Hollywood icon Robert Redford passes away at 89

Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy, liberal activist, and a pioneering force for independent cinema, passed away on Tuesday. He was 89.

“Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy,” Cindi Berger, the chief executive of the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK, told NBC News.

No cause of death was provided. According to AFP, the actor passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Personal life

Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, he was the son of an accountant.

He is survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars, whom he married in 2009, according to CBS News.

Redford was previously married to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children. Scott Anthony, died in infancy in 1959, and James Redford, a filmmaker and activist, passed away in 2020. Redford and Wagenen divorced in 1995.

Hollywood career

Redford was one of the defining stars of the 1970s, with notable performances in 'The Candidate', 'All the President’s Men', and 'The Way We Were'. After 20 years as an actor, he moved behind the camera. He went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director for 'Ordinary People' (1980), which also won Best Picture. The film, which marked his directing debut, beat Martin Scorsese’s classic 'Raging Bull' at the Oscars. The film starred Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore as the repressed parents of a troubled young man, played by Timothy Hutton, in his big screen debut.

Redford’s other directing efforts included 'The Horse Whisperer', 'The Milagro Beanfield War' and 1994's 'Quiz Show', the last of which also earned Best Picture and Best Director Oscar nominations.

In 2002, Redford received an honorary Oscar, with academy organisers citing him as “actor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere.”

Robert was last seen in 'Avengers: Endgame' in which he reprised his role as Secretary Alexander Pierce and joined several other Marvel vets such as Michael Douglas and Tilda Swinton.

Creator of Sundance Film Festival

Redford also cemented his Hollywood legacy as the founder of the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The film festival became a launchpad for independent cinema that championed low-budget filmmakers. Interestingly, films like 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Garden State', and 'Napoleon Dynamite', which made a greater cultural and commercial impact in Hollywood, gained prominence through Sundance.

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