AMERICAN ACTOR AND director Robert Redford has died aged 89.
Known for films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and All the President’s Men, Redford was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and a BAFTA.
A publicist confirmed his death in a statement to The New York Times. Cindi Berger of publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK said the film legend died in his sleep. His death occurred at his home in the mountains outside Provo in Utah, she told the newspaper.
Born in 1936, Redford grew up in California. He made his Broadway debut in his early 20s, coming to fame in the 1960s.
Redford featured as the male lead in countless popular films across the 60s, 70s, and 80s, branching into directing later on his career. His directorial debut Ordinary People (1980) won him an Academy Award.
A River Runs Through It and Quiz Show are among his better-known works as a director.
In the 1974 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby he played Jay Gatsby, and starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in All The President’s Men, a 1976 film depicting the Watergate scandal.
More recently he made an appearance in two Avengers’ films: Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014, and Avengers: Endgame in 2019. He played the lead in 2018 film The Old Man & the Gun, which depicted the life of career criminal Forrest Tucker.
Redford founded the Sundance Institute in 1981, and overtook a struggling Utah film festival in 1984 – renaming it after the institute and creating the Sundance Festival, one of the most prolific and respected in the film world today.
