Robert Redford Dies: Hollywood Icon & Sundance Pioneer Was 89

Robert Redford, the acting idol best known for roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, has died. He was 89.

In a statement, Cindi Berger, chief executive of publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK, said Redford died in his sleep early Tuesday morning at his home in Utah.

“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. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy,” Berger said.

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Born in 1936, Redford studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Like many performers of his era, he got his start on the stage. He made his Broadway debut in 1959’s Tall Story, then appeared later that year in The High Tree. In 1960 he starred in Little Moon of Alban, and the following year in Sunday in New York. He also starred in “Nothing in the Dark,” a memorable 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone in which he played a wounded cop with a secret opposite a frightened and skeptical opposite Gladys Cooper.

But it was his performance in 1963 as uptight newlywed Paul Bratter in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park that gave the actor one of his early signature roles. In the stage version he appeared opposite Elizabeth Ashley, and he’d later play the role in the film version co-starring Jane Fonda.

Redford’s big break on screen was George Roy Hill’s seminal crime film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The California native went on to become one of the most enduring figures of the New Hollywood period, with leading roles in classic movies like All the President’s Men, Three Days of the Condor, The Sting, The Great Gatsby and Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa.

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Redford made his directorial debut in 1980 with Ordinary People, based on Judith Guest’s novel of the same name. The film starred Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton. It won four Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture. Redford didn’t direct again until 1988’s The Milagro Beanfield War, an adaptation of John Nichols’ novel. The film won the Academy Award for Best Score. 

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Redford’s influence didn’t stop at just the screen. In 1981, with an eye on the limits of the contemporary film landscape, the veteran performer launched the Sundance Institute on a plot of land he purchased years before in the Utah mountains. The first edition served as a lab for 17 independent filmmakers to develop their original projects in the company of such advisors as Pollack and Waldo Salt. Gregory Nava’s El Norte was the first lab-supported film to be produced. Nava and Anna Thomas won the Best Screenplay Oscar for the film.

In 1985, the Sundance Institute assumed control of the U.S. Film Festival, renaming it the Sundance Film Festival, and expanded it into the two-week event we know today. High-profile filmmakers who passed through the Sundance labs or competition strands include Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Paul Thomas Anderson and Kevin Smith. Films developed at Sundance over the years include Kimberly Peirce’s groundbreaking Boys Don’t Cry, Dee Rees’ Pariah and Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford,” the Sundance Institute said today in a statement. “Bob’s vision of a space and a platform for independent voices launched a movement that, over four decades later, has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema in the U.S. and around the world. Beyond his enormous contributions to culture at large, we will miss his generosity, clarity of purpose, curiosity, rebellious spirit, and his love for the creative process. We are humbled to be among the stewards of his remarkable legacy, which will continue to guide the Institute in perpetuity.”

Redford continued to act throughout the 1990s and 2000s. His later credits include Spy Game, A Walk in the Woods and The Old Man & the Gun. Redford even made a cameo appearance in Avengers: Endgame. In 2018, after The Old Man & the Gun debuted, Redford said he planned to retire from acting. He stepped back from all operational and public duties at Sundance in 2019. 

In a career spanning six decades, he also received three Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B DeMille lifetime achievement honor in 1994, the Oscar for directing Ordinary People and the honorary Academy Award in 2002. In 2017, he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at Venice Film, and in 2019, Redford received the Honorary César at the 44th César Awards in Paris.

In 2016, Redford received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. During the presentation ceremony, Obama said Redford “captivated audiences from both sides of the camera through entertaining motion pictures that often explore vital social, political, and historical themes.” Obama continued: “His art and activism continue to shape our Nation’s cultural heritage, inspiring millions to laugh, cry, think, and change.”

Among those paying early tributes today were CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who wrote “RIP Robert Redford” alongside a gif of the actor in 1973’s The Way We Were. Stephen King, the renowned horror author, said Redford was “part of a new and exciting Hollywood in the 70s and 80s.” Posting on X, CODA actress Marlee Matlin posted: “Our film, CODA, came to the attention of everyone because of Sundance. And Sundance happened because of Robert Redford. A genius has passed. RIP Robert.”

Greg Evans contributed to this report.