Robert Redford, Hollywood legend and pioneer of independent cinema, has died aged 89.
Associate Professor Bruce Isaacs, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sydney said Redford was one of the last great stars of the classical Hollywood era and one of its quiet revolutionaries.
"Redford understood the power of the image, the myth of the American hero, and the politics of storytelling," Associate Professor Isaacs said. "He used his fame to reshape the industry from the inside."
Redford’s career spanned more than six decades, from his breakout role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) to his final lead performance in The Old Man & the Gun (2018). Along the way, he starred in some of the most iconic films of the 1970s, including The Sting (1973), All the President’s Men (1976), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and The Way We Were (1973).
Actors Robert Redford and Jane Fonda hug as they pose for photographers at the photo call of the film Our Souls at Night, during the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival, 2017. Photo credit: Joel Ryan/AP/AAP.
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LinkHe won an Academy Award for directing Ordinary People in 1981 and later directed Quiz Show (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1988) and A River Runs Through It (1992) starring Brad Pitt.
But it was his founding of the Sundance Institute and Film Festival that marked his most lasting contribution to cinema. Sundance became a launchpad for independent filmmakers such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Darren Aronofsky and a counterpoint to Hollywood’s commercial machinery.
"Sundance wasn’t a vanity project," Associate Professor Isaacs said. "It was a radical intervention in American cinema. Redford gave independent filmmakers a platform, a voice and a future."
Robert Redford, left, as the Sundance Kid and Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy appear in this scene from the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969. Photo credit: 20th Century Fox/AP/AAP.
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LinkRedford’s screen persona — intelligent, restrained, quietly charismatic — helped define a generation of American film. He could play the golden boy, the outsider, the idealist or the cynic, often in the same role.
"Redford never overplayed," Associate Professor Isaacs said. "He trusted the audience to meet him halfway. That’s rare."
His death marks the end of an era, Associate Professor Isaacs said:
"He was part of that 1970s wave, alongside Jane Fonda, Paul Newman, and Dustin Hoffman, that redefined what Hollywood could be. But he also looked forward. He believed in cinema as a space for ideas, for activism, for change."
Hero photo: Robert Redford poses during the photocall for All Is Lost at the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival, 2013. Credit: Sebastien Nogier/EPA/AAP.
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