Actor and Director Robert Redford Dies at 89
While best known as an Academy Award-winning screen actor, producer and director, Redford also appeared on Broadway several times.
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 16, 2025
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BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that screen icon Robert Redford, with several Broadway credits to his name, has died at age 89.
While best known as an Academy Award-winning screen actor, producer and director, Redford also appeared on stage several times. He made his Broadway debut in 1959 in Tall Story as a replacement for the role of Myers. His following credits included The Highest Tree, Little Moon of Alban, Sunday in New York (Theatre World Award) and Barefoot in the Park.
BroadwayWorld proudly collaborated with our good friend Rick McKay during his work on his seminal documentaries under the BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE label, and unearthed this special clip from YouTube.
Redford's television career began in 1960, with appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1961 and The Twilight Zone in 1962. He went on to make his film debut in War Hunt (1962). He gained success as a leading man in films such as Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), and The Candidate (1972). He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the crime caper The Sting (1973). He continued to star in such films as The Way We Were (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President's Men (1976), and The Electric Horseman (1979).
Redford made his directorial film debut with Ordinary People (1980), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. During this time, he starred in films such as Brubaker (1980), The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985) and Sneakers (1992). He released his third film as a director, A River Runs Through It, in 1992. He went on to receive Best Director and Best Picture nominations in 1995 for Quiz Show.
In 1981, Redford cofounded the Sundance Resort and Film Institute. His later film roles include All Is Lost (2013), Truth (2015), Our Souls at Night (2017), and The Old Man & the Gun (2018). Redford portrayed Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
For his work on screen, Redford received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996, the Academy Honorary Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Honorary César in 2019. He was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014.
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