Robert Redford dies: tributes paid to giant of American cinema – latest updates

Star of Hollywood classics including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and All the President’s Men, dies aged 89‘The star who changed Hollywood’: Peter Bradshaw on Robert RedfordRobert Redford – a life in picturesOur picture editors have pulled together a life in pictures gallery of Redford, which runs through his astonishing career. It spans his early career as an unlikely star and includes his honorary Oscar and the award of his Presidential Medal of Freedom.There are a couple of entries that cover his collaborations with Paul Newman, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (poster above). Here’s an excerpt from Scott Tobias’ 50th anniversary piece from 2019:Right away, Goldman establishes Butch as a charismatic mouthpiece for the quip-ready screenwriter, contrasting nicely with the Sundance Kid, Robert Redford’s taciturn sharpshooter. But he’s also created two heroes who break the western mold, neither justice-seeking white-hats nor grizzled, sneering black-hats, and not as traditionally masculine as either party. Butch is a man who appreciates beauty and art, but doesn’t have the stomach for violence; it’s not until late in the film that we (and the Kid) discover that he’s never shot a man before and he looks sickened to have to do it. He’s a pleasure-seeker above all else: robbing banks and trains are his way to make an easy living and enjoy whatever sinful freedoms his vocation affords him.Audiences in 1969 were all too happy to embrace the light, quippy irreverence of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid after a turbulent summer, and Goldman, director George Roy Hill, and the two impossibly handsome stars made them feel cool for doing it. True Grit had performed well earlier in the year as a throwback to the genre’s past, giving John Wayne a proper victory lap, but Butch Cassidy was thoroughly modern, a star-making vehicle for Newman and Redford that reflected a need for the genre to turn the page and that feels as much of its time as it does authentic to Wyoming in the late 1890s. With Ross at the center of a love triangle between friends, the film attempted to bring Jules and Jim to the American mainstream, taking a lesson from the French new wave on how to revivify old Hollywood craft.As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, it wasn’t cool for star actors to be good-looking. The style was more a scuffed, grizzled, bleary, sweaty, paunchy and shlubby realness. The fashion was for leading men like Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen. Even a very beautiful man like Paul Newman had a kind of rugged, daylit quality. But Robert Redford was very different. Here was a supremely beautiful movie star who went on to direct, produce and then be the guardian and gatekeeper of commercial-indie US cinema at his Sundance Institute. And he was always an outlier.When movie audiences thrilled to George Roy Hill’s western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969, they knew that in breakout star Redford they had an almost indecently attractive male, however much he might dress it down with buckskins and moustaches, playing the devil-may-care outlaw Sundance Kid himself. His sardonic charisma and sexiness shone through. And when he cleaned himself up for other roles, teaming up again with Newman for the Jazz Age conmen caper The Sting in 1973, the effect was electric. Neatly trimmed and shaved, Robert Redford was just outrageously handsome, incandescently handsome, he was handsomeness on legs. His photograph was in the dictionary next to “handsome”. Continue reading...

Comments

Culture

Robert Redford death: Latest tributes after Hollywood icon and Sundance founder dies aged 89

Independent

Comments

Similar News

Robert Redford's greatest roles: from Sundance to The Sting

Robert Redford death: Latest tributes after Hollywood icon and Sundance founder dies aged 89

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: How Robert Redford and Paul Newman captured Hollywood’s greatest outlaws

Robert Redford: the incandescently handsome star who changed Hollywood forever

Robert Redford, giant of American cinema, dies aged 89

Hollywood actor and director Robert Redford dies

Robert Redford: The enthralling star whose 'aura' lit up Hollywood

Acting legend Robert Redford dies aged 89

Movie star and visionary Robert Redford has died at age 89

Robert Redford: 15 Memorable Movies to Stream

Robert Redford: A Life in Photos

Robert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist, Dies at 89

Robert Redford death: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star and Hollywood legend dies aged 89

My quest for Robert Redford’s jacket

Robert Munsch, the Beloved Children’s Author Whose Stories Are Slipping Away

Robert Grosvenor, Sculptor Who Challenged Gravity, Dies at 88

The Two Roberts by Damian Barr — a double portrait of Scottish painters

Book Review: ‘Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson,’ by Leo Damrosch

Best Red Carpet Looks at the Venice Film Festival: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri & More

Domination by Alice Roberts review – a brilliant but cynical history of Christianity

Culture

Robert Redford death: Latest tributes after Hollywood icon and Sundance founder dies aged 89

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: How Robert Redford and Paul Newman captured Hollywood’s greatest outlaws

Molly Qerim announces departure from ESPN’s First Take

All the stars confirmed for Louis Theroux’s nostalgic girlband documentary

The best show on television somehow got better

First of Eurovision’s ‘Big 5’ votes to boycott competition if Israel competes

Robert Redford death: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star and Hollywood legend dies aged 89

Spain to quit Eurovision Song Contest if Israel participates

Jimmy Kimmel condemns Trump’s way of ‘mourning’ Charlie Kirk: ‘This is not how an adult grieves’

Busted star pulls out of McFly tour before first show for health reasons

Game of Thrones fans brand 2026 a ‘great year’ after two huge updates

Alex Kingston reveals whether she will perform Doctor Who-inspired dance routine on Strictly Come Dancing

Melvyn Bragg says he left Radio 4’s In Our Time before he was pushed

Michael Keaton addresses Charlie Kirk death: ‘Shooting people will never answer anything’

Trump wants to be a cultural tastemaker. The CIA did it first.

The Pitt crushed it at the Emmy's — why is it STILL not airing in the UK?

All the stars rumoured for I’m A Celebrity 2025 as Love Island icon tipped for line-up

Gavin and Stacey star worried it looked like she was ‘dogging’ while working in car

Best Stephen Graham dramas to watch after his Adolescence Emmy win

The grisly reality behind Dubai’s porta potty parties

Patricia Crowley death: Please Don’t Eat The Daisies and Dynasty star dies aged 91

Julian Fellowes teases potential Downton Abbey spinoffs: ‘Never say never’

White Lotus stars confirm season four of the show will be set in France

Stephen Graham delights fans after ‘beautiful’ conversation with fellow Emmy winner

Elton John says he ‘startled’ doctor with request before kneecap surgery

Euphoria season 3 to be released in spring 2026, says HBO executive

Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter among Coachella headliners

Slow Horses season five on Apple TV+ review: The silliest season yet — but is the fun finally over?

Thomas Skinner’s lover says star ’emotionally tortured her’ during months-long affair

Iconic rocker pulls out of band’s 25th anniversary tour following wife’s death

Justin Bieber to headline first major show in years at Coachella 2026

The 13 most controversial album covers of all time, from The Beatles to Nirvana: ‘We’re all naked really’

‘EastEnders fans think I’m not very nice – I hope Strictly changes that’

Mark Ronson on being a night person - and Lady Gaga trashing his car

Gene Simmons reflects on friendship with ‘unique’ Ozzy Osbourne

Gilmore Girls fans overjoyed as Alexis Bledel and Lauren Graham reunite at Emmys

The brilliant Emmy-winning drama yet to be released in the UK

Shia LaBeouf details falling out with Trump supporter Jon Voight — and why they were forced to make amends

Trump sues New York Times

Lorne Michaels opens up about Saturday Night Live cast after promising shake-up: ‘Change is good’

Masterpiece sequel ‘even better than the original’ classic arriving on Netflix

The Producers at the Garrick Theatre review: 'At 99, Mel Brooks has the funniest show in London'

Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in Oscars dark horse is ‘opposite of Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible’

Star Wars’ actor John Boyega asks for role in parody sequel Spaceballs 2

Bill Maher says ‘both sides have to stop debating who is worse’ after Charlie Kirk death

‘Let me out’: Britt Lower leaves Severance Easter Egg on Emmys acceptance speech

Sotheby’s Lands a Leonard Lauder Art Collection Worth More Than $400 Million

American Pickers star Mike Wolfe and girlfriend land in hospital after serious car wreck

Huge UK girl group member vows reunion after years-long hiatus ‘if it’s the last thing I do’

Shameless star to play King Lear in Manchester theatre return

Telling stories of gun violence deaths almost cost this reporter his life

Lorne Michaels opens up about Saturday Night Live cast after promising shake-up: ‘Change is good’

Shia LaBeouf details falling out with Trump supporter Jon Voight — and why they were forced to make amends

Andy Cohen signs new deal with SiriusXM a week after pranking Howard Stern listeners

DWTS pro Daniella Karagach on intimacy with dance partners — and why she and husband Pasha Pashkov are so secure

Gene Simmons reflects on friendship with ‘unique’ Ozzy Osbourne

Gen V Season 2 on Prime Video review: still bloody good fun