One of Hollywood’s last golden icons has left the stage, but his legacy is written in history.
Robert Redford, the iconic Oscar-winning actor, director, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, died in his sleep on September 16, 2025, at his home outside Provo, Utah. His publicist Cindi Berger confirmed the news, adding that no further cause of death has been disclosed. He was 89.
A Career Etched in Stardom
Over six decades, Redford became one of the most beloved and respected names in film history. He headlined classics like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President’s Men, and The Way We Were.
But his talents extended far beyond the screen. In 1980, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for Ordinary People and later earned critical acclaim for Quiz Show (1994), which was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
In 1981, he founded the Sundance Institute, and in 1984, helped transform a struggling local festival into what is now the Sundance Film Festival — a global launchpad for independent filmmaking.
Private Life, Public Love
Redford’s off-screen life was no less impactful. He married historian Lola Van Wagenen in 1958, and the couple had four children: James, Shauna, Amy, and Scott. James tragically died in 2020 from cancer. Another son, Scott, passed away in infancy.
In 2009, Redford married German artist Sibylle Szaggars, drawn to her precisely because she knew little of his fame. “It began as two human beings meeting,” he once told People, “not colored by success.”
He is survived by Szaggars, daughters Shauna and Amy, and several grandchildren.
Leading Ladies and Lifelong Bonds
Though his romances were private, his on-screen chemistry was legendary, especially with Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda.
Streisand was said to be “infatuated” with Redford during The Way We Were, so much so that biographers claim he had to “wear two pairs of underwear” to film intimate scenes. Yet Redford always remained devoted to his wife.
Fonda, who co-starred in multiple films with Redford including Barefoot in the Park and Our Souls at Night, later confessed: “I was in love with Redford… He’s a great kisser. It was fun to kiss him in my 20s and again in my almost 80s.”
A Voice for the Planet
Beyond film, Redford was a fierce environmental advocate. He moved to Utah in the 1960s to live among “extreme” nature and spoke frequently about how storytelling could inspire action on climate change.
In his final interview in 2024 with Orion Magazine, Redford urged young filmmakers to “stop long enough to feel connected.”
“We need more people to get involved,” he said. “Show them why it matters, by telling stories about people who are solving problems.”
A Final Bow
In 2016, Redford received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama, honoring a life dedicated to art, advocacy, and excellence.
He may have exited quietly, but Robert Redford’s legacy will thunder on in the films he made, the festival he built, and the future he inspired.
“It has to be a good story to be a good film,” he once said.
Redford gave us plenty.
