Robert Redford was one of the biggest movie stars of his generation, with a string of hit films and awards to his name.
Credited with putting the town of Sundance, Utah, on the map thanks to the eponymous film festival he started, he was also a recognised environmentalist years before it was trendy.
But above everything, Redford was a committed family man – a husband and father who outlived two of his four children – among the many tragedies that rocked his life.
Polio diagnosis
Redford was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, but the family later moved to the San Fernando Valley, where he attended school.
During a wide-ranging interview in 2018 with NPR, he confirmed he suffered polio as a child.
“It wasn’t a severe case. It wasn’t an iron lung case. It was a case of mild polio, but it was severe enough to put me in bed for two weeks,” he said.
He was not much of a student, instead gravitating towards the arts and sport, eventually winning a part-scholarship to play baseball at the University of Colorado.
READ MORE: Margot Robbie stunned by co-star’s TV antics
READ MORE: Stars lead tributes to Robert Redford
READ MORE: Andrew’s ‘act of defiance’ makes Prince William uncomfortable
Mother’s death
It was while he was at university that tragedy again struck – he received a phone call while alone in his dormitory from his father telling him his mother had died.
She had been pregnant with twin girls who tragically died soon after their birth, and his mother had contracted a blood infection.
During the NPR interview, he described her as a “wonderful person”.
“She died very young. She was full of life, full of laughter, full of love. She was out there. I mean, she would take chances, and she was very risky,” he said.
“And she taught me how to drive a car when I was 10, and nobody knew about it. I mean, that kind of stuff. So we had a close relationship.”
He told Esquire in 2017, she died when he was 18, leaving him with “the regret that I had was that I couldn’t thank her. When I grew up and I realised… ‘Oh my God, she really did encourage me to go out there and take chances’.
“As you go on in life, you think about regrets before you go to sleep at night. I realised too late that she had a very positive role in my life and I couldn’t thank her.”
Off the rails
Following her death, Redford went off the rails, drinking heavily, and eventually lost his scholarship.
It was the impetus he needed to change his life’s direction. He went to Paris to study art and spent time travelling through Europe.
On his return to the US, he continued his art studies then started acting classes in New York, where he at first struggled to fit in and perform, but persevered on the advice of an acting teacher.
He graduated in 1959 and was soon working as an actor in both theatre and on TV.
Marriage and loss of first child
Redford married his first wife Lola Van Wagenen in Las Vegas on August 9, 1958.
They held a wedding reception a month later at her grandmother’s home.
They set up home in New York, where Redford was beginning his career, and welcomed their first child, son Scott, on September 1, 1959.
But their happiness was short-lived, with the infant dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) on November 17, 1959.
He reflected on his son’s death during the Esquire interview.
“I was only 21; my wife was 20. We were just starting our lives. I was just starting my career in New York,” he said.
“Of course it was traumatic, and how that plays out over time, I don’t know.
“We had to deal with it. You have to move on. And we had other children who came. But something like that doesn’t get completely dismissed.
“It probably shows up in various small ways you’re not even aware of. I’m sure there’s a lot of this stuff that’s subconscious.
“But it’s pretty traumatic when it happens, particularly when you’re that young. You’re not equipped to deal with it.”
They couple went on to welcome three more children; daughter Shauna was born in November 1960, son David, who was known by his second name James and often referred to as Jamie, arrived in May 1962 and another daughter Amy followed in October 1970.
By the time Shauna was born, Redford had won his first starring role in the 1960 film, Tall Story.
His biggest roles to date would come in the 1967 film Barefoot in the Park, then opposite Paul Newman in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which won him a British Academy of Film and Television Award (BAFTA).
During the early ’70s he was a sought-after star whose films were box office gold. He had a string of hit films, including the western Jeremiah Johnson, the romantic drama The Way We Were, opposite Barbra Streisand, crime flick The Sting, which again paired him with Newman, and played the titular role in The Great Gatsby, which cemented his leading man status.
He also starred in the political thriller, All the President’s Men, opposite Dustin Hoffman, and rounded out the 70s with a role in The Electrical Horseman.
In 1980, he made his directorial debut in Ordinary People, which won him the Oscar for best director.
The ’80s saw more hits, including baseball drama The Natural and Out of Africa, opposite Meryl Streep.
Secret separation and divorce
But as his star grew, his marriage crumbled. Their last public appearance together was in 1981.
While the couple never publicly announced a separation or divorce, by 1982, it was being reported that the pair had parted ways.
In a 2001 interview with The Telegraph, he spoke about their split for the first time.
“It was mutual and it was right to move on,” he said.
“We still have great love, great affection, great friendship. It is wonderful, and I think we probably deserve credit for it because the kids are great, they came through it OK.”
However, he also admitted he had not wanted the marriage to fail.
“I never wanted to be one of those divorced showbusiness casualties. I wanted to prove that a marriage could last and prove the business wrong. But I couldn’t,” he said.
By the ’90s, he was mixing acting and directing the 1993 film A River Runs Through It, and appeared in that year’s erotic drama Indecent Proposal, as a high roller who offers Demi Moore’s character $1 million to spend the night with him.
Roles in Quiz Show, Up Close & Personal, The Horse Whisperer, Havana, Sneakers, The Legend of Bagger Vance and Spy Game followed.
Son’s illness and death
In 1987, Redford’s surviving son James, then in his mid 20s, was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a chronic and progressive liver disease marked by inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts, which can result in liver damage, cirrhosis and liver failure.
He received two liver transplants in 1993 and two years later founded the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, which was behind the 1998 documentary, The Kindness of Strangers, which told the stories of six families affected by organ donation.
In 1998, Redford touched on his son’s illness during an interview with People magazine.
“People think it’s been easy for me. It’s so untrue. The hardest thing in the world is when your children have problems,” he said.
“There have been so many hits on our family that no one knows about, and I don’t want them to, for my family’s sake.
“I’ve made some interesting movies, and I’ve been very satisfied with the work, but if someone wrapped it all up and said to me, ‘What’s your greatest achievement?’ I’d say, ‘The children. They’re the best thing in my life’.”
Despite his ill health, James worked as a screenwriter and documentary maker who tackled social and environmental issues.
He also co-founded The Redford Centre with his father in 2005, to support environmental filmmakers.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here
Despite his transplant, his illness returned in 2017 and he was placed on a liver transplant waiting list in 2018.
However, his condition progressed and he died from bile-duct cancer on October 16, 2020.
Following his death, a representative for the actor told People he was “mourning with his family during this difficult time”.
“The grief is immeasurable with the loss of a child,” they said.
“Jamie was a loving son, husband and father. His legacy lives on through his children, art, filmmaking and devoted passion to conservation and the environment.”
Hollywood stars arrive for 2025 Sundance Film Festival
Life in Sundance
Redford paid US$500 for two acres of land in Provo, Utah, in 1961 and built a cabin himself for his young family.
“I discovered how important nature was in my life, and I wanted to be where nature was extreme and where I thought it could maybe be everlasting,” he once told CNN.
He continued to buy nearby land, including the Timp Haven ski resort, which he renamed Sundance Resort, after his character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The resort became his main home and also the venue for the Sundance Film Festival he founded.
Later years and second marriage
Redford continued to act throughout the 2000s before announcing his retirement in 2018.
However, he continued to work, and was listed as both a producer and executive producer as recently as this year.
In 1996, Redford met Sibylle Szaggars, a German artist and environmental activist who was 20 years his junior, when she was skiing at his Sundance Mountain Resort.
She reportedly did not know any of his films.
He recalled their first meeting during a 2014 panel for the YoungArts Salon.
“It was a wonderful beginning of a relationship, because it began as two human beings meeting each other and finding a connection as two human beings, rather than being coloured by success,” he said.
They were together 13 years before they married in her native Germany in 2009.
He told AARP Magazine in 2011, “She’s a very special person. She’s younger than I am, and European, which I like, so that’s a whole new life.”
Szaggars was thought to have been by the star’s side when he passed away on September 16. He was 89.
His publicist Cindi Berge said he died in his sleep. A cause of death was not given.
“Robert Redford passed away on September 16 at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah – the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy,” the statement said.
‘What really matters is the work’
When asked by Esquire back in 2017, how he wanted to be remembered, Redford replied, “For the work. What really matters is the work. And what matters to me is doing the work.
“I’m just looking at the work, the pleasure of being able to do the work. And that’s what the fun is: To climb up the mountain is the fun, not standing at the top.
“There’s nowhere to go. But climbing up, that struggle, that to me is where the fun is. That to me is the thrill.
“But once that’s over, that’s kind of it. I don’t look too much beyond that.”
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
