HE WHO SUNDANCED HIS WAY TO HISTORY

LET’S get the most obvious bit out of the way first—Robert Redford was an incredibly handsome man.

- NAMRATA JOSHI

So was Paul Newman. And together, they made one of the most charismatic pairings in the history of cinema—first in the Western about two buddy-outlaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and later as conmen in the stylish caper, The Sting (1973). As a friend pointed out, the twosome personified bromance before the term was coined.

It was a partnership that went beyond the screen. In an interview with Michael Parkinson, Redford talked about a practical joke he had played on Newman’s 50th birthday. A trifle bored of his obsession with racing, he presented Newman an old, wrecked Porsche, nicely gift-wrapped. Newman didn’t breathe a word about it. Three weeks later, Redford found a huge parcel at his own door—a gigantic block of metal melted down from an old wrecked car. Redford kept quiet too, but had it crafted into a garden statue and sent back to Newman’s Connecticut home a few miles away. It remained a block-solid reminder of a lifelong bond.