Remembering Robert Redford: A Legacy Like No Other

I learned of Robert Redford’s passing on September 16, and I find myself both heartbroken and grateful. Heartbroken because the world has lost one of its most brilliant, charismatic, and thoughtful artists. Grateful because his work lives on, and what a gift it is to revisit the films and stories that shaped us.

When I was a kid, I remember watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and being swept away by Redford and Paul Newman!! Their humor, charm, and chemistry felt electric. But the film that has always stayed with me is The Way We Were. That love story moved me deeply, and even now I can picture the iconic moment when Barbra Streisand tenderly brushes Redford’s hair aside. I recently learned that wasn’t even scripted!! It was her instinct, and the intimacy of that simple gesture hit me right in the heart. That’s the kind of magic Redford brought to the screen.

And then there’s The Natural. I can still recall how mesmerizing he was as Roy Hobbs. The film captured baseball as myth and dream, but it was Redford’s presence that made it unforgettable. The same brilliance carried through Jeremiah Johnson, All the President’s Men, The Sting, Indecent Proposal — the list goes on. Even in his later years, in All Is Lost (2013) and The Old Man & the Gun (2018), he showed a quiet power that few actors could command. Most recently, his cameo in Dark Winds delighted me, not only because it’s a show I’ve loved covering on my podcast, but because it felt like one last nod from a legend who cared about Native stories being told.

Of course, Redford was more than an actor. He was a director, a producer, an activist. He fought for the environment, supported Native American communities, and perhaps most enduringly, he created the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival - a home for independent voices that might never have been heard otherwise. That generosity to other artists ensured his legacy would reach far beyond his own films.

For me, Robert Redford was the kind of actor you followed anywhere. If he was in a movie, I wanted to see it. He had that rare mix of beauty, intelligence, and authenticity. The ability to be both larger-than-life and achingly human. There truly was no one like him.

This weekend, I’ll be rewatching some of my favorite Redford films, and I think I’ll finally sit down with Barefoot in the Park, his romantic comedy with Jane Fonda that I somehow missed over the years. It feels like the right way to celebrate his legacy by returning to the stories he left us.

And of course, I’ll revisit Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. Watching Redford and Newman together on screen still makes my heart flutter — two friends, two legends, reminding us just how magical movies can be.

Thank you to Robert Redford - the icon, the actor/director, the activist, and the man. You left a legacy rich with humanity.

Rest in peace, Mr. Redford. You will always be a part of the stories that shaped (me) us.

Which one one of his films are you watching this weekend? 🎬

Robert Redford in The Way We Were (1973)