Silver screen icon Robert Redford dies

Actor, director and producer Robert Redford, whose career stretched from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has died.

He died at his Utah home early Tuesday morning at the age of 89, The New York Times reported.

His death was announced by Cindi Berger, chief executive of Rogers & Crown PMK publicist firm, who said he died in his sleep. She did not give a cause of death, the Times reported.

“Robert Redford 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. He will be missed greatly,” Berger told CNN in a statement. “The family requests privacy.”

Not only was Redford known for his roles in such classics as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “Indecent Proposal,” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” he was also a director of “The Horse Whisperer,” “Quiz Show,” and “A River Runs Through It.”

He won his Oscar for best director for “Ordinary People,” according to IMDB.

Redford got his start on the small screen in 1960 in roles in “Maverick,” “Playhouse 90″ and “Perry Mason.” He also had several roles on the stage in New York, making his debut in “Tall Story” and “Barefoot in the Park” before reprising the role for the 1967 film, Variety reported.

His first role on film was in “War Hunt” in 1962, appearing alongside Sydney Pollack.

Pollack spoke to Variety in 2020 about Redford, “He’s a very instinctive, impulsive actor. I don’t think there’s anything studied or premeditated about the work. He’s the opposite of the actor who wants to rehearse and pin things down.”

The pair would work together with Pollack behind the camera, directing Redford seven times, including “Out of Africa” and “The Electric Horseman.”

Redford said of the stories he chose to film in what was supposed to be “the Pyrrhic victory of winning,” a planned trilogy that started with “Racer,” the story of an Olympic skier who will win at all costs, and “The Candidate,” a man running for Senate who makes a deal with unethical campaign strategists, Variety reported.

“I wanted to tell these stories about America that I knew. I remembered these slogans you were given as a kid, like ‘It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but how you play the game,’ and it was a lie. I wanted to make a film about that lie,” Redford said in 2009, according to the publication.

But he also had an impact on Hollywood off the screen, creating the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit that supports independent film and theater, CNN reported. The institute hosts the Sundance Film Festival annually, which will be held once again from Jan 22 to Feb. 1, 2026, in Park City, Utah.

Redford also cared for the environment and lived outside of the rush of Hollywood, instead, living in the Utah mountains since 1961, helping to preserve nature and promoting the American West, CNN said.

Redford was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1936. He attended the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship but was kicked out of the school after a year for “poor grades and a mischievous streak,” Variety said.

He traveled around Europe for a year before returning to Los Angeles, which he said he found “suffocating and bland.” Redford then moved to New York and studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and started his long, storied career.

Redford leaves behind his wife Sibylle Szaggars, their children and grandchildren, according to Variety.

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