Hollywood legend Robert Redford, whose career as both actor and director defined generations of cinema and helped reshape independent filmmaking, died Tuesday morning at his home in Utah. He was 89.
Redford passed away in his sleep at his Sundance residence in the Utah mountains, his publicist Cindi Berger confirmed in a statement. No specific cause of death was disclosed.
“Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” Berger said.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. in Santa Monica, California, on August 18, 1936, he rose from modest beginnings as the son of an accountant to become one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars.
His breakout role came in 1969 when he starred alongside Paul Newman in the classic Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, establishing him as a leading man.
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Over two decades as an actor, Redford earned acclaim in films such as The Sting (1973), which won him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He later transitioned behind the camera, directing the 1980 drama Ordinary People, which won four Oscars, including Best Director for Redford himself.
Beyond film, he made a lasting mark as a conservationist and cultural pioneer. In 1985, he launched the Sundance Film Festival to promote independent cinema, fostering the careers of groundbreaking directors including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, and Jim Jarmusch.
A vocal advocate for environmental preservation, Redford spent much of his later life campaigning to protect Utah’s landscapes and natural resources.
He was married twice, first to historian Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children, and later to German artist Sibylle Szaggars, whom he wed in 2009.
Redford received an honorary Academy Award in 2002, when Barbra Streisand praised him as “the intellectual, the artist, the cowboy.” His legacy endures not only through his films but also through his contributions to independent filmmaking and environmental activism.