The Sundance Kid is no more.
Robert Redford was authentic in all that he did.
Whether acting, or pushing for fresh, independent filmmakers through the Sundance Film Festival, leading protests to stop a proposed six-lane highway in Utah and later a proposed coal-fired power plant in southern Utah, and the moustache that he had in his career-defining role as the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Redford was authentic.
Redford died on Tuesday in his sleep at his home in Utah’s Provo. Redford was 89.
The chiselled looks, the reddish-blonde hair and a charming smile qualified Redford to be a leading man in Hollywood. He rose to the peak in the 70s. The studios were all too happy to put him under the spotlight, though Redford himself walked away preferring to be a recluse but unlike a Greta Garbo.
Redford picked his battles and films carefully.
He was the quintessential male sex symbol in the 70s, who could charm not only a Jane Fonda or a Barbra Streisand but also the audience
Redford did all kinds of roles- romance (Barefoot in the Park), Watergate scandal (All the President’s Men), thrillers (Three Days of Condor), western (Jeremiah Johnson), crime comedy (The Sting, where he was reunited with his friend Paul Newman) and many more.
Born to an accountant and a homemaker on August 18, 1936 in Santa Monica, California, Redford’s early youth was not an easy one, as he drifted from one profession to another, including dabbling with art.
Redford attended the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship but had to drop out because of drunkenness. He moved around for a while before landing in New York, where by the mid-60s he was performing on Broadway.
The first major success of Redford on Broadway was ‘Barefoot in the Park.’ Redford went on to reprise the role for the screen adaptation opposite Jane Fonda.
In 2017, Redford would reunite with Jane Fonda for the romantic drama Our Souls at Night, their fourth film together.
A year before Our Souls at Night, Redford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former US President Barack Obama.
“His art and activism continue to shape our nation’s cultural heritage, inspiring millions to laugh, cry, think and change… Robert Redford has captivated audiences from both sides of the camera through entertaining motion pictures that often explored vital social, political and historical themes. His lifelong advocacy on behalf of preserving our environment will prove as an enduring legacy as will his pioneering support for independent filmmakers across America,” read the citation to Redford.
Had Redford not returned to direction and acting in the 80s, with Ordinary People (which fetched him the Academy award for best director, he never received one for his acting performances), the Sundance Film Institute and the Sundance Film Festival would have ensured his name remained etched in celluloid history for ever.
Not New York, not Los Angeles. Redford selected Utah for the Sundance Film Festival.
In 1981 he had set up the Sundance Institute, a non-profit organisation to “foster independence, risk-taking and new voices in American film.”
Four years later Redford went on to adopt a struggling film festival in Utah and later renamed it after his institute, which through the years went on to be a beacon for independent filmmakers and documentary makers.
“I said, let’s put it in Utah, let’s make it hard to get to. Let’s make it weird,” Redford told the BBC in January 2014, on the 30th year of the Sundance Film Festival.
“We started Sundance as a place to come and develop new artists, with the ambition of creating a community and giving them a platform for their work. I don’t think our mission has changed at all,” Redford had said. “Thirty years ago, these people had nowhere to go. Now I’m very proud that actually the directors of Gravity and American Hustle, Alfonso Cuaron and David O Russell, actually came through Sundance, and now they work in the mainstream.
The list of filmmakers who found their footing in Sundance and then moved to Hollywood includes Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, James Wan, Darren Aronofsky, Nicole Holfcener, Ryan Coogler, Robert Rodriguez, Cloe Zhao, Ava DuVernay and of course Cuaron and O Russell.
While continuing to promote new filmmakers Redford continued with his acting assignments in smasher hits like Indecent Proposal, and two Marvel films (Captain America: The Winter Soldier and a cameo in Avengers: Endgame).
“I wanted to experience this new form of film-making that’s taken over, where you have kind of cartoon characters brought to life through high technology,” Redford had said during the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
A year before that he had a different kind of experience filming the survival drama, All is Lost, with Redford the only cast member and barely any dialogues.
Redford moved away from the glitter of Hollywood long ago. There were personal tragedies, involving his children.
There are many ways to remember Redford, as his friend and director of seven of his films, Sydney Pollack had commented once.
For the offbeat films that he did, for the romantic charmer that he played on screen, one of only six directors who won a best director Academy award on their debut, a champion of independent filmmaking.
There is always a Robert Redford for a film-lover.