Robert Redford Biography Quotes 30 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in the Los Angeles area. His parents, Charles Robert Redford Sr. and Martha Hart Redford, fostered an early interest in the arts alongside athletics. After graduating from Van Nuys High School, he attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where he briefly played baseball. Restless and curious, he left college to travel in Europe, studying art before returning to New York to continue his artistic education at Pratt Institute and to train as an actor at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Stage and Television Beginnings
Redford's first successes came on the stage and on live television. He made steady appearances on series such as Route 66, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone, where his on-screen poise and understated intensity were quickly evident. On Broadway he drew notice in Tall Story and The Highest Tree, then earned breakout attention in the romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park, a Neil Simon hit that sharpened his timing and established him as a leading man onstage opposite Elizabeth Ashley. The stage work gave him a foundation in character and craft that would carry into film.

Breakthrough on Film
Hollywood soon followed. Early features included Inside Daisy Clover and This Property Is Condemned with Natalie Wood, and The Chase with Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda. Redford's relaxed charisma and alert intelligence made him a natural fit for both romance and satire, and he brought that combination to the film version of Barefoot in the Park with Fonda. His first iconic role arrived with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), opposite Paul Newman and under director George Roy Hill. The film's blend of myth and modern wit transformed Redford into an international star and linked him permanently to the Sundance moniker.

Collaboration and Stardom
The early 1970s cemented Redford's screen legacy. He reunited with Paul Newman and George Roy Hill for The Sting, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. With director Sydney Pollack he formed one of his most important collaborations, starring in Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were (opposite Barbra Streisand), and Three Days of the Condor. He took on political satire in The Candidate with director Michael Ritchie, critiqued celebrity and power in The Natural with Glenn Close and Robert Duvall, and anchored the newsroom drama All the President's Men as Bob Woodward, acting opposite Dustin Hoffman's Carl Bernstein under director Alan J. Pakula, with William Goldman adapting the screenplay. The film engaged directly with the real-life circle of journalists at The Washington Post, including editor Ben Bradlee, whom Jason Robards portrayed, and the mysterious source dramatized by Hal Holbrook.

Director and Producer
Redford moved behind the camera with a precision that surprised audiences who knew him first as a star. His directing debut, Ordinary People (1980), was a critical triumph, winning the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture. The film's ensemble, including Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, and Timothy Hutton, showed his gift for shaping performance and tone. He followed with A River Runs Through It, introducing wider audiences to Brad Pitt, and explored ethics and media with Quiz Show. He directed and starred in The Horse Whisperer, guiding younger cast members such as Scarlett Johansson, and balanced intimate human drama with robust visual storytelling. As a producer, he developed projects that wrestled with American institutions and character, extending his influence beyond the roles he played.

Sundance and Advocacy
In the mountains of Utah, Redford created a haven for artists. He acquired land in Provo Canyon and built Sundance Mountain Resort with careful attention to conservation. In 1981 he founded the Sundance Institute to nurture independent storytellers through labs for writers, directors, and composers. The Sundance Film Festival evolved into the most prominent showcase for American independent cinema, helping launch or accelerate the careers of filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino, and championing voices later heard in films like Winter's Bone and Fruitvale Station. Redford's advocacy extended to environmental protection and Native American rights; he used his public platform to argue for conservation and sustainable stewardship. With his son James Redford, he co-founded The Redford Center to support environmental storytelling.

Later Career
Redford remained an active and adventurous screen presence. He took risks with All Is Lost, J.C. Chandor's near-wordless survival film, earning some of the strongest reviews of his career. He joined contemporary audiences through a turn as Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, mixing classic star gravitas with modern genre flair. He reunited with old friends and themes in A Walk in the Woods alongside Nick Nolte, and with Jane Fonda in Our Souls at Night, reflecting mature companionship with the same partner who helped define his early stardom. David Lowery's The Old Man & the Gun offered a graceful capstone, a meditation on charm, aging, and defiance that nodded to the outlaws and romantics he had played for decades. Beyond performance, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his body of work and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, recognizing his cultural and civic contributions.

Personal Life
Redford married historian and activist Lola Van Wagenen in 1958; their partnership coincided with his rise and with shared interests in social causes. They had four children: Scott, who died in infancy; Shauna, an artist; James (Jamie), a filmmaker and environmental advocate who collaborated with his father through The Redford Center; and Amy, an actor and director. After their divorce, Redford married the painter Sibylle Szaggars in 2009, a relationship that intertwined with his lifelong engagement with visual art and the natural world. Family, art, and landscape remained constant poles of his private life, informing decisions about the projects he chose and the institutions he built.

Legacy
Robert Redford's legacy rests on a rare convergence of star power, artistic independence, and civic purpose. On-screen, he embodied a distinctly American mixture of skepticism and idealism, moving gracefully between romance, political drama, and adventure. Behind the camera, he cultivated an environment where new artists could risk failure and find their voice, changing the ecosystem of filmmaking through the Sundance Institute and its festival. His collaborations with Paul Newman, Sydney Pollack, George Roy Hill, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and many others trace a history of modern American film in microcosm, while his mentorship of younger talents extends that lineage forward. As actor, director, producer, and advocate, he helped shape not just celebrated movies but the conditions under which independent cinema could thrive, a contribution as enduring as any performance in his long and influential career.

Our collection contains 30 quotes who is written by Robert, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Wisdom - Sports - Nature - Art.

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