89-year-old Hollywood superstar had lead roles in comedies, dramas thrillers
The actor, director and activist Robert Redford has died at the age of 89 at his home in Utah.
Tue Sept 16 2025 - 15:41 • 1 MIN READ
Robert Redford, the big-screen charmer turned Oscar-winning director, died early Tuesday morning at his home in the US state of Utah. He was 89.
Redford was one of Hollywood’s preferred leads for decades, whether in comedies, dramas or thrillers; studios often sold him as a sex symbol. His body of work as a romantic leading man owed a great deal to the commanding actresses who were paired with him – Jane Fonda in Barefoot in the Park (1967), Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were (1973), Meryl Streep in Out of Africa (1985).
He branched into directing in his 40s and won an Academy Award for his first effort, Ordinary People (1980), about an upper-middle-class family’s disintegration after a son’s death. Ordinary People won three other Oscars, including for best picture.
Robert Redford pictured in Paris, France in 2019. Photo: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Robert Redford pictured in 2013. Photograph: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
With Barbra Streisand at the 24th annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast hosted by The Hollywood Reporter at Milk Studios on December 9th, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Todd Williamson/Getty
With Paul Newman (left) in New York City in 2006. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Getty
With Barbra Streisand in 1973: Photograph: FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty
Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein from the 1976 Watergate drama 'All the President's Men'. Photograph: Screen Archives/Getty
Redford in Paris, France in 2019. Photograph: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
President and Founder of Sundance Institute Robert Redford and Bono of U2 during the 2008 Sundance Film Festival at the Sundance Resort on January 19th, 2008 in Park City, Utah. Photograph: Fred Hayes/WireImage
Robert Redford in 2013 with his wife Sibylle Szaggars after attending the screening of the film 'All is Lost' in Cannes. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty
Robert Redford in Cannes in 2013. Photograph: Mike Marsland/WireImage
Redford, in Provo, Utah on September 23rd, 2013. Photograph: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Paul Newman, director George Roy Hill and Robert Redford on the set of The Sting (1973). Photograph: Getty Images
Redford (left) as The Sundance Kid and Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in a publicity still for the western film 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', 1969. Photograph: Silver Screen Collection/Getty
Robert Redford and John Hume after receiving honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin in July 2008. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times
Former president Mary Robinson, Chancellor, with John Hume and Robert Redford in Trinity College Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times
