Robert Redford — actor, environmentalist, cultural icon, and University of Colorado Boulder alum — passed away in his home in Utah on Sept. 13, 2025. Best known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, Redford was born in Santa Monica, California, and attended CU on a baseball scholarship from fall of 1954 to spring 1956. In 1987, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters. While attending CU, Redford worked as a Janitor at The Sink, and was a part of Kappa Sigma fraternity. Described as a “party animal,” Redford left CU after only three semesters when he fell into drinking, and moved abroad to Europe before beginning his acclaimed careers in acting and directing.
Redford was raised in the San Fernando Valley by a homemaker mother and milkman and accountant father. A self proclaimed poor student, Redford struggled in school, but engaged heavily in the arts and sports. As a child, he spent long hours at the library and became fascinated by mythology. After leaving CU, he hitchhiked through Europe as an art student before he ran out of money. With 75 dollars from an art exhibition, Redford moved back to the United States and began studying theatre at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Redford’s acting career began with appearances on live television productions and roles in live theater. He blew up to international fame with his role as The Sundance Kid, an outlaw in 1890s Wyoming in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He won a BAFTA for best actor for the role, and was established as a sex symbol. He later portrayed journalist Bob Woodward, part of the duo who exposed the Nixon Watergate Scandal in the 1976 film All the President’s Men. Other notable roles include Jay Gatsby in the 1974 adaptation of the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Johnny Hooker in The Sting (1973), and Bill McKay in The Candidate (1972).
After reaching international movie star status, Redford turned to directing and won an Oscar and an Academy Award for best director, among other accolades, for his first film as director, 1980’s Ordinary People. He also won a Guinness World Record for “only actors to win Best Director Oscar,” one of only six people with this designation.
In 1981, Redford opened The Sundance Institute, a space where experts in various areas of the film industry mentor new and emerging filmmakers in collaborative environments he called filmmakers labs. He later began the Sundance Film Festival as a way for these emerging filmmakers to have a stage to present their works. The festival became a global phenomenon, and continues its mission to give independent filmmakers an international stage today. Beginning in January 2027, the festival will move from its original home in Utah to Boulder.
Robert Redford championed environmental causes, and co-founded the Redford Center to support environmental filmmakers in 2005. He also designated all 5,000 acres of The Sundance Institute as wilderness preserve.
A Forever Buff and movie icon, Redford’s roles as actor and director have come to create celebrated works, and his legacy lives on within his movies, foundations, and The Sundance Film Festival.