Died Robert Redford

Robert Redford, the iconic actor and director who sealed American cinema, died at the age of 89 at his home in Utah.

His death was announced by Cindy Berger, chief executive of the Public Relations Office Rogers & Cowan PMK. As he said, he died in his sleep, but did not mention a specific cause.

Redford left his last breath at his home in Sundance, in the mountains of Utah, with his loved ones at his side, Cindy Berger told Reuters.

As an actor, he starred in films such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), “All People of the President” (1976), “Three Days of the Condor” (1975) and “The Sting” (1973), which gave him his first and only nomination for an Oscar.

His passion for cinema led him to the creation of the Sundance Institute, a non -profit organization that supports independent cinema and theater and has been established internationally through the Sundance Annual Film Festival.

At the same time, he was an active environment for the environment and since 1961 he settled in the mountains of Utah and pioneered actions to protect the natural landscape of the state and the American West.

Initially he was rejected as “another California blonde”, but his charm and features made him for half a century one of Hollywood’s most commercial protagonists and one of the most recognizable and beloved star stars in world cinema.

He enchanted the audience in romantic roles such as “Beyond Africa”, highlighted his political side in “The Candidate” and “All the People of the President” while deconstructing the image of “Golden Boy” in films such as “The Electric Horseman”, where he played a former alcoholic and ” Millionaire who buys love.

With the millions he won, he founded the Sundance Institute and Festival in the 1970s, promoting independent cinema long before he became fashionable.

He never won an Oscar for interpretation, but his first directorial work, the family drama “Ordinary People” (1980), won the Best Film and Directing Oscars.

However, he became best known for his two early collaborations with Paul Newman: Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969) and “The Sting” (1973), who emerged in classics in American cinema. Despite their chemistry and their long -standing friendship, they did not work again until Newman’s death in 2008.

“Butch Cassidy” made the Redford Star from day to day, but he never felt comfortable with the celebrity or the image of the “male image”, which followed him even after his 60s.

Particularly careful with his personal life, he bought land in Utah in the early 1970s to build a family refuge, enjoying a level of privacy unknown to most stars. His first marriage lasted for more than 25 years, until his divorce in 1985. In 2009 he married his German artist and long -lasting companion, Simbil Zaggers.

He used his reputation to choose demanding film projects, while supporting discreet environmental organizations such as Natural Resources Defense Council and National Wildlife Federation. “Some people have analyzes. I have Utah, “he had commented.

Although he never showed interest in getting into politics, he often expressed liberal views. In an interview in 2017, during the presidency of Donald Trump, he had told Esquire that “politics is in a very dark spot right now” and that Trump should “resign for our good”.

The dream of becoming a painter

Robert Redford was born on August 18, 1937 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, in a family that he described as a “lower working class”. He secured a scholarship to the baseball, but he lost because of his intense social life.

Determined to become an artist, he initially moved to Italy and later to New York to study painting. He enrolled in a drama school aimed at pursuing the stage plan (“my acting seemed ridiculous”, he remembered), but was eventually convinced to go on stage and in 1959 he was already a permanent actor in Broadway, and soon began appearing on television.

He first appeared in cinema in 1962 with the low budget “Warhunt”, but became known in 1967 with “Barefoot in the Park” next to Jane Fonda.

He rejected the role that Dustin Hoffman embodied in the “rookie” (“I never looked like a 21 -year -old student who had never had sex,” he later commented) and preferred “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. In the 1970s films such as “The Way We Were” and “The Great Gatsby” followed.

Since the 1980s he has devoted more time to film production and the establishment of the Sundance Institute, a workshop for young filmmakers, as well as the Sundance Festival, which evolved into one of the most important steps for independent cinema in the world.

In 2001 he was honored with an Oscar honorable for his overall offer.

He remained active as an actor and producer until the end of his life. In 2017 she worked again with Jane Fonda for Netflix on “Our Souls at Night”, a love story between a widow and a widow. “I live for the erotic scenes with him,” Fondia had then said in Venice.

Redford had then announced that this would be one of his last performances, as he intended to devote herself to directing and his first love – art.