywood and indie film

18 Sep 2025

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)

AFP, THE TIMES

Box-office star had second wind as director and as founder of Sundance festival

“The glamour image can be a real handicap"

   - Robert Redford In a 1974 interview

With his all-American good looks, Robert Redford – who died on Tuesday aged 89 – was the eternal Sundance Kid, a screen legend both in front of and behind the camera.(Top) proud of his best-director Oscar for 1980’s Ordinary People; (above) with Newman in Butch Cassidy; (left) in 1984’s The Natural; (below) with Dustin Hoffman in All The President’s Men.

The tousled-haired heartthrob made his breakthrough alongside Paul Newman as an affable outlaw in the cowboy hit Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid in 1969.

After 20 years as one of Hollywood’s hottest actors, he then moved behind the camera to become an Oscar-winning director, while still acting.

He also co-founded the Sundance Film Festival, which became a springboard for a new generation of independent filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino.

“Few careers have had such an impact on the history of cinema,” said French producer Alain Terzian, before awarding him the French equivalent of an Oscar in 2019.

But Redford’s beginnings were far from a smooth ascent to the top. The son of an accountant from Santa Monica, California, his mother died in 1955, a year after he finished high school.

A baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado ended due to his boozing, so he then travelled around Europe before enrolling in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1959.

After various TV roles, his first big screen break was in the romantic comedy Barefoot In The Park (1967) opposite Jane Fonda.

Two years later his career soared when he was cast alongside Newman as two US outlaw buddies who flee to Bolivia to evade authorities.

Butch Cassidy became an instant classic, launching Redford and burnishing the career of the older Newman.

The pair also teamed up as 1930s con artists in The Sting (1973), which won Redford his only nomination for an Oscar for best actor – and a further legion of female fans smitten by his handsome looks.

Redford said in 1974: “The glamour image can be a real handicap.” It often seemed as if he spent his acting career fighting the image of being just a swoon-worthy poster boy.

Redford was box-office gold in the mid 1970s and starred in a succession of major films such as The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days Of The Condor (1975) and the critically acclaimed All The President’s Men (1976).

In another career high, he won an Oscar for his directorial debut with Ordinary People in 1980.

Baseball classic The Natural followed in 1984 before Redford wooed another generation of women in the epic romance Out of Africa (1985), alongside Meryl Streep.

He went on to star with a young Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It (1992) and the Oscar-nominated Quiz Show (1994).

“At one time I thought when I was making films … that they might have an effect on the country or the future,” he said in 2007. “I don’t think so any more.

“If you look at All The President’s Men and what it was saying about the relationship between the media and government and the corporate powers, and then look where we are now, it’s worse than it was,” he added. The avowed liberal was awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2002.

But Redford always saw his part in launching the Sundance Film Festival in 1985 as one of his greatest achievements. Created to help aspiring filmmakers disaffected with Hollywood’s commercialism and lack of diversity, it has fostered leading independent directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh.

Redford had four children with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, one of whom died as an infant. He married German artist and longtime girlfriend Sibylle Szaggars in 2009.

Through the 2010s Redford took minor roles until his last screen appearance, a cameo in the 2019 Marvel hit Avengers: Endgame.

But his later years saw one of his greatest performances. At 76, he starred solo as a drifting yachtsman in All Is Lost (2013). The only dialogue is a brief reflection by Redford’s character on a life that is clearly coming to a close. It seems achingly sad now.

“I fought till the end,” Redford’s unnamed hero says. “I’m not sure what that is worth, but know that I did.”

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HE WAS THE REEL DEAL

Barefoot In The Park, 1967

Starring alongside Jane Fonda, this film adaptation of the stage production gave Redford his first real taste of success, and his sex-symbol era was officially launched.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, 1969

He was paired with Paul Newman in this global box-office hit, and one of the silver screen’s greatest bromances was born. The two A-listers remained lifelong friends.

The Candidate, 1972

Released during the 1972 US presidential election, the film accidentally became a perfect portrait of the nation in the Watergate era.

The Sting, 1973

Pure, unabashed entertainment. The film reunited him with Newman and won the Academy Award for best picture. It also landed Redford his only Oscar nomination for acting.

The Way We Were, 1973

“Memories, light the corners of our minds.” This iconic film would be one of the biggest box office sensations of 1973 thanks to the Redford and Streisand oppositesattract chemistry.

Three Days Of The Condor, 1975

This spy thriller has thinking-man’s action hero Redford running all over Manhattan as he outwits his betrayers and woos Faye Dunaway.

All The President’s Men, 1976

A major passion project for Redford, who convinced journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to sell him the rights to their book of the same name for $US 450,000. Hailed as the definitive movie about journalism.

The Natural, 1984

The Oscar-nominated film saw golden boy Redford shift seamlessly into middle age on the big screen.

Out of Africa, 1985

Another best-picture Oscar winner, he starred alongside Meryl Streep.

The Horse Whisperer, 1998

A younger generation discovers Redford in a backdrop of his beloved mountain vistas.