Robert Redford, a towering figure in American film whose work as an actor, director and festival founder reshaped Hollywood and independent cinema, died on Tuesday at his home in the mountains of Utah. He was 89.
"Robert Redford passed away on Sept. 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved," a statement from his representatives said. The family asked for privacy.
Redford rose to stardom in the late 1960s and 1970s with a series of high-profile performances that made him one of the era's most bankable leading men. He won wide recognition for his turns in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973), and he produced and starred in the award-winning political drama All the President's Men (1976). He won the Academy Award for best director for Ordinary People (1980) and received a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2002.
Beyond his screen roles, Redford is credited with founding the Sundance Institute and transforming a small regional festival into the Sundance Film Festival, a global showcase for independent filmmakers. Over decades the festival helped launch filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh and became a central part of the U.S. film calendar.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, Redford's career spanned more than six decades and included more than 50 films. He built a reputation for playing characters with an evasive, interior quality; critics and collaborators often described him as possessing an "aura" that made his performances distinctive. His filmography ranged from mainstream studio fare to smaller, riskier projects: notable later work included All Is Lost (2013), a largely dialogue-free survival drama praised as one of his finest performances, and a cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
Redford's directorial credits extended beyond Ordinary People to films such as A River Runs Through It (1992) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). He used his stature and earnings to buy and develop land in Utah, renaming a ski resort Sundance after one of his best-known screen personas and establishing the Sundance Institute in 1981 to support independent film, theatre and other storytelling forms.
Colleagues and public figures quickly paid tribute. Filmmakers, actors and writers noted Redford's dual legacy as both a star of mainstream American cinema and an advocate for independent artists. Actress Marlee Matlin credited Redford and Sundance with helping bring wider attention to her film CODA. Authors and entertainers posted condolences on social platforms, recalling his influence on modern film.
Redford's personal life included two marriages. He married historian and activist Lola Van Wagenen in 1958; they had four children and later divorced. He married German-born artist Sibylle Szaggars in 2009. Tragedy touched his family more than once: his youngest child with Van Wagenen, Scott, died of sudden infant death syndrome, and his son David, who had long-standing health problems, died in 2020 from complications related to bile duct cancer.
In 2018 Redford announced he was stepping away from acting, calling it a likely retirement after a career that began in his early 20s. In subsequent years he focused on producing and advocacy, but he returned to the screen earlier this year with a cameo in the third season of the Western thriller Dark Winds, a move that drew attention because he had been largely absent from acting since his uncredited role in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Directors and cast of Dark Winds described his appearance as a deliberate, quietly staged commitment: Redford requested a closed set for his scene.
Redford was also known for his public environmental advocacy and for speaking out on issues affecting Native American communities. Over the decades he combined his celebrity with activism, backing conservation causes and using Sundance as a platform for films with political and social resonances.
Critics and admirers often observed a tension between Redford's striking screen presence and his desire to be regarded as a serious actor; he told interviewers that his looks sometimes led to being typecast. Nevertheless, he remained a sought-after figure for filmmakers seeking both star power and depth.
His awards and honors reflected that breadth: nominations and wins across acting and directing categories, an Academy Award for directing, and a lifetime achievement Oscar recognized a career that influenced both Hollywood's commercial center and a flourishing independent film community.
Representatives provided few further details about services or private remembrances. Redford's work, and the festival he helped build, will continue to be cited by filmmakers and industry observers as central to the rise of independent American cinema in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.