Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an award-winning American motion picture actor, director, producer, businessman, model, and philanthropist.
The blonde haired, athletic actor is known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Candidate (1972), The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), All the President's Men (1976), Brubaker (1980), The Natural (1984), Out Of Africa (1985), and many others. Redford directed the films Ordinary People (1980), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992), Quiz Show (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1998) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). He was also a producer on all except Ordinary People.
Biography[]
Redford was born in Santa Monica, California to Charles Robert Redford, Sr., an accountant, and Texas-born Martha W. Hart. He has a half-brother, William, from his father's re-marriage.
Redford graduated from Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, California in 1955 and received a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado, where he was a pitcher on the baseball team, and a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He lost the scholarship due to adolescent drinking, fueled in part by the death of his mother, when Redford was eighteen. Redford was later a painting student at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and took classes in theatrical set design at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
In 1980, Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, won him the Academy Award for Directing; his 1994 film, Quiz Show, was nominated for best director, but lost to Forrest Gump. Along with Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough, and Kevin Costner, Redford is one of the few major actors to win an Academy Award for "Best Director".
With the financial proceeds of his acting success, starting with his salary from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Downhill Racer, Redford purchased the ski resort just outside Park City, Utah called Timphaven. He renamed it the Sundance Resort, and not long after, portions of the movie Jeremiah Johnson (1972), a film which is both one of Redford's favorites and one that has heavily influenced him, were shot in the area. He founded the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute, Sundance Catalog, and the Sundance Channel, all in and around Park City. The Sundance Film Festival caters to independent filmmakers in the United States and has received some recognition from the industry as a place to option films. The name Sundance comes from his character, the "Sundance Kid". In addition, Redford owns a celebrated restaurant called Zoom, located on Main Street in the former mining town of Park City.
In 1995, Redford received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bard College. In December 2005, he received honors at the Kennedy Center 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, movies or television.
Robert Redford is politically liberal. He has supported environmentalism and Native American rights. Supposedly, Barbara Bush told her husband George Bush that he should chose Dan Quayle as a running mate because he looked like Redford. Redford then began some speeches by saying, "Hello. I'm Dan Quayle." However, Redford resented the equation as he and the former Vice President are on the opposite sides of the political spectrum.
Redford married Lola Jean on September 12, 1958; the couple, who had four children, Scott (born 1959 and died shortly after), Shauna (born November 15, 1960), David James (born May 15, 1962), and Amy (born October 22, 1970), divorced in 1985. His companions since have included actress Sonia Braga (during the late 1980s), Kathy O'Rear (from the late 1980s to 1996) and Sibylle Szaggars (1998). Redford has three grandchildren.
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Tall Story | Basketball Player | Joshua Logan | Uncredited |
1962 | War Hunt | Private Roy Loomis | Denis Sanders | |
1965 | Inside Daisy Clover | Wade Lewis | Robert Mulligan | |
Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious | Captain Hank Wilson | Gottfried Reinhardt | ||
1966 | This Property Is Condemned | Owen Legate | Sydney Pollack | |
The Chase | Charlie 'Bubber' Reeves | Arthur Penn | ||
1967 | Barefoot in the Park | Paul Bratter | Gene Saks | |
1969 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Sundance Kid | George Roy Hill | |
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here | Deputy Sheriff Christopher 'Coop' Cooper | Abraham Polonsky | ||
Downhill Racer | David Chappellet | Michael Ritchie | ||
1970 | Little Fauss and Big Halsy | Halsy Knox | Sidney J. Furie | |
1972 | Jeremiah Johnson | Jeremiah Johnson | Sydney Pollack | |
The Candidate | Bill McKay | Michael Ritchie | ||
The Hot Rock | John Archibald Dortmunder | Peter Yates | ||
1973 | The Sting | Johnny Hooker | George Roy Hill | |
The Way We Were | Hubbell Gardiner | Sydney Pollack | ||
1974 | The Great Gatsby | Jay Gatsby | Jack Clayton | |
1975 | Three Days of the Condor | Joseph Turner / The Condor | Sydney Pollack | |
The Great Waldo Pepper | Waldo Pepper | George Roy Hill | ||
1976 | All the President's Men | Bob Woodward | Alan J. Pakula | |
1977 | A Bridge Too Far | Major Julian Cook | Richard Attenborough | |
1979 | The Electric Horseman | Norman 'Sonny' Steele | Sydney Pollack | |
1980 | Brubaker | Henry Brubaker | Stuart Rosenberg | |
1984 | The Natural | Roy Hobbs | Barry Levinson | |
1985 | Out of Africa | Denys Finch Hatton | Sydney Pollack | |
1986 | Legal Eagles | Tom Logan | Ivan Reitman | |
1990 | Havana | Jack Weil | Sydney Pollack | |
1992 | Sneakers | Marty Bishop / Martin Brice | Phil Alden Robinson | |
Incident at Oglala | Narrator | Michael Apted | ||
1993 | Indecent Proposal | John Gage | Adrian Lyne | |
La Classe américaine | Steven | Michel Hazanavicius & Dominique Mézerette | ||
1996 | Up Close & Personal | Warren Justice | Jon Avnet | |
1998 | The Horse Whisperer | Tom Booker | Himself | Also producer |
2001 | The Last Castle | Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin | Rod Lurie | |
Spy Game | CIA Case Officer Nathan D. Muir | Tony Scott | ||
2004 | The Clearing | Wayne Hayes | Pieter Jan Brugge | |
2005 | An Unfinished Life | Einar Gilkyson | Lasse Hallström | |
2006 | Charlotte's Web | Ike | Gary Winick | Voice |
2007 | Lions for Lambs | Professor Stephen Malley | Himself | Also producer |
2012 | The Company You Keep | Jim Grant / Nick Sloan | ||
2013 | All Is Lost | Our Man | J.C. Chandor | |
2014 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Alexander Pierce | Anthony and Joe Russo | |
2015 | A Walk in the Woods | Bill Bryson | Ken Kwapis | Also producer |
Truth | Dan Rather | James Vanderbilt | ||
2016 | Pete's Dragon | Mr. Meacham | David Lowery | |
2017 | The Discovery | Thomas Harbor | Charlie McDowell | |
Our Souls at Night | Louis Waters | Ritesh Batra | Also producer | |
2018 | The Old Man & the Gun | Forrest Tucker | David Lowery | Also producer |
Buttons | Narrator (voice) | Tim Janis | ||
2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Alexander Pierce | Anthony and Joe Russo | Cameo |
2020 | Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia | Lokia The Dolphin Monster (voice) | Various |
Director[]
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1980 | Ordinary People | |
1988 | The Milagro Beanfield War | Also producer |
1992 | A River Runs Through It | Also producer |
1994 | Quiz Show | Also producer |
1998 | The Horse Whisperer | Also producer |
2000 | The Legend of Bagger Vance | Also producer |
2007 | Lions for Lambs | Also producer |
2010 | The Conspirator | Also producer |
2012 | The Company You Keep | Also producer |
2014 | Cathedrals of Culture | Documentary, segment: "The Salk Institute" |
Film quotes[]
- "What do we do now?" - from The Candidate (1972)
- "Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?" - as Joe Turner in Three Days of the Condor (1975).
External links[]
- Robert Redford at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- the Sundance Institute
- Sundance Resort
- Article about the Zoom Restaurant in the Guardian
- Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Robert Redford (retrieved from the Internet Archive. October 18, 2013)
- Robert Redford at TriviaTribute.com
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