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–present |
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Full list |
| Political party | Democratic |
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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 movie director. He has won many awards for his work in film. These include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Redford has also received special lifetime achievement awards. These honors celebrate his entire career. They include the Academy Honorary Award in 2002 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. In 2014, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
He started acting on stage in the 1950s and on TV in the 1960s. He became a major movie star with films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973). He later began directing movies and won an Academy Award for Best Director for his first film, Ordinary People (1980). Redford is also known for creating the Sundance Film Festival, which helps new filmmakers share their work.
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Early Life and School
Robert Redford was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. His mother was Martha Redford and his father was Charles Robert Redford Sr., an accountant. He has a half-brother named William. His family has Irish, Scottish, and English roots.
His family lived in Van Nuys, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. He went to Van Nuys High School. He said he was not a great student but loved art and sports. He enjoyed playing tennis and was interested in painting.
After high school, he attended the University of Colorado Boulder. He later traveled through Europe, living in France, Spain, and Italy. When he returned to the United States, he studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He also took acting classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Career as an Actor and Director
Early Roles on Stage and TV
Redford began his acting career in New York City. He appeared in several plays on Broadway, including Barefoot in the Park in 1963. This play was a big success for him.
He also acted in many popular TV shows in the early 1960s. He had guest roles on programs like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. His first movie role was in War Hunt (1962).
In 1965, he starred in the movie Inside Daisy Clover with Natalie Wood. For this role, he won a Golden Globe award for Best New Star. He worked with Natalie Wood again in the 1966 film This Property Is Condemned.
Becoming a Movie Star
In 1967, Redford starred with Jane Fonda in the movie version of Barefoot in the Park. The movie was very popular. Two years later, he starred with Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). This film was a huge hit and made Redford a major star. It established his image as a smart and reliable hero.
In the 1970s, Redford starred in a string of successful movies. These included the western Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and the romance The Way We Were (1973) with Barbra Streisand. He teamed up with Paul Newman again for The Sting (1973). This movie won many awards and earned Redford a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
He also starred in The Great Gatsby (1974) and the political thriller All the President's Men (1976). In All the President's Men, he and Dustin Hoffman played the real-life reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal. The film was a big success and showed Redford's interest in political topics.
Directing and Later Films
In 1980, Redford directed his first movie, Ordinary People. The film was about a family dealing with a tragedy. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Redford. This proved he was a talented director as well as an actor.
Throughout the 1980s, he continued to star in popular films. These included the baseball movie The Natural (1984) and the romantic drama Out of Africa (1985), with Meryl Streep.
He directed more films, including A River Runs Through It (1992) and Quiz Show (1994). Quiz Show was about a real-life scandal on a 1950s TV game show. It earned him nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.
Recent Work
Redford has remained active in movies into the 21st century. He starred with Brad Pitt in the spy thriller Spy Game (2001). He also directed and starred in several other films.
In 2013, he starred in All Is Lost, a movie about a man lost at sea. He was the only actor in the film and had almost no lines. His performance was highly praised by critics.
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In 2014, he played the villain Alexander Pierce in the Marvel superhero movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He returned for a brief appearance in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
His last major acting role was in the 2018 film The Old Man & the Gun, where he played a real-life bank robber. After this film, he announced he would retire from acting. Since then, he has worked as a producer for the TV series Dark Winds.
Awards and Honors
Robert Redford has received many awards for his work in movies and his support of the arts.
- Academy Awards: He won Best Director for Ordinary People in 1981. In 2002, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime of work.
- Golden Globe Awards: He won several Golden Globes, including a lifetime achievement award in 1994.
- Kennedy Center Honors: In 2005, he was honored for his contributions to American culture.
- Presidential Medal of Freedom: In 2016, President Barack Obama gave him the nation's highest civilian honor.
- Honorary Degrees: He has received honorary degrees from several universities, including the University of Colorado and Brown University.
The Sundance Institute
Robert Redford is the founder of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival. He used money he earned from his movies to buy a ski area in Utah. He named it Sundance, after his character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
In 1981, he started the Sundance Institute. It is a non-profit organization that helps independent filmmakers. Independent filmmakers are those who work outside of the major Hollywood studios. The institute offers workshops and support to help them create their movies.
The Sundance Film Festival is held every year in Park City, Utah. It has become the largest independent film festival in the United States. It shows new movies from all over the world and helps many new directors and actors get discovered.
Personal Life and Activism
On August 9, 1958, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen. They had four children: Scott, Shauna, James, and Amy. Their first son, Scott, died as an infant. Their son James was a writer and producer, and their daughter Amy is an actress and director. Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1985.
In 2009, Redford married his longtime partner, Sibylle Szaggars, a German artist.
Redford is also known for his political and environmental activism. He supports protecting the environment, Native American rights, and the arts. He has spoken out against projects like the Keystone Pipeline because of environmental concerns. He has also supported many politicians over the years. In 2020, he announced his support for Joe Biden for president.
See also
In Spanish: Robert Redford para niños
