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. 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 bro-mance before the term was coined.

- NAMRATA JOSHI

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.