The Hollywood Legend: The Mesmerizing Actor With an Charisma Illuminated The Film Industry
Robert Redford, who passed away at the age of 89, appeared in more than fifty films, received an Oscar for his work behind the camera, and became a dedicated advocate of non-mainstream creators through founding the yearly Sundance Festival.
Professional accomplishments enabled him to choose roles that aligned with his progressive values, and he was also an advocate for environmental causes and tribal justice.
His quintessential American ideal looks were unforgettable: One writer once said he resembled “a slab of a granite memorial wearing stonewashed denim.”
One commentator observed he had “a natural bodily elegance and a radiant quality that appeared as if he was illuminated from within.”
But Redford himself thought his beauty proved more of an obstacle than a help to his career, and remarked that karma had caused tragedy in his private world to balance for his good fortune.
The future star came into life in Santa Monica on August 18, 1936, the child of a deliveryman who eventually transitioned to an accountant for a major corporation.
During school, he joined a street gang and got into trouble for “using an automobile that contained pilfered goods inside.”
He received an athletic grant to college, but asked to leave within two years because of drunkenness. Simultaneously, his parent passed away in her forties.
Feeling sorrow, he wandered briefly, working in California oilfields then exploring Paris and Florence, where he pursued painting.
His time abroad provided a different outlook on America: “It allowed me to see the US in a new light,” he later recalled.
Once home, he registered at a acting school originally intending to be a stage designer—however pivoted to the craft of acting.
Similar to other performers at the time, he gained minor parts on Broadway and on TV, including appearances in popular dramas like The Untouchables.
His initial movie role was in the sixties through a small part in Tall Story, where he worked with an emerging talent.
It was not an auspicious start in Hollywood. It failed—and one magazine declaring that “not anything could save it.”
However, it did mark the foundation of a enduring connection with Fonda, who later confessed that she fell in love whenever they teamed up.
“There was constantly a mystery because he was reserved anything,” she said. “He’s got a certain energy to him.”
His first big stage success came as self-important counsel a character in the famous playwright’s romantic comedy the show. He later repeated the role in the movie version, again with Fonda.
In 1965, he won a award for most promising newcomer for his performance in the film with Natalie Wood.
Yet he was rejected for the character of the lead in the movie since the director believed he seemed too attractive—which made Redford concerned of being typecast by his looks.
Global fame blossomed in 1969 with the film.
Redford’s portrayal of the easygoing Sundance Kid, opposite Newman’s charismatic Butch, became one of the best pairings.
Ironically, Redford came close to losing the role when a producer said: “He’s merely a typical star. Hurl a rock out of a window there, you’d find six similar.”
The filmmakers attempted not to casting Redford, till Paul—a major name—intervened and insisted on his casting.
Both performers discovered they both loved a passion of acting, and were close friends up until Newman’s passing in that year.
