The newspaper said Redford died in his sleep at his home in Utah on Tuesday. A leading figure of American cinema for decades, he won the 1981 Academy Award for directing the drama “Ordinary People.”
Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, Redford began on Broadway in the late 1950s, starring in “Sunday in New York” and “Barefoot in the Park” in 1961–62. The 1967 film version of “Barefoot in the Park,” opposite Barbra Streisand, helped cement his image as Hollywood’s “golden boy.”
Redford’s breakthrough on screen came when director George Roy Hill cast him alongside Paul Newman in the 1969 western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a major hit that formed one of cinema’s most famous pairs.
The trio reunited for the 1973 caper “The Sting,” which earned 10 Oscar nominations and won seven, including best picture, director and screenplay; it also brought Redford his sole acting nomination.
From the late 1960s through the mid-1980s — the prime of his career — he appeared in a run of acclaimed films, including “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here” (1969), “Jeremiah Johnson” (1972), “The Candidate” (1972), “The Way We Were” (1973), “The Great Gatsby” (1974), “The Great Waldo Pepper” (1975), “Three Days of the Condor” (1975), “All the President’s Men” (1976), “Brubaker” (1980) and “Out of Africa” (1985).
Redford moved behind the camera in the early 1980s; his directorial debut, “Ordinary People,” brought him the best director Oscar. He later helmed “Quiz Show” (1994), which received four nominations, including best picture and best director.
Beyond his screen work, Redford championed independent cinema. In 1978 he launched the Utah/US Film Festival, which evolved into the Sundance Film Festival — now among the world’s most prominent showcases for indie film — where the early work of filmmakers such as the Coen brothers, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch drew attention. His support for independent artists was highlighted when he received a second, honorary Oscar in 2002.
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Source: Polskie Radio, PAP