New Delhi: Oscar-winning director Robert Redford, who started the famous Sundance film movement, died on Tuesday at his home in Utah. He was 89.
The news of his death was announced in a statement by his publicist Cindi Berger. She said Redford died in his sleep, “surrounded by people he loved.”
One of his most popular films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), which is remembered for its reflection of the late 1960s cultural attitudes through commentary on the Western genre.
In 1973, The Sting, a film set during the The Great Depression, brought Redford his first and only Oscar nomination as an actor.
Some of his other key projects are Barefoot in the Park (1967), The Way We Were (1973), All the President’s Men (1976), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Out of Africa (1985).
He also starred in Jeremiah Johnson (1972), the story of a legendary mountain man, The Natural (1984), a classic American story about a man getting a second chance in his baseball career, and Sneakers (1992), a light-hearted heist film.
But, Redford’s highest-grossing film as a lead actor was Indecent Proposal (1993), which explored the themes of love and morality, co-starring Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.
It minted $267 million at the box office at the time. While reviewing the film for The New York Times, Janet Maslin called Redford “one of the screen’s great flirts.”
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Journey as a director
Redford entered into directing in his late 40s. And, with his first project Ordinary People, in 1980, the filmmaker won an Academy Award.
The film, which won four Oscars, including Best Picture, was about how an upper-middle class family crumbles after their son’s death.
However, his next film as a director, The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), a comedy-drama, was a flop.
Redford’s 1994 directorial, Quiz Show, about a 1950s television scandal, was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
That said, Redford’s greatest cultural impact was made in 1981, when he founded the Sundance Institute, a non-profit institute to nurture fresh cinematic voices. Three years later, he took charge of a struggling film festival in Utah and renamed it after the institute.
Since then, the Sundance Film Festival is held every year in Utah, showcasing independent American films and documentaries.
Directors like Quentin Tarantino, James Wan, Nicole Holofcener, David O Russell, Ryan Coogler, Chloé Zhao, and Ava DuVernay were cultivated by Sundance, which also became one of the world’s top destinations for documentaries.
When Steven Soderbergh unveiled his feature film Sex, Lies and Videotape at the Sundance Film festival in 1989, Sundance earned a reputation for giving a platform to every story.
To Gen Z audiences, Redford was best known for his role as Alexander Pierce in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) as the head of security council, and reprised the role in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
While Redford built his legacy through classic cinema, these Marvel appearances introduced him to a new generation, showcasing his screen presence in one of pop culture’s most influential franchises.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)