Robert Redford Dies Aged 89

Legendary actor Robert Redford has died at the age of 89, it has been confirmed. According to his representatives, the screen icon passed away in his sleep at his home in Utah.

Redford leaves behind a vast legacy of cinematic classics. He rose to prominence in the late 1960s, starring opposite Jane Fonda in 1967’s Barefoot In The Park, before taking on one of his most indelible roles in 1969’s Western staple Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. Starring as the Sundance Kid to Paul Newman’s Butch Cassidy, the film was not initially widely acclaimed, but is now regarded as an all-timer – and propelled Redford into becoming one of the most notable stars of 1970s New Hollywood cinema.

In 1973, he re-teamed with Butch Cassidy director George Roy Hill (and co-star Paul Newman) for mob boss con movie The Sting, which earned 10 Oscar nominations – including one for Redford in the Best Actor category. The same year, he starred opposite Barbra Streisand in Sydney Pollack’s acclaimed The Way We Were; a year later, in 1974, he portrayed Jay Gatsby in the Francis Ford Coppola-penned adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Most notably, the ‘70s saw Redford star in two political thrillers that became emblematic of an era of American cinema – working again with Sydney Pollack on 1975’s Three Days Of The Condor, as a CIA analyst being hunted down as he unpicks a conspiracy, and starring for Alan K. Pakula in 1976’s All The President’s Men, as one of the Washington Post journalists who reported on the Watergate scandal. As a result, Redford himself became synonymous with a certain type of paranoid grown-up thriller – a reputation he played with in his later years, as director and star of 2007’s Lions For Lambs, and as corrupt SHIELD boss Alexander Pierce in the political-thriller-inspired MCU entry Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Elsewhere in his career, Redford won an Oscar as director of 1980’s Ordinary People; he was nominated, too, for Best Picture and Best Director on 1994’s Quiz Game. He was instrumental in establishing the Sundance Film Festival, through his Sundance Institute organisation, promoting new cinematic voices – named, of course, after his legendary role in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. Beyond the millennium, he starred for Tony Scott in 2001's Spy Game; collaborated multiple times with David Lowery on Pete’s Dragon and The Old Man & The Gun; and briefly returned as Alexander Pierce in box office behemoth Avengers: Endgame, marking his final screen performance.

Redford will forever remain a cinematic titan – our thoughts are with his family, friends, and loved ones.