Robert Redford, the Oscar-winning actor and director who died Sept. 16 at his Sundance home in Utah, forged a long-running and private partnership with German-born artist Sibylle Szaggars after a chance meeting on a ski trip that left her notably unimpressed with Hollywood fame.
Redford, 89, and Szaggars first crossed paths in the mid-1990s at Redford’s Sundance Mountain Resort, a site he developed into a center for independent film through the nonprofit Sundance Institute. Szaggars later said what drew Redford to her was that she was not a film buff and did not carry preconceived notions about him or his career.
Szaggars told an audience in 2014 that she had seen a few Redford films as a young viewer — including Jeremiah Johnson and Barefoot in the Park — but had spent most of her life focused on painting, opera and other arts. After the ski-day encounter, she rented several Redford films and previewed short segments out of concern the actor might raise them in conversation; according to Szaggars, he never did.
Redford later said that the lack of attention to his celebrity helped the relationship start on what he called a more even playing field. "That’s one of the things that attracted me to her — she didn’t know much about me," he told interviewers, adding that the pairing allowed them to connect as two people rather than through the lens of success.
The couple kept their relationship largely out of the spotlight for decades. They married in 2009 in a small ceremony at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, with about 30 guests. Szaggars, who was 21 years younger than Redford, did not have children with him but became a stepmother to his children from his 1958–1985 marriage to Lola Van Wagenen.
Alongside their personal life, Redford and Szaggars collaborated on conservation and charitable causes. In 2015 they founded The Way of the Rain, a nonprofit organized for cultural and educational purposes that the couple said would promote public awareness and support for protecting the planet. They were photographed together at conservation-focused events, including the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation award ceremony in 2021.
Redford’s impact on cinema and on Utah’s cultural life was widely noted following his death. His representative said the actor "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" and asked for privacy for the family. Utah Governor Spencer Cox posted that Redford "fell in love" with the state and left a legacy that made Utah a home for storytelling and creativity through the Sundance Institute and his devotion to conservation.
Redford rose to prominence in the 1960s and dominated box offices in the 1970s with films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Way We Were and All the President’s Men. He won the Academy Award for best director for Ordinary People at the 1981 ceremony. Over his five-decade career he was also known for championing independent filmmakers and for building Sundance into a key platform for new voices in film.
Friends and colleagues frequently described Redford and Szaggars’s bond as quietly private and grounded in shared interests beyond Hollywood. Redford, who had previously spoken of appreciating Szaggars’s European background and artistic sensibilities, said in a 2011 interview that she represented “a whole new life.” Their joint charitable work and Szaggars’s role alongside him at conservation events underscored a partnership that extended beyond the realm of film.
Redford’s death prompted reflections on both his screen legacy and his investments in film culture and environmental causes. The couple’s emphasis on privacy meant public details about their life together were sparse, but their long-standing presence in Utah and their collaborative nonprofit efforts will remain part of his public legacy.