Hollywood has misplaced one in every of its best legends. Robert Redford, the Oscar-winning actor and director who helped form fashionable movie, handed away early Tuesday morning at his residence in Utah, aged 89.

His longtime publicist confirmed that he died peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by his family members.

Identified for his golden appears to be like, considerate movies, and years of dedication to the humanities and the surroundings, Redford leaves behind a profession and legacy that touched hundreds of thousands internationally.

Cindi Berger, head of Rogers & Cowan PMK, shared the information of Redford’s passing, telling The New York Occasions that he had been “within the place he beloved surrounded by these he beloved.”

The mountains of Utah had lengthy been his protected place, far-off from Hollywood’s vibrant lights.

Redford as soon as admitted that nature gave him peace and stability.

“I found how necessary nature was in my life, and I needed to be the place nature was excessive and the place I believed it may possibly be eternal,” he stated years in the past, per the Every day Mail.

In the course of the peak of his performing profession, Robert Redford was one in every of Hollywood’s most wonderful stars.

He rose to fame with unforgettable roles in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child,” “The Sting,” and “All of the President’s Males,” changing into each a romantic idol and a severe actor who introduced cultural points to life.

Critics praised his display screen presence, with Pauline Kael as soon as writing in The New Yorker that he had “by no means been so radiantly glamorous” as he was in “The Means We Had been” alongside Barbra Streisand.

Regardless of his success, Redford was by no means glad with being only a film star.

In 1980, he gained an Academy Award for guiding “Extraordinary Individuals,” a uncooked and emotional drama that went on to win Finest Image.

He continued to direct movies with highly effective themes, together with “A River Runs By It” and “Quiz Present,” proving he may inform tales that mattered each in entrance of and behind the digicam.

One in all Redford’s greatest achievements wasn’t on display screen however behind the scenes.

In 1981, he based the Sundance Institute to assist younger filmmakers. Just some years later, he took over a small movie pageant in Utah and renamed it Sundance.

Over time, it grew into some of the necessary festivals on the planet. Administrators like Quentin Tarantino, Ava DuVernay, Steven Soderbergh, and Ryan Coogler all kick-started their careers at Sundance.

The pageant additionally grew to become a key place for documentaries on large points like local weather change, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice.

Nonetheless, the producer fearful that the occasion was changing into too industrial.

In response to The New York Occasions, on the 2012 pageant, he stated he needed the “vodka manufacturers and the gift-bag individuals and the Paris Hiltons” to vanish.

For him, Sundance was at all times about creativity, not celeb events.

Past Hollywood, Robert Redford was a lifelong defender of the surroundings.

Within the Seventies, he fought towards tasks in Utah that will have harmed the land, like a coal-fired energy plant and a six-lane freeway.

He additionally spent greater than 30 years as a trustee of the Pure Sources Protection Council, supporting efforts to struggle local weather change.

Although he by no means appreciated being referred to as an activist, Redford used his fame to push for change.

In a 2024 interview with Orion Journal, he inspired younger filmmakers to inform hopeful tales about defending the planet.

“It must be an excellent story to be an excellent movie,” he defined. “And the tales have to be encouraging in a roundabout way so that folks really feel motivated or impressed to care or do one thing about it.”