By: Mia Warren
Robert Redford was a beloved star of Hollywood, he was an actor, director, and producer, but his legacy and remembrance will show the kind of man he was, and how he was so much more than a Hollywood celebrity. Redford was born August 18, 1936, and started his career not knowing the fame that would come. Not long after he turned 18 he began his passionate acting career. His first big role was when he made his debut on Broadway in 1963 in the play “ Tall Story”. After receiving recognition for his talent he later starred in many shows and movies, such as, The Twilight Zone, Route 66, Butch Cassidy, and even The Great Gatsby.
Redford went on to be a great actor and was nominated for several awards in his career, he won a total of 5 Golden Globe Awards, 3 Academy Awards, and the Screen Actors lifetime achievement Award. Robert also started directing movies in the 1980s and throughout the 2000s. His most famous work consists of Ordinary People, The Horse Whisperer, and the Milagro Beanfield War, and more. He was awarded for his successful directing as well as his acting, his successful career shows us how loved he truly was, and was an inspiration to many to begin their independent acting and directing careers.
What was different and truly inspiring about Robert Redford was not only his fame in Hollywood, but how he was also a dedicated environmentalist and spent his life spreading the word and trying to protect our environment, also participating in ways to save it. For a total of five decades Robert was an NRDC ( Natural Resources Defense Council) and was endlessly working to support the environmental movement. The CEO of NRDC shares, “The environmental movement has lost a giant. Nobody has done more to shine a light on the most important environmental issues from the dawn of the environmental movement in the ‘70s through the biodiversity and climate crises of today.”
His family and friends remember him as someone who fought for what was right, and was an advocate for public lands, wildlife, Native American environmental justice, and climate change. He positively used his platform to help others, and protect natural land from being a victim of urbanization. He helped fight to preserve around 1.7 million acres of land in the wildlife of Utah, and settled down there further enjoying its beautiful land.
Robert Redford unfortunately died on September 16th, 2025. He passed in his home he absolutely loved in the canon of Utah, surrounded by trees and wildlife. Redofrds friends described him as a truly good man that deserved everything he got and more. They loved how normal he was for a famous actor in Hollywood, although he was famous for acting and directing, he decided at the peak of his booming career to leave Hollywood and buy land in a Utah Canyon to build his dream home and help preserve the beautiful land of Utah. His lifelong friend Paul Newman’s daughter shares, “ He was just a regular guy who had a very strong interest in the environment. He was just a good one.”
beniciapaw.com 