Hollywood has lost one of its most beloved icons.
Robert Redford — the heartthrob who became an Oscar-winning director, an environmental crusader, and the force behind the Sundance Film Festival — has passed away at the age of 89.
Redford died peacefully in his sleep early Tuesday morning at his home in the Utah mountains near Provo, according New York Post and his publicist, Cindi Berger.
No cause of death has been shared.
Born on August 18, 1936, Robert Redford lived a life few could ever match. Yet behind his success as an actor and director, he endured heartbreak and unimaginable loss.
As a child, Redford battled polio, and in his teens, he admitted he was a “bad student.” He lost his scholarship to the University of Colorado in Boulder after turning to heavy drinking. While living in Boulder, he worked as a janitor at the city’s oldest restaurant, The Sink — a place he never forgot. In fact, at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, he wore a shirt with the restaurant’s logo as a quiet tribute to his past.
In his youth, Redford felt weighed down by criticism, but he always had one person who believed in him: his mother, Martha Hart. “The one person who stood behind me was my mother,” he once said. Sadly, her life was cut short. She died at just 40 from complications tied to a rare blood disorder. Redford, only 18 at the time, later admitted his deepest regret was not telling her “thank you” before she passed.
