by Ian Gualtiere ’27 on September 25, 2025
Arts & Entertainment
To many, there was always a certain glow to movies from the previous century. Maybe it was the way the film met the light while capturing the action, allowing a fabulous fuzz to appear on our screens nearly 50 years later. Audiences could go to theaters to see dreams captured on celluloid and movies where actors truly turned into the characters they sought to convey. The idea of going to see a favorite actor was, is, and will always be a reason to go out and see a new movie; there is a certain allure to a film that promotes itself on raw star power. Many movies attempt to place all the eggs in one basket by hiring numerous A-list actors and celebrities to draw people back into the theater seats. Only a few movies rise to the occasion by complementing the actors with a great plot; examples would include the commercial and critical successes of Oppenheimer (2023), Avatar (2009), and The Dark Knight (2008). These movies allowed their star actors opportunities to shine alongside each other in a thoughtful and meaningful way, but other movies simply attempt to sell their product only by highlighting how many great actors they can afford. Examples include great actors like Russell Crowe, who was accused of phoning it in for his performance in The Mummy (2018), or how Robert De Niro was seen to have tarnished his legacy by starring alongside Zac Efron in Dirty Grandpa (2016).
One actor had been able to subtly use his charm, skills, and subtle brilliance to shine above the rest, regardless of whether he was alone or starring alongside other talented actors. Robert Redford died last week, on Sept. 16, at the age of 89, and closed a long and celebrated 56 year career in television, film, and theater. Beginning his career on Broadway in the late 1950s, he also appeared on a string of television shows. However, his growing acting chops and unapologetic good looks carried him onto the silver screen, where he made his film debut in 1960. As the romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park (1967) premiered, he was easily typecast into the good-looking, blonde male stereotype, but his integrity as an actor outweighed his image as he searched for more unconventional and grittier roles. That unconventionality would be found when he starred alongside Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), as the two portrayed stubborn cowboys in a dying western frontier. The image of Redford as a charismatic, intelligent, and reliable actor allowed Redford for a decade of success in the 1970s. A string of hits would see Redford going back into the solitary western genre with Jeremiah Johnson (1972); a 1950s romance with Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were (1973); a reunion with Paul Newman in the world of 1920s crime in The Sting (1973) would give him the only Academy Award Best Actor Nomination of his career; an adaptation of the classic The Great Gatsby (1974); a CIA spy thriller with Three Days of The Condor (1975); and the politically charged All The President’s Men (1976), where he starred alongside Dustin Hoffman as they portrayed real-life investigative journalists trying to uncover the Watergate Scandal of the Nixon Administration.
By the early 1980s, Redford had become increasingly politically active and was pursuing films with darker subject matter to reflect the materialist American culture he questioned. The result of these motives would culminate in his directorial debut with Ordinary People (1980); it is a film that explores the slow but unstoppable destruction of an upper-middle-class family after one of their sons takes his own life. The movie would be awarded at the Academy Awards with four wins; Redford would take home one Oscar for Best Director. The 1980s and 1990s would show a strong binary effort of Redford the actor and Redford the director. The baseball classic The Natural (1984) and the seven Oscar-winning Out of Africa (1985) would continue to cement Redford as a talented actor, while the Montana-set period drama A River Runs Through It (1992) and the scandalously criminal plot of Quiz Show (1994) would give Redford further respect as a director.
Redford was also known for his outspoken support for environmentalism, Native American rights and recognition, and LGBTQ+ rights; a career in support of the arts and politics would make Redford a constant trustee and councilman on several progressive and social issues. One of the defining testaments to Redford’s legacy was his commitment to the independent film production industry. With the salary he received from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Redford bought a ski resort near Park City, Utah, that he renamed “Sundance” after his character in the film. Redford cultivated a region solely dedicated to independent films, as the Sundance Film Festival is now the United States’ largest annual independent film festival. Largely thanks to Redford’s direction, the Sundance Institute, Sundance Cinemas, Sundance Catalog, and the Sundance Channel are all located in Park City.
Redford was an authentic actor and director who defied the conventional role of a typical actor coasting on his good looks; he was instead someone who pushed the boundaries of topics many did not want to talk about and broadcast his opinions through the medium of film. The subtlety of Redford relied heavily on his ability to have one glance at the camera, and the audience would not just see his piercing blue eyes, but they would see the truths, dreams, and frustrations of American society, which did not want to see its reflection on the silver screen.