Robert Redford has died aged 89 – actor, director and founder of Sundance

For many of us, the first time we met Robert Redford was in the glow of a cinema, somewhere between a sly grin and a long look to camera. Redford has died at home in Utah, aged 89, “surrounded by those he loved,” his publicist Cindi Berger confirmed. The news lands with the weight of a life that stretched from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to the creation of a festival that gave thousands of filmmakers their start.

He became a global star alongside Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), then kept pushing – The Sting (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President’s Men (1976). When he turned to directing, his debut Ordinary People (1980) won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Away from the screen, he built the Sundance Institute and its festival into a launchpad for independent film, a quiet structural change that outlives any single performance.

Tributes in their words

Sundance Institute reflected on the founder who set its course:

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford. Bob’s vision of a space and a platform for independent voices launched a movement that, over four decades later, has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema in the US and around the world… Beyond his enormous contributions to culture at large, we will miss his generosity, clarity of purpose, curiosity, rebellious spirit and his love for the creative process. We are humbled to be among the stewards of his remarkable legacy, which will continue to guide the Institute in perpetuity.”

Marisa Tomei remembered how he used profile for good:

“He volunteered his gorgeous back for their Oct ’75 cover, knowing the attention would help… Always lending his weight to something bigger than himself. A legend in every sense.”

From journalism to the screen and back again, Bob Woodward wrote:

“He will be remembered as one of the greatest storytellers in our country’s history… He elevated stories beyond mainstream. He not only cared about the environment, but he took all conceivable actions to protect it.”

Hillary Clinton called him:

“A true American icon.”

Actor Joe Mantegna looked back to a mid-90s set:

“How lucky was I to be able to share the screen in 1996 with Robert Redford in Up Close and Personal. He was a role model not just as an actor but as a human being.”

And Rita Wilson wrote:

“Robert Redford. Your art stands the test of time. Your love of young filmmakers and artists gave us Sundance Film Festival. You showed us the importance of nature. As a director we were able to see your art from behind the camera. You will be remembered always. And you will be missed. May your memory be eternal.”

He died in his sleep at home in Utah, “surrounded by those he loved,” according to his publicist. No cause of death was given. He is survived by his wife, the artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford, and his daughters, Shauna and Amy. Two sons, Scott and James (“Jamie”), predeceased him.

What Robert Redford leaves behind is wonderfully unshowy. Yes, the films last, but so does the scaffolding he built for other people’s stories: labs, grants, a festival that gave first-timers a fair wind. It was a very practical kind of generosity, using fame to make space, not take it.

If you love cinema in this city, you’ve felt the ripple of that work: smaller films finding an audience, careers that started with a Sundance laurel and ended up on our screens. As tributes fade, the better memorial is simple, go and watch something new by someone new. That’s the kind of legacy he’d recognise.

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