Robert Redford facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Redford
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Redford in 2012
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Charles Robert Redford Jr.
August 18, 1936 Santa Monica, California, U.S.
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| Years active | 1958–2023 |
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| Children | 4, including James and Amy |
| Awards | Full list |
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is a famous American actor and filmmaker. He has won many important awards, like an Oscar, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. He also received special honors like the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. In 2014, Time magazine called him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Redford started acting on stage in the late 1950s. His TV career began in 1960, with shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. He became very successful on Broadway in the play Barefoot in the Park (1963). His first movie was War Hunt (1962). He became a popular leading man in films such as Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and The Sting (1973). For The Sting, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Robert Redford also became a director. His first film as a director was Ordinary People (1980), which won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. He also starred in popular movies like The Natural (1984) and Out of Africa (1985). In 1981, Redford helped create the Sundance Film Festival, which is now a huge event for independent movies. Later in his career, he appeared in films like All Is Lost (2013) and even played a role in Marvel movies, like Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
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Robert Redford's Early Life and School
Robert Redford was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. His mother was Martha Woodruff Redford and his father was Charles Robert Redford Sr., who worked as an accountant. Robert also has a half-brother named William. His family background includes English, Scottish, and Irish roots.
He went to Van Nuys High School. Robert said he wasn't a great student in class. Instead, he found his passion in art and sports. He even practiced tennis with famous player Pancho Gonzales.
After high school in 1954, he went to the University of Colorado for about a year and a half. While there, he worked at a restaurant called The Sink, where a painting of him is still on the wall! He didn't focus much on his studies, so he lost his scholarship and left school. After that, he traveled around Europe, visiting France, Spain, and Italy. Later, he studied painting in Brooklyn and took acting classes in New York City.
Redford's Acting Career
Starting Out: 1959–1966
Robert Redford began his acting career in New York City. He worked on both stage and television. His first role on Broadway was a small part in Tall Story (1959). His biggest Broadway success was in Barefoot in the Park (1963), where he played a newlywed husband.
From 1960, Redford appeared in many TV shows. These included Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, and The Twilight Zone. He also made his first movie appearance in Tall Story (1960). In 1962, he got his second film role in War Hunt.
He won a Golden Globe Award for Best New Star for his role in Inside Daisy Clover (1965). He also starred with Jane Fonda in This Property Is Condemned (1966) and The Chase (1966).
Becoming a Star: 1967–1979
Jane Fonda and Redford worked together again in the popular movie Barefoot in the Park (1967). After this, Redford became careful about the types of roles he chose. He wanted to avoid being seen as just a "blond male" stereotype.
He found the perfect role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), where he starred with Paul Newman. This movie was a huge hit and made him a major star. It showed him as a smart, reliable, and sometimes funny good guy.
Even though he didn't get an Oscar for Butch Cassidy, he won a BAFTA Award for that role. He also won for his parts in Downhill Racer (1969) and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969). Redford also wanted to work behind the camera. He was an executive producer for Downhill Racer in 1969.
Starting in 1973, Redford had an amazing four years of successful movies. The western Jeremiah Johnson (1972) was very popular. The romantic movie The Way We Were (1973) with Barbra Streisand was also a big hit.
His movie The Sting (1973), again with Paul Newman, was the top-grossing film of 1974. It earned him his only Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He also starred in The Great Gatsby (1974). In 1974, Redford was the first actor since 1946 to have three films in the year's top ten highest-earning movies. From 1974 to 1976, movie theaters voted him Hollywood's top box-office star.
In 1975, Redford's hit movies included The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) and the spy thriller Three Days of the Condor (1975). In 1976, he starred with Dustin Hoffman in All the President's Men. This movie was very important for Redford. He was an executive producer and co-star. The film was about the Watergate scandal and showed journalism realistically. It received eight Oscar nominations.
After a break, he starred in The Electric Horseman (1979), reuniting with Jane Fonda. This movie was also a success.
Directing and More Stardom: 1980–1998
Redford's first film as a director was Ordinary People (1980). This drama was about a family dealing with a tragedy. The movie won four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Redford and Best Picture. Critics praised the film highly. Later that year, he appeared in the prison drama Brubaker (1980).
He then starred in the baseball movie The Natural (1984). Out of Africa (1985), where he starred with Meryl Streep, was a huge box office hit. It won seven Oscars, including Best Picture. This movie was Redford's biggest success of the 1980s.
Redford directed again with The Milagro Beanfield War (1988). This film told the story of people in a small New Mexico town fighting against big developers. He also directed the period drama A River Runs Through It (1992), which helped a young Brad Pitt become famous. Redford was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for this film.
In 1994, he directed Quiz Show, which was about a real-life TV game show scandal from the 1950s. Critics praised his work on this film. Redford continued to be a major star in the 1990s. He co-starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in Up Close & Personal (1996). He also directed and starred in The Horse Whisperer (1998) with Kristin Scott Thomas and a young Scarlett Johansson.
Later Career: 1999–Present
Redford directed The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), starring Matt Damon and Will Smith. He also appeared in the prison drama The Last Castle (2001). In the same year, he worked with Brad Pitt again in Spy Game.
Redford is a strong supporter of the environment. He narrated the IMAX documentary Sacred Planet (2004), which showed beautiful and endangered places around the world. In The Clearing (2004), he played a businessman who gets kidnapped.
He also produced The Motorcycle Diaries (2004). This film was about the early life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Redford then starred in An Unfinished Life (2005) as a rancher. He reunited with Meryl Streep in his film Lions for Lambs (2007), which also starred Tom Cruise. In 2010, Redford directed The Conspirator, a drama about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In 2012, he directed and starred in The Company You Keep.
Recent Roles: 2013–Present
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In 2013, Redford starred in All Is Lost, a movie where he was the only actor and had almost no dialogue. He played a man lost at sea. His performance received great praise, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
In 2014, Redford played a villain named Alexander Pierce in the Marvel superhero film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He also co-produced and acted in A Walk in the Woods (2015). This movie was based on a book by Bill Bryson.
He played news anchor Dan Rather in the film Truth (2015) alongside Cate Blanchett. In 2016, he had a supporting role in the Disney movie Pete's Dragon. The next year, Redford starred in The Discovery and Our Souls at Night (2017). Our Souls at Night reunited him with co-star Jane Fonda for the fourth time.
Redford played bank robber Forrest Tucker in the drama film The Old Man & the Gun (2018). For this role, he received a Golden Globe nomination. In 2018, Redford said he would retire from acting after this film, but later said he regretted announcing it. He briefly appeared as Alexander Pierce again in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Filmography
Awards and Honors
In 1980, Robert Redford won the Academy Award for Best Director for his first film, Ordinary People. In 2002, he received a special Academy Honorary Award at the Oscars. He was also given the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 2017. In 2019, he received the Honorary César in Paris.
The National Audubon Society gave Redford its highest honor, the Audubon Medal, in 1989. He has also received honorary degrees from several universities, including the University of Colorado at Boulder and Brown University. In 1996, President Bill Clinton gave him the National Medal of Arts.
In 2010, he was made a chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'honneur by the President of France. On November 22, 2016, President Barack Obama honored Redford with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is one of the highest civilian awards in the United States. In December 2005, he received the Kennedy Center Honors for his contributions to American culture through the performing arts.
Sundance Institute
With money he earned from his acting success, Robert Redford bought a ski area in Provo, Utah. He renamed it "Sundance" after his character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Parts of his movie Jeremiah Johnson (1972) were filmed near this ski area.
Redford then created the Sundance Film Festival. This festival became the largest event in the country for independent films, which are movies made outside of the big Hollywood studios. In 2008, the festival showed 125 films and had over 50,000 visitors.
Robert Redford also founded the Sundance Institute, Sundance Cinemas, and the Sundance Channel. These are all located near Park City, Utah. The Sundance Institute helps support independent filmmakers.
Personal Life
On August 9, 1958, Robert Redford married Lola Van Wagenen in Las Vegas. They had four children: Scott Anthony Redford, Shauna Jean Redford, David James Redford, and Amy Hart Redford. Sadly, their first son, Scott, died as a baby from sudden infant death syndrome.
Shauna Redford is a painter. James Redford was a writer and producer, and Amy Redford is an actress, director, and producer. Robert Redford has seven grandchildren.
On July 11, 2009, Redford married his longtime girlfriend, Sibylle Szaggars, in Germany. She had lived with him in Sundance, Utah since 1996.
Political Views
Robert Redford cares deeply about the environment, the rights of Native Americans, and supporting the arts. He has also supported groups that advocate for various causes.
As a strong environmentalist, Redford is a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He supported President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012.
In 2019, Redford wrote an article where he said it was "time for Trump to go." He later criticized how the Trump administration handled the coronavirus pandemic. He also spoke out against the decision to leave the Paris Agreement, which is an international agreement about climate change. In 2020, he announced he would vote for Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Redford was against the TransCanada Corporation's Keystone Pipeline project. In 2014, he helped announce that Pitzer College would stop investing in fossil fuel companies. This showed his commitment to protecting the environment.
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See also
In Spanish: Robert Redford para niños
