Robert Redford 1936-2025

WITH QUIET AUTHENTICITY, THE HOLLYWOOD ICON CHANNELED HIS PASSION INTO STORYTELLING AND ACTIVISM—AND LIVED HIS LIFE ON HIS OWN TERMS

- JULIE JORDAN,LIZ McNEIL,ELIZABETH ROSNER

It’s no surprise that Robert Redford was a gifted athlete in high school, even winning a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado Boulder and dreaming of joining the Boston Red Sox. Yet when he was asked about the proudest moment in his sports career, the actor told People, “I had just one. We were making The Natural, and my character was supposed to hit the ball foul.” Redford persuaded the director of the 1984 classic to let him try it himself. “Pitcher came in from the Pittsburgh Pirates. I said, ‘Yeah, just give it to me fast and inside.’ And I put it in the bleachers, and I stood there stunned. I was supposed to run. I stood there, I went, ‘God, am I great or what?’ ” he recalled with a laugh.

The world would agree. Charismatic and sun-kissed, with a heart-meltingly mischievous grin, the actor knew how to balance his movie-star magnetism with a relentless curiosity about the human condition. He was a monumental champion for independent filmmakers, launching the Sundance Film Festival, as well as for the environment and his beloved western landscapes. Outside of the spotlight Redford navigated his own fiercely private life as a father of four (his two sons, Scott and James, preceded him in death) and grandfather of seven. He lived with his second wife, artist Sibylle Szaggars, 68, on their secluded property in the mountains outside of Provo, Utah. There, on Sept. 16, the actor died at age 89, peacefully in his home, “the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” said his longtime rep Cindi Berger. No cause of death was given, but Berger noted he died in his sleep: “He will be missed greatly.”

Tributes poured in for the legend, who for more than six decades in Hollywood delivered iconic performances—from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to All the President’s Men and The Sting—and acclaimed turns as a director (he won the Oscar for