Robert Redford, Legendary Leading Man and Oscar-Winning Director, Dies at 89
The founder of the Sundance Institute died early Tuesday morning at home in Utah surrounded by those he loved
Robert Redford, the legendary leading man actor and Oscar-winning director, has died. He was 89.
A Hollywood icon in every sense of the term, Redford got his start in New York City on the stage and small screen, earning an Emmy nomination for ABC’s “The Voice of Charlie Pont” in 1962. His classically handsome good looks made him a breakout early, but a key decision marked a turning point in his career as he turned down “The Graduate” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in favor of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” fearful of being pigeon-holed as the blonde leading man.
It was that 1969 classic opposite Paul Newman that set Redford on the trajectory that would include more iconic — and sardonic — roles in films like “The Sting” and “The Natural.” And, of course, as Bob Woodward in Alan J. Pakula’s classic 1976 Watergate drama “All the President’s Men.”