Robert Redford was born Charles Robert Redford on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. His family later moved to Van Nuys, California. He attended Van Nuys High School where among his classmates was future Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale. He graduated in 1954 and then attended the University of Colorado in Boulder for a year and a half. After dropping out of the university and following his mother's death, he travelled throughout Europe. After he returned to the United States, Robert Redford studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and then acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Robert Redford made his Broadway debut in a small role in Tall Story in 1959. In the late Fifties, he also appeared on Broadway in The Highest Tree and Little Moon of Alban. He made his film debut in an uncredited role in the movie adaptation of Tall Story in 1960. He made his television debut in the Maverick episode "Iron Hand" in 1960. That same year he guest-starred on the shows Rescue 8, The Deputy, Playhouse 90, Moment of Fear, Tate, Perry Mason, Our American Heritage, and Play of the Week.
The Sixties would see Robert Redford go from guest appearances on television and smaller roles in movies to movie stardom. His first movie role in the decade was a supporting role in War Hunt (1962). One of his last roles in the decade was the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). During the Sixties, he also appeared in the movies Situation Hopeless--But Not Serious (1965), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), The Chase (1966), This Property is Condemned (1966), Barefoot in the Park (1967), Downhill Racer (1969), Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), and Little Fuass and Big Halsy (1970). He guest-starred on the shows Play of the Week, Naked City, The Americans, Whispering Smith, Route 66, Bus Stop, The New Breed, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Alcoa Premiere, The Untouchables, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Dick Powell Show, Breaking Point, The Virginian, and The Defenders. He appeared on Broadway in Sunday in New York and Barefoot in the Park.
In the Seventies, Robert Redford starred in the movies The Hot Rock (1972), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), The Way We Were (1973), The Sting (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President's Men (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Electric Horseman (1979), and Brubaker (1980).
In the Eighties, Robert Redford appeared in the movies The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985), Legal Eagles (1986), and Havana (1990). In the Nineties, he starred in Sneakers (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), Up Close & Personal (1996), and The Horse Whisperer (1998). He narrated A River Runs Through It (1992). In the Naughts, Mr. Redford appeared in The Last Castle (2001), Spy Game (2001), The Clearing (2001), and Lions for Lambs (2007). He was the voice of Ike the Horse in Charlotte's Web (2006).
In the Teens, Robert Redford starred in The Company You Keep (2012), All is Lost (2013), Making a Scene (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), The Glove (2014), A Walk in the Woods (2015), Truth (2015), Pete's Dragon (2016), The Discovery (2017), Our Souls at Night (2017), This Man & the Gun (2018), Buttons (2018), and Marvel's Avengers: Endgame (2020). He was the voice of the Redwood in the TV show Nature is Speaking and had a cameo as a chess player in the Dark Winds episode "Ye'iitsoh (Big Monster)."
As mentioned above, Robert Redford was a director as well as an actor. His directorial debut, Ordinary People (1980), won the Academy Award for Best Director. He was nominated for Best Director for his film Quiz Show (1994). Mr. Redford also directed the films The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992), The Horse Whisperer (1998), The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), Lions for Lambs (2007), The Conspirator (2010), and The Company You Keep (2012). He directed the segment "The Salk Institute" for the film Cathedrals of Culture (2014)..
Starting with The Candidate (1972), Robert Redford also served as a producer on movies other than those he directed himself. Among these movies were Promised Land (1987), The Dark Wind (1991), Incident at Oglala (1992), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), The Unforeseen (2007), A Walk in the Woods (2015), The Big Bang (2017), and others. He produced several television movies and shows. He produced The Navajo Mysteries (based on Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels) for PBS's Mystery!, the documentary series Iconoclasts, Ocean Warriors, Arena, and Dark Winds (the AMC series based on the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels). He also produced several television movies.
Among his many other achievements, Robert Redford also launched the Sundance Film Festival in 1978. It is now the largest independent film festival in the United States. It has spun off other Sundance festivals in other locations, including London and Hong Kong. Robert Redford founded the Sundance Institute in 1981. The institute is a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting independent cinema. It has several different programs, including programs for Feature Films, Film Music, Native American and Indigenous Films, Documentaries, and yet others.
For much of his career, Robert Redford was known for his appearance, and while he was certainly extraordinarily handsome, it was the least impressive thing about him. Quite simply, he was a talented actor and director who made enormous contributions to cinema. Indeed, as an actor Robert Redford was very versatile, to the point that some of his most impressive performances were on television rather than in the movies. Even after all the movies he made, he is still remembered for his performance in the Twilight Zone episode "Nothing in the Dark." In "Nothing in the Dark," he played an injured visitor to the apartment of Wanda Dunn (Gladys Cooper), who is deathly afraid of dying. In "The Snowball," an episode of The Untouchables, he played a small-time, but no less brutal bootlegger who sells to college campuses. In the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "A Tangled Web," Mr. Redford played a volatile professional burglar.
While Robert Redford played many remarkable roles on television, it is admittedly movies for which he is best known and he delivered many great performances in films as well. He was impressive as The Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the quiet, but no less deadly partner of Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman). It was opposite Paul Newman that Robert Redford gave another one of his great performances on film, playing Johnny Hooker in The Sting. Unlike The Sundance Kid, Johnny Hooker tended to be impulsive and arrogant, if even-tempered. He played another self-confident, if somewhat nervous character when he starred as the title character in The Great Waldo Pepper. Over his long career, Robert Redford played other great roles, including Barefoot in the Park, where he played Paul Bratter, the somewhat upright newlywed married to free spirit Corie (Jane Fonda). During his long career, Robert Redford played such remarkable movie roles as Jeremiah Johnson in the movie of the same name, Bill McKay in The Candidate. Hubbell Gardiner in The Way We Were, Bishop in Sneakers, and many others.
Had Robert Redford only been an actor, he would still be a legend, but he was also a great director. He directed some of my favourite movies of all time. Some critics were not impressed by The Milagro Beanfield War, but it remains one of my favourite films that Robert Redford directed, an offbeat ensemble movie that touches upon magical realism. A River Runs Through It is actually one of my favourite movies of all time. It not only benefits from beautiful scenery, but also from some great performances and a very intelligent screenplay. Quiz Show is another one of my favourites, a film centred on the controversy surrounding thee controversy over the NBC quiz show Twenty One (my only caveat is that the movie should have made reference to CBS, which was actually affected worse by the quiz show scandal than NBC).
Of course, Robert Redford had an impact that went beyond acting and directing. Through both the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Institute, he offered valuable support to indie cinema. Among the films nurtured by the Sundance Labs were El Norte (1984), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Twenty Bucks (1993), Mi Vida Loca (1993), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), and yet others. Among many other things, Robert Redford was an advocate for Native Americans. Not only would the Sundance Institute support various Native American filmmakers, but Robert Redford himself produced two different TV series based on the Leaphorn and Chee novels: The Navajo Mysteries and Dark Wind (which turned out to be his final work). Robert Redford was not simply the last matinee idol, but a truly great man who used his fame to help others and change the world.
