Background

Robert Redford was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, United States. He is a son of Martha W. (Hart) Redford and Charles Robert Redford Sr. Robert's father was a milkman, who worked long hours in Redford's early years. After World War II, Charles Robert got a job at the Standard Oil Company as an accountant.

Robert has a stepbrother, William, from his father's remarriage.

Education

After Redford's father got a job at the Standard Oil Company as an accountant, the family moved to nearby Van Nuys, California, where Redford attended Van Nuys High School along with his stepbrother, William, and where he was classmates with baseball pitcher Don Drysdale. Redford was not happy in Van Nuys, which he called "a cultural mud sea", and was soon engaging in activities, designed to break the unending boredom and conformist attitudes he felt closing in around him. He climbed high buildings in the Hollywood area and stole hub caps off of automobiles.

Fortunately for Redford, he also excelled in athletics, and upon his graduation from Van Nuys High School in the spring of 1955, he accepted a baseball scholarship from the University of Colorado Boulder. Although Redford seemed to have the world by the tail and a bright future, 1955 was also the year that his mother died suddenly. This shocked and stunned Redford deeply and it would take him years to come to terms with her death.

Redford commenced his studies at the University of Colorado in late 1955, but he soon became disillusioned with college life. Although he joined Kappa Sigma fraternity and tried to become interested in college curriculum, he was uninterested by most of his courses with the exception of some art classes. He started skipping classes and practices and took up drinking as way to ease his unhappiness. It was for his drinking, that he was kicked off of the team, losing his scholarship.

While Redford was at the University of Colorado, a friend suggested, that he should travel to Europe. He moved to Los Angeles, California, and began working in the nearby oil fields to pay his bills and save enough money to travel to France so that he could study painting. Once there, he hitchhiked from country to country and stayed in youth hostels. Redford eventually found a sympathetic teacher in Florence, Italy, but later, when that teacher criticized him for his slow progress, he decided to return home.

Redford hitchhiked from the east coast of the United States back to Los Angeles where he became increasingly discouraged and began drinking heavily again. In 1958, Redford met Lola Jean Van Wagenen, who was living in the same apartment building, where he rented. A Mormon from Utah, Van Wagenen encouraged Redford to resume his study of the arts. Van Wagenen's effect on Redford was so profound, that they married on September 12, 1958, and she left college to travel with him to New York.

With a new outlook and encouragement from his wife, Redford moved to Brooklyn, New York, to study painting at Pratt Institute late in 1958. Redford was aware, that he might need a sideline career to fall back on in case painting did not pay the bills. He decided to study theatrical set design at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York as a sideline, graduating from the educational establishment in 1959.

It's also worth noting, that, in his later years, namely in 1988, Robert received an honorary degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. In 1995, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bard College. Then, on May 25, 2008, Robert attained an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University.

Career

At the beginning of his career, Robert received complimentary reports on his designs and came to the attention of Mike Thoma, the stage manager for the Broadway comedy "Tall Story", which had opened on January 2, 1959. Thoma was responsible for recruiting replacements, when actors left the cast. Thoma invited Redford to audition for a small part in the production. Redford auditioned and was hired on the spot. When "Tall Story" ended its run on May 2, 1959, the agent, who had signed Redford, recommended him for a role in "The Highest Tree". The production opened on November 4, 1959 at the Longacre Theatre in New York City, but ran only a few weeks. The experience was not a total loss for Redford, as he had found an occupation, in which he was capable and enjoyed.

With the prospect of not being able to find another acting job until the next season opened in early 1960, Redford returned to Los Angeles to try his hand at television. Los Angeles was overflowing with acting jobs and Redford played half a dozen roles within six months. The most notable of these parts was as a Nazi lieutenant in "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" in 1960. In the autumn of 1960, Redford returned to New York to take part in a production of "The Iceman Cometh". Redford was then cast in a production of "Little Moon of Alban", which opened on December 1, 1960, but had only twenty performances.

Redford had his first leading role in a production of "Sunday in New York" on Broadway. It ran until May of 1962, but during breaks in the production Redford would appear with small parts on such television shows, as "Route 66", "TheTwilight Zone", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "Naked City". He also made his motion picture debut in the 1962 film "War Hunt", which was hailed by critics despite its low budget.

Redford returned to California following the close of "Sunday in New York". He was noticed by an actor and comedian Mike Nichols, who was to direct a production of Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park". Nichols demanded, that Redford be cast in the production and when it opened in New York on October 23, 1963, it was an overnight success. The tediousness of doing the same performance eight times a week soon bored Redford and he withdrew from the cast on September 5, 1964, never returning to the stage.

Instead of stage, Redford concentrated on motion pictures. His first four motion pictures were not very successful and a less determined actor might have given up. Redford stuck it out through 1965 with Situation Hopeless - But Not Serious, and "Inside Daisy Clover", opposite Natalie Wood. "Inside Daisy Clover" earned him a Golden Globe Award for the most promising male newcomer. The 1966 films "The Chase" and "This Property Is Condemned" were not received much better by critics or the public, so Redford decided to vacation with his family in Spain and Crete until the right role came along.

Redford returned to Hollywood to do a film version of "Barefoot in the Park". His performance was widely hailed and earned him a spot in what was to become one of his greatest successes, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". It was in 1969, that, after negotiations with three other well-known actors failed, Redford was offered the part of the Sundance Kid opposite Paul Newman. Initially rejected by the head of Twentieth Century-Fox for the role, Redford worked and made it his own. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" became one of the most successful westerns of all time and made Redford a household name. The movie is widely regarded as one of the pinnacle motion pictures about the American West and the men, who lived in and through it. It won four Academy Awards and made Redford a bankable movie star.

Hoping to cash in on Redford's success in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", Paramount hurried "Downhill Racer" into theaters in November 1969. Redford starred in and co-produced the motion picture and, although it was hailed by critics, the public did not react as strongly as it had to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". The same fate awaited "Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here", which had been rushed into theaters in December 1969. Redford's role as a good samaritan cowboy earned him the British Film Academy's 1970 Award for best actor.

Redford made "The Hot Rock" and "The Candidate" in 1972, but it was the last of the films he made that year, "Jeremiah Johnson", that remains his favorite of his own films. The film, the story of a trapper, trying to survive in the Utah wilderness of the nineteenth century, was initiated by Redford in his search for good roles. "The Way We Were", a story, concerning the Hollywood witch-hunts of the 1950's, followed in 1973. That year also saw his reunion with Paul Newman in "The Sting". The story of two gangsters out for revenge in the 1930's in Chicago earned the motion picture seven Academy Award nominations and Redford his first nomination for best actor.

Redford followed up with "The Great Gatsby", the motion picture adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, in 1974. He acted in "The Great Waldo Pepper" and "Three Days of the Condor" in 1975 before making one of his most acclaimed motion pictures, "All the President's Men", in 1976. Redford took an active part in the movie by convincing Watergate reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to write a motion picture script, relating their experiences during the last days of Richard Nixon's presidency instead of a book. "All the President's Men" was awarded four Academy Awards and was second on the list of top ten money-makers for that year.

Redford had only a small role in the 1977 film "A Bridge Too Far", opting to spend more time with his family. It was not until "The Electric Horseman" (1979), that he returned to play a leading role in a motion picture. His ever-growing social conscience was evident in "Brubaker" (1980). This motion picture was seen by many critics as more of a lecture on social politics, than as entertainment, but Redford rebounded with one of his greatest accomplishments on film, "Ordinary People".

Released in 1980, "Ordinary People", was the story of a suburban family, whose life unravels following the death of a child. Redford had made the transition from actor to director, and would be rewarded highly for his efforts. He received the Director's Guild of America Award for the outstanding motion picture director of 1980, an Academy Award for the best director of 1980, the National Board of Review Award for best director of 1981 and a Golden Globe Award for the best director of 1981 for his direction in "Ordinary People".

In 1981, Redford founded the Sundance Institute near his summer home in Utah to help promote the art of motion picture making and to provide financial funding for artists, developing unique visions of their own. The Institute, named after the role, that made Redford famous, has since expanded to incorporate a yearly film festival and a theater company, that produces original works. It's also worth saying, that Robert also established Sundance Cinemas, Sundance Catalog and the Sundance Channel, all in and around Park City, Utah.

Redford returned to motion pictures in 1984 with his role as an aging baseball player in "The Natural". He acted in the 1985 Academy Award winner for best picture, "Out of Africa", but told New York, that this experience ranked among the least satisfying of his career. After that, with a divorce from his wife, Lola Van Wagenen, later that year, his movie roles became less frequent. He appeared in only six motion pictures, including "Legal Eagles" (1986), "Havana" (1991), "Sneakers" (1992), "Indecent Proposal" (1993), "Up Close And Personal" (1996) and "The Horse Whisperer" (1998), over the next twelve years.

Then, Robert concentrated his efforts more on creating and directing quality motion pictures for other actors. He directed "The Milagro Beanfield War" in 1988, "A River Runs Through It", in 1992, and "Quiz Show", (1994), which won him the Cecil B. DeMille Award for best picture and established the Sundance Institute as a creative force in the motion picture industry. For all of his efforts in promoting the art of movie making and for his achievements in film, he was awarded the 1995 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.

Redford, however, was unable to repeat that level of success in later films. "Spy Game" (2001) and "The Clearing" (2004) earned mixed reviews. Better received, however, was "All Is Lost" (2013), in which he played a sailor, whose yacht is struck by a shipping container; the tense survival drama featured little dialogue, and Redford was the only actor in the movie. He then appeared in the action film "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) and the buddy comedy "A Walk in the Woods" (2015), which was based on the memoir, by writer Bill Bryson. Redford portrayed CBS reporter Dan Rather in the newsroom drama "Truth" (2015), which concerns the backlash from a story about the ex-United States President George W. Bush's military service. Redford then starred in a remake of "Pete's Dragon", a family film from Disney. In 2017, he played a widower, who is befriended by his longtime neighbour (played by Jane Fonda) in the Netflix movie "Our Souls at Night". The next year, Redford portrayed a bank robber with charming manners in "The Old Man & the Gun".

It's also worth noting, that Redford directed "The Conspirator" (2010), about the trial of Mary Surratt, who was accused of having collaborated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and "The Company You Keep" (2012), in which he starred as a family man, running from his radical activist past.

Apart from being the founder of the Sundance Institute, Redford is also the owner of Wildwood Enterprises, Inc., a film and television production company, which he established with Bill Holderman in 2008, as well as president and co-founder of Sundance Productions, with Laura Michalchyshyn.

Achievements

• Robert Redford is a prominent actor, director, producer and businessman. He is a Hollywood legend, known for his roles in acclaimed films like "The Sting", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Jeremiah Johnson", "All the President's Men" and "The Way We Were". Robert's greatest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of co-star Elizabeth Ashley's character in Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" (1963).
  
  It's worth saying, that Redford made his debut as a director in "Ordinary People" (1980) film, which was one of the most critically and publicly acclaimed movies of the decade. The movie earned him the Academy Award for Best Director. He then went on to direct "The Milagro Beanfield War" (1988), "A River Runs Through It" (1992), "Quiz Show" (1994) and other films.
  
  In 1981, Redford established the Sundance Institute, which provides a workshop for young filmmakers each summer and sponsors the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. By the 1990's, the festival had become one of the leading international film festivals, and it is regarded as a vital showcase for new talent.
  
  During his career, Redford attained a huge number of prestigious awards, including the Academy Award, the Academy Honorary Award, the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Film Award, the Honorary César Award, the Golden Lion, the National Medal of Arts, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and many others.
  
  In addition, Redford received many nominations for different awards, including the nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, as well as for Best Picture; the nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama and for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy; the nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor and for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, among others.
  
  In December 2005, Redford received the Kennedy Center Honors for his contributions to American culture. The honors recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts: whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television.
  
  In 2009, the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dramatic Arts announced the first annual Robert Redford Award for Engaged Artists. The award was created "to honor those, who have distinguished themselves not only in the exemplary quality, skill and innovation of their work, but also in their public commitment to social responsibility, to increasing awareness of global issues and events, and to inspiring and empowering young people."
  
  Moreover, on October 14, 2010, Redford was appointed Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor.
  
  In 2014, Time Magazine named Redford as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here

    (In 1909, when young Paiute Indian Willie Boy returns to h...)

    1969
  • Jeremiah Johnson

    (A mountain man, who wishes to live the life of a hermit, ...)

    1972
  • The Old Man & The Gun

    (Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacio...)

    2018
  • The Great Waldo Pepper

    (Academy Award-winner Robert Redford is the great Waldo Pe...)

    1975
  • All The President's Men

    ("The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Ber...)

    1976
  • All Is Lost

    (After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a res...)

    2013
  • Spy Game

    (Retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of To...)

    2001
  • Legal Eagles

    (A New York district attorney works and flirts with his ad...)

    1986
  • Up Close And Personal

    (An ambitious young woman, determined to build a career in...)

    1996
  • A River Runs Through It

    (The story about two sons of a stern minister - one reserv...)

    1992
  • The Horse Whisperer

    (The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the...)

    1998
  • An Unfinished Life

    (Desperate to provide care for her daughter, down-on-her-l...)

    2005
  • The Electric Horseman

    (A rodeo star, past his prime, steals his company's horse ...)

    1979
  • Brubaker

    (The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries t...)

    1980
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier

    (As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the mode...)

    2014
  • The Way We Were

    (Two disparate people have a wonderful romance, but their ...)

    1973
  • Pete's Dragon

    (The adventures of an orphaned boy, named Pete, and his be...)

    2016
  • The Great Gatsby

    (A Midwesterner becomes fascinated with his nouveau riche ...)

    1974
  • The Company You Keep

    (After a journalist discovers his identity, a former Weath...)

    2012
  • Indecent Proposal

    (A billionaire offers one million dollars to a young marri...)

    1993
  • Avengers: Endgame

    (After the devastating events of "Avengers: Infinity War" ...)

    2019
  • The Chase

    (The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhab...)

    1966
  • The Candidate

    (Bill McKay is a candidate for the United States Senate fr...)

    1972
  • Inside Daisy Clover

    (A tomboy, turned movie star, deals with the cruelty of Ho...)

    1965
  • Barefoot in the Park

    (Paul, a conservative young lawyer, marries the vivacious ...)

    1967
  • The Sting

    (Two grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.)

    1973
  • Tall Story

    (A young insecure college sportsman is in trouble. He want...)

    1960
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

    (Wyoming, early 1900's. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid...)

    1969

Religion

It is unclear if religion was present much during Robert's childhood, but considering his Irish/Scottish/English heritage, it's reasonable to assume some sort of Christian background. However, as a youth, Redford was involved in street gangs, petty theft and general hooliganism, so it seems unlikely he was devoted to any formal religious or moral framework.

As an adult, Redford once said: "I don't believe in organized religion, because I don't believe people should be organized in how they think, in what they believe." However, Robert does seem to, at some point in his life, have taken up a spiritual quest. He said he "explored every religion, some very deeply", but that "there's not one philosophy, that can satisfy [him]." And when it comes to the great cosmological questions, like "What happens after we die", Redford is skeptical: "Is there an afterlife? As far as I know, this is it. It's all we've got. You take your opportunities and you go for it."

Politics

Redford is a highly political person and an activist, whose primary focus is environmentalism. He sits on the board of directors of the National Resources Defense Council and has won numerous awards for his environmental activism. As early as the 1970's, Redford was pushing for legislation of the Clean Air Act and the Energy Conservation and Production Act, and he continues to protest projects, that threaten the environment, such as the Keystone XL Pipeline and coal plants in southern Utah.

Redford has supported Republicans, including Brent Cornell Morris in his unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for Utah's 3rd congressional district in 1990. In addition, Robert supported Gary Herbert, another Republican and a friend, in Herbert's successful 2004 campaign to be elected Utah's Lieutenant Governor. Also, he supported Democratic President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012.

Moreover, Robert is a supporter of Native American rights, LGBT rights and the arts. He has also supported advocacy groups, such as the Political Action Committee of the Directors Guild of America.

Redford is also known to be an admirer of famous anarchist Edward Abbey.

Views

Robert's directing style is characterized by long, meditative takes and by an emotional detachment from subject matter, that serves to heighten the irony of the narrative.

Quotations: "Health food may be good for the conscience, but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better."

"Not taking a risk is a risk. That's how I see it."

"I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?"

"Never revisit the past, that's dangerous. You know, move on."

"Problems can become opportunities, when the right people come together."

"I'm interested in that thing, that happens, where there's a breaking point for some people and not for others. You go through such hardship, things, that are almost impossibly difficult, and there's no sign, that it's going to get any better, and that's the point, when people quit. But some don't."

"If you can do more, you should."

"Storytellers broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire and ultimately, connect us."

"What is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?"

"Butch Cassidy" was the only film I ever enjoyed making."

"You're never going to be the same person you are right now."

"I have faith in the pendulum swinging. Right now it's so far against the wall, that it can't go any farther; it's gonna start to swing back. That's my optimism. One of the cures is gonna be getting the American people to fully wake up. All the American people, particularly young people, because they're gonna inherit this earth; they're gonna inherit what we're doing."

"All my life I've been dogged by guilt because I feel there is this difference between the way I look and the way I feel inside."

"I have no regrets, because I've done everything I could to the best of my ability."

"The measure of our success will be the condition on which we leave the world for the next generation."

Membership

Robert is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of advisory committee of Land Trust of Napa County. It's also worth noting, that, during his time at the University of Colorado Boulder, Robert was a brother with the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Personality

With his tousled blond hair, lanky good looks and soft-spoken voice, Redford was a 1970's sex symbol for films, such as "The Way We Were", "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Electric Horseman".

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) is Redford's favourite film. As for the films Robert performed in, he dislikes watching them. The only film in which he was completely satisfied with his own performance was "The Sting" (1973).

Physical Characteristics: According to media reports, Redford suffered from poliomyelitis as a child.

Connections

Redford married Lola Van Wagenen, a historian, on September 12, 1958, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In order to marry Redford, young Lola dropped out of college. Their marriage produced four children - Scott Anthony Redford (September 1, 1959 - November 17, 1959), who died of sudden infant death syndrome, Shauna Jean Redford (born November 15, 1960), David James "Jamie" Redford (born May 5, 1962) and Amy Hart Redford (born October 22, 1970). Robert and Lola divorced in 1985.

It was in July 2009, that Redford married his second wife - his longtime partner, Sibylle Szaggars.

Father:

Charles Robert Redford Sr.

Charles Robert Redford Sr. was a milkman and accountant at the Standard Oil Company.

Mother:

Martha W. (Hart) Redford

Robert's mother, Martha W. (Hart) Redford, was, he says, the center of his universe. She passed away on May 2, 1955.

child:

Scott Anthony Redford

Scott Anthony Redford (September 1, 1959 - November 17, 1959) died of sudden infant death syndrome.

child:

Shauna Jean Redford

Shauna Jean Redford is a painter, who is married to journalist Eric Schlosser.

child:

David James "Jamie" Redford

David James "Jamie" Redford is a writer and producer.

child:

Amy Redford

Amy Redford is an American actress, director and producer.

ex-wife:

Lola Van Wagenen

Lola Van Wagenen is an American historian. In 1970, she co-founded Consumer Action Now, a non-profit educational organization, and in 1995 co-founded Clio Visualizing History, Inc. to promote history education.

Wife:

Sibylle Szaggars

Sibylle Szaggars is a German-born multimedia environmental artist.

Stepbrother:

William Redford

William Redford is Robert's stepbrother from his father's remarriage.

Friend:

Gary Herbert

Gary Herbert is an American politician, serving as the 17th and current Governor of Utah since 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the National Governors Association during the 2015-2016 cycle.

Friend:

Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films.

Friend:

Paul Newman

Paul Newman was an American actor, film director, producer, race car driver, IndyCar owner, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

References

• Robert Redford: The Biography The long-anticipated biography of Robert Redford, written by Michael Feeney Callan.
  1996
• Robert Redford This work traces the development of the acting career of Robert Redford, analyzes his performances in motion pictures and discusses his debut as a film director.
  1982
• The Films of Robert Redford Book by James Spada.
  1977
• The Sundance Kid: An Unauthorized Biography of Robert Redford Redford is given his due in this timely biography, that benefits from interviews with co-workers, fellow actors, directors and Redford himself. Not only is Redford's acting career explored - with the speculation, that he may have emerged as a much greater actor if he had stayed in the theater - but also his political activities and, of course, Sundance.
  2006
• American Legends: The Life of Robert Redford "American Legends: The Life of Robert Redford" charts Redford's shift from an actor, who could not garner any respect to one of Hollywood's most important figures, along with an analysis of his famous films, that portrayed various topics, like masculinity, sport and the American West.
  2014