Robert Redford

Robert Redford (born Charles Robert Redford, Jr. on August 18, 1936Birth date confirmed at the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Date of birth for Charles Robert Redford is 18 August 1936.) is an award-winning American motion picture actor, director, producer, businessman, model, environmentalist, and philanthropist.

Biography

Early life

Redford was born in Santa Monica, California to Charles Robert Redford, Sr., an accountant, and Texas-born Martha W. Hart. He has a half-brother, William, from his father's re-marriage.

Redford graduated from Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, California in 1954 and received a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado, where he was a pitcher on the baseball team, and a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He lost the scholarship due to adolescent drinking, fueled in part by the death of his mother, when Redford was eighteen. Redford was later a painting student at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and took classes in theatrical set design at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

Career

Redford is known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Sting, The Natural, The Way We Were, Out of Africa, The Great Gatsby, and many others. Redford directed the films Ordinary People, Quiz Show, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Horse Whisperer, The Milagro Beanfield War, and A River Runs Through It. He was also a producer on all except Ordinary People.

In 1980, Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, won him the Academy Award for Directing; his 1994 film, Quiz Show, was nominated for best director, but lost to Forrest Gump. Along with Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough, and Kevin Costner, Redford is one of the few major actors to win an Academy Award for "Best Director".

With the financial proceeds of his acting success, starting with his salary from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Downhill Racer, Redford purchased the ski resort just outside Park City, Utah called Timphaven. He renamed it the Sundance Resort, and not long after, portions of the movie Jeremiah Johnson (1972), a film which is both one of Redford's favorites and one that has heavily influenced him, were shot in the area. He founded the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute, Sundance Catalog, and the Sundance Channel, all in and around Park City. The Sundance Film Festival caters to independent filmmakers in the United States and has received some recognition from the industry as a place to option films. The name Sundance comes from his character, the "Sundance Kid". In addition, Redford owns a celebrated restaurant called Zoom, located on Main Street in the former mining town of Park City.

In 1995, Redford received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bard College. In December of 2005, he received honors at the Kennedy Center for his contributions to American culture. The Honors recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts: whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television.

Personal life

Robert Redford is politically liberal, and has supported environmentalism and Native American rights.

Redford married Lola Van Wagenen on September 12, 1958; the couple, who had four children - Scott (born 1959 and died shortly after), Shauna (born November 15, 1960), David James (born May 15, 1962), and Amy (born October 22, 1970) - divorced in 1985. His companions since have included actress Sonia Braga (during the late 1980s), Kathy O'Rear (from the late 1980s to 1995) and German painter Sibylle Szaggars (1996-current). Redford has four grandchildren.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role
2006	Charlotte's Web	Ike
2005	An Unfinished Life	Einar Gilkyson
2004	The Clearing	Wayne Hayes
2001	Spy Game	Nathan D. Muir
2001	The Last Castle	Lt. Gen. Eugene Irwin
1998	The Horse Whisperer	Tom Booker
1996	Up Close & Personal	Warren Justice
1993	Indecent Proposal	John Gage
1992	A River Runs Through It	Narrator
1992	Sneakers	Martin "Marty" Bishop
1990	Havana	Jack Weil
1986	Legal Eagles	Tom Logan
1985	Out of Africa	Denys George Finch Hatton
1984	The Natural	Roy Hobbs
1980	Brubaker	Henry Brubaker
1979	The Electric Horseman	Norman 'Sonny' Steele
1977	A Bridge Too Far	Maj. Julian Cook
1976	All the President's Men	Bob Woodward
1975	Three Days of the Condor	Joseph Turner/The Condor
1975	The Great Waldo Pepper	Waldo Pepper
1974	The Great Gatsby	Jay Gatsby
1973	The Sting	Johnny Hooker aka Kelly
1973	The Way We Were	Hubbell
1972	''Jeremiah Johnson	Jeremiah Johnson
	''The Candidate	Bill McKay
	The Hot Rock	John Archibald Dortmunder
1970	Little Fauss and Big Halsy	Halsy Knox
1969	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	The Sundance Kid
	Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here	Deputy Sheriff Christopher 'Coop' Cooper
	Downhill Racer	David Chappellet
1967	Barefoot in the Park	Paul Bratter
1966	This Property is Condemned	Owen Legate
1966	The Chase	Charlie 'Bubber' Reeves
1965	Inside Daisy Clover	Wade Lewis

Directing

References

Footnotes

Web sites

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Robert Redford