Sports Poets Society

20th Century Fox ROBERT Redford, left, Paul Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Redford made dreams into realities with Sundance His institute and festival nurture new generations of creators 17 set 2025 - Los Angeles Times By Mark Olsen It all started with a purchase of land in the 1960s. Then, from that small slice of Utah and the founding of the Sundance Institute in 1981 and, later, its expansion into the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford developed a vision that would reshape on-screen storytelling as we know it. Sundance opened doors for multiple generations of filmmakers who might not otherwise have gained entry to the movie business. Redford, who died Tuesday at age 89, was already a hugely successful actor, producer and director, having just won an Oscar for his directorial debut “Ordinary People,” when he founded the Sundance Institute as a support system for independent filmmakers. His Utah property, named after his role in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundanc...

Steve Schapiro Fahey / Klein Gallery OFF THE BEATEN PATH - Redford as Halsy Knox, a motorcyclist banned from the track, alongside Lauren Hutton in 1970’s “Little Fauss and Big Halsy.” Making a difference behind the camera 17 set 2025 - Los Angeles Times By Nardine Saad Sundance Kid’s reach surpassed the big screen Robert Redford, a generational icon who commanded the big screen as the star of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Way We Were” and won awards and lasting praise for directing films such as “Ordinary People,” has died. He was 89. Long a critical force in the elevation of independent filmmaking through the Sundance Institute, Redford died Tuesday morning at his home, his publicist confirmed. He was “in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” the statement said. Redford was a natural star who seemed to comfortably reflect the postwar zeitgeist in America with his choice of movie roles and side projects. As Newsweek put it, “What Red...