Meryl Streep issued a brief tribute to Robert Redford after the actor and filmmaker died this week at the age of 89.

Streep, 76, who co-starred with Redford in the 1985 romance-drama Out of Africa, said in a statement provided to Deadline: "One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend."

Redford died in his sleep on Tuesday at his home in Utah, according to media reports. His career spanned roughly six decades and included acting, directing and producing work. He won the Academy Award for best director for Ordinary People in 1980 and remained active in filmmaking and advocacy into his later years.

In recent seasons Redford shifted from leading roles to select appearances and behind-the-scenes work. He served as an executive producer on projects such as the Sundance-supported drama The Mustang (2019) and made occasional on-screen contributions: a voice part in the 2020 project Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia and a brief appearance in HBO’s White House Plumbers (2023) in which he reprised his All the President’s Men role as journalist Bob Woodward. In early 2024 he surprised viewers with a cameo in the season three premiere of the Western thriller Dark Winds, appearing opposite George R. R. Martin in a prison scene; reports said the veteran actor requested a closed set for that sequence.

Redford had drawn public attention to his future plans in 2018 when he suggested he might retire from acting after The Old Man & the Gun. He later told Variety that declaring retirement publicly "was a mistake," saying he should have kept such thoughts private and remained focused on his work and cast.

Prominent peers paid tribute after word of his death circulated. Leonardo DiCaprio wrote on social media that Redford was an "actor, activist, passionate environmentalist, and champion of the arts," and said his commitment to protecting the planet and inspiring change would endure.

Streep and Redford worked together in Out of Africa, a film that received multiple Academy Award nominations and remains one of the more noted pairings in both actors’ filmographies. Colleagues, collaborators and public figures have long highlighted Redford’s dual roles as a performer and as a force behind the independent film community, including his founding of the Sundance Film Festival and a decades-long record of advocacy for conservation.

Representatives and surviving family members had not immediately released a detailed public statement about funeral or memorial arrangements as of Wednesday. Media reports said further information could be expected through official channels and that tributes from peers and organisations involved in film and environmental causes were likely to follow.