Robert RedfordOscar-Winning Actor and DirectorDies at 89

Robert Redfordthe longtime Hollywood icon and star of classic films such as 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and 1985's Out of Africahas died. He was 89.

"Robert Redford passed away on Sept. 162025at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he lovedsurrounded by those he loved," Cindi Bergerchairman and CEO of Rogers & Cowan PMKtells PEOPLE in a statement. "He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy."

According to theThe New York Timeswho was the first to report the actor's deathRedford died at his home outside Provo on Tuesday morning. No cause of death was givenbut Berger told the outlet in a statement that he died in his sleep.

A leading Hollywood heartthrob at his peak in the 1970sRedford had talent to back up his good looks. His decades-long career earned him a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for 1973's The Stingthe Best Director award for 1980's Ordinary People and another Best Director nomination for 1994's Quiz Show.

"I've spent most of my life just focused on the road aheadnot looking back," Redford said in the acceptance speech for his 2002 honorary Oscar. "But now tonightI'm seeing in the rearview mirror that there is something I've not thought about muchcalled history."

Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 181936 in Santa MonicaCaliforniaRedford was a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in 1959's Tall Storyfollowed by a lead in 1963's Barefoot in the Park — a role he reprised in the 1967 film adaptation alongside Jane Fonda.

His onscreen career began in the early 1960s with roles on TV shows like TateRoute 66Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables. And of coursehe reached new heights in 1969 when he landed the role of outlaw the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid alongside the late Paul Newman.

“I was being put up for Butch Cassidy because I’d done the comedy. But that part didn't interest me,” Redford told Collider in 2019. “What interested me was the Sundance Kid because I could relate to that based on my own experience and particularly my own childhood and feeling like an outlaw most of my life."

He added"So I told [director] George [Roy Hill]and he knew Paul really well and knew he was much more like Butch Cassidyso George turned it all around. He went to Paul and they argued a bit until Paul finally realized that George was right. He was well known and I wasn'twhich is why they switched the titletoo.”

More of Redford's memorable films include The Way We Were (1973)The Great Gatsby (1974)All the President's Men (1976)The Natural (1984)Indecent Proposal (1993)The Horse Whisperer (1998) and All Is Lost (2013).

In addition to Ordinary Peoplehe directed A River Runs Through It (1992)Quiz ShowThe Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)Lions for Lambs (2007) and several other films.

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In August 2018Redford told Entertainment Weekly that he would be retiring after making The Old Man & the Gunin which he starred alongside Casey AffleckSissy SpacekDanny GloverTika Sumpter and Tom Waits.

"Never say neverbut I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of actingand [I'll] move towards retirement after this 'cause I've been doing it since I was 21," he said at the time.

A month laterat the premiere of the filmhe told PEOPLE he regretted saying he was retiring and emphasized he was not sure what the future held.

As Redford explained"I think it was a mistake to say that I was retiring because you never know. It did feel like it was timemaybeto concentrate on another category."

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This past MarchRedford returned to the screen for the first time in six years with a cameo on the thriller series Dark Winds. It would mark his final screen role.

Leading up to that cameoRedford had lent his voice to 2020's Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia, as well as his wife Sibylle Szaggars Redford's 2024 performance-art piece "The Way of the Rain — Hope for Earth."

While he collected many accolades for his work onscreen and behind the camera (including the Golden Globes' prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award)Redford experienced tragedy in his personal life. In 2020his son James Redford died from bile-duct cancer in his liver at the age of 58.

"The grief is immeasurable with the loss of a child," Redford's rep said in a statement at the time. "Jamie was a loving sonhusband and father. His legacy lives on through his childrenartfilmmaking and devoted passion to conservation and the environment."

Redford and ex-wife Lola Van Wagenen had four children together: Scott (who died just two months after his birth in 1959 from sudden infant death syndrome)ShaunaJames and Amy. Redford also lost his mother after a difficult pregnancywhen Redford was a teen.

Redford married Sibylle in 2009. In a cover story for AARP The Magazine a few years laterhe said his wifewho was 20 years his juniorwas a "very special person" and gave him a "whole new life."

The two first met in 1996 at his Sundance Mountain Resortthough Sibyllewho is a multimedia artistadmitted later on that she knew very little about the actor.

"It was a wonderful beginning of a relationshipbecause it began as two human beings meeting each other and finding a connection as two human beingsrather than being colored by success," Redford once said.

Together with JamesRedford co-founded The Redford Center in 2005a nonprofit focusing on producing films and providing grants to filmmakers who direct films that touch on climate change and the environmenta cause the actor cared deeply about.

In 2015Redford was among a group of celebrities who gathered in Paris to help encourage the United Nations to strengthen their stance on global warming. The conference brought together 195 nations and lasted nearly 11 days. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn were also among those who made personal pleas to reduce fossil-fuel emissions.

"This has to be the time because we're running out of time. It's been so many years but there's no more time," Redford said at the time.

In 1975Redford cemented his reputation as an environmental activist after he appeared on 60 Minutes and invited Dan Rather (whom Redford later portrayed in 2015's Truth) to visit the site of a proposed power-plant construction he opposed. The nationally televised report forced the plant's cancellation.

Redford was also passionate about supporting filmmakers and artistsand founded the Sundance Institute before launching the Sundance Film Festival in 1984.

In his 2002 honorary-Oscar acceptance speechhe said that his personal work is "most important to me," along with "trying to put something back into an industry that's been good to me. Andof courseSundance is a manifestation of that."

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Also in the speechRedford said it was "important" to "make sure the freedom of artistic expression is nurtured and kept alivebecause I believe that in keeping diversity alive it will help keep our industry alive."

"To be able to be part of a freedom of expression that allows us as artists to tell our stories in our own way about the human conditionthe complexities of lifethe world around usis a gift and not one to be taken lightly," he added. "And I think the glory of art is that it can not only survive changeit can lead it. As an artistI just can't think of a better life than the one that I've been blessed with."

Redford is survived by his wifedaughters Shauna and Amy and grandchildren.