Sedona Sweginnis | Newsroom Manager & Head Editor
September 19, 2025
Prominent and revered star, director, philanthropist, and environmentalist, Robert Redford sadly passed away this Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Redford passed peacefully in his sleep at age 89, while surrounded by loved ones in his home in Sundance, Utah. Through his profound impact on the filmmaking industry from both sides of the camera, as well as his efforts to aid other rising filmmakers and protect the environment, Redford has made his mark both in and beyond the world of cinema. He will be immensely missed. However, he has left behind an unforgettable legacy that the future of film hopes to honor and uphold.
Redford is widely known for his good looks, skills on screen, successful direction, Sundance Film Festival, and environmental activism. As put by SCHS senior Catherine Golles, Redford “was a fine man who” impacted countless other aspiring filmmakers and actors and “lived a life that will be well remembered.” Despite his notable good looks and undeniable talent in front of the camera, Redford was not immediately successful but instead built his career from the ground up.
Born in 1936 in Santa Monica, California to parents Martha Hart and Charles Robert Redford, Redford witnessed the development of smog in Los Angeles, molding his later environmental advocacy, especially his support of the Clean Air Act. He had a humble and overall unremarkable childhood before attending college at the University of Colorado at Boulder through a baseball scholarship, a passion which would later play out in his lead role in “The Natural” in 1984. Although Redford struggled to focus in order to perform well in school, Redford had always had an interest in art, eventually leading him to further his studies in New York at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Following his time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Redford began his career on Broadway. His first major break came in 1963 in the form of Neil Simon’s Broadway show “Barefoot in the Park.” A few years later, Redford broke onto the big screen in the 1969 western movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” where he starred alongside the already known, Paul Newman. Following this movie, Redford went on to star in innumerable successful films, including “Jeremiah Johnson,” “Out of Africa,” and “The Way We Were.”
After some time as a star, Redford began to add directing to his regimen, beginning with “Ordinary People” in 1980, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture and won him Best Director. Following this early success, Redford also directed numerous other widely successful movies including “A River Runs Through It,” which showcased his environmental concerns and love for nature, as well as many other popular films.
Only a short time into his career, Redford moved his family to Utah to connect with his affinity for nature and to better help preserve the American West. In Utah, Redford later created the Sundance Institute, which is a nonprofit that he created in order to support other rising filmmakers. This institute holds the annual Sundance Film Festival, which gives independent and low-budget filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their work.
Senior Chloe Chafin noted that it is “incredible to see how Redford achieved” such immense success yet still “gave back to the film community by giving rising stars their chance” in an alternative to the cut-throat atmosphere of Hollywood. Sundance has vastly changed the world of cinematography, allowing talented writers and directors an alternative to Hollywood. Incredibly successful films have made their debuts at the Sundance Film Festival, notably including “The Blair Witch Project” and “Napoleon Dynamite.”
Sundance has given many directors, writers, and actors their big break and launched their careers in the film industry, demonstrating Redford’s desire to give back to the film community that had given him so much throughout his career of unparalleled success. From winning over audiences with his looks, charisma, and skills behind the screen, to allowing other aspiring directors, writers, and actors to have their chance, Robert Redford has truly shaped modern filmmaking and has created a name and legacy that will not be forgotten.
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