Redford died Sept. 16 at his home in the mountains of Sundance, Utah, “the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” his publicist told the Associated Press. No cause of death was provided.
Redford became a Hollywood star in the 1970s. He won an Oscar for best director in 1980 for “Ordinary People,” which also won best picture.
He went on to create the Sundance Institute, ushering in a new wave of independent cinema that launched the careers of filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Steven Soderbergh.
Sarah Pearce spent 17 years at the Sundance Institute. She worked closely with Redford in 2006 at the Sundance Preserve, one of his environmental organizations.
“He’s one of the good guys,” Pearce told KPCW. “He was a storyteller, a conservationist, a fierce defender of the environment, lover of the arts, a visionary leader. The filmmaking community has lost an icon and I’m so thankful to have been part of his Sundance. It was a really incredible experience.”
In 2013 then-Gov. Gary Herbert proclaimed Nov. 9 as “Robert Redford Day” in Utah. At an event marking the occasion, Redford spoke about why he was drawn to the state as he began to lose touch with his native Los Angeles.
“I watched the city that I grew up in, and thought I loved, being pushed slowly into the sea by a development out of control — development with no land use plan or whatnot,” Redford said. “So I suddenly realized this is no longer my home. I don’t want to be here anymore. So I sought refuge elsewhere, and I came to Utah.”
In the 1960s Redford built a home on two acres in Provo Canyon. He later purchased Timp Haven ski resort and renamed it “Sundance,” an homage to his beloved character from the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
“I don’t want to coin an oft-used phrase, but ‘this is the place,’” he said to laughter at the 2013 event. “I wanted for my children to have at least part of their time in the mountains. Because I felt that that time in the mountains might help shape who they might become in life, and maybe that could also carry on to their children and children to come.”
In 2020 Redford sold Sundance Mountain Resort, the home of the institute’s labs program, which aims to develop up-and-coming filmmakers.
Park City Mayor Nann Worel called Redford a “maverick — unafraid to chart his own path — showing that ideas and creativity can flourish even amid our differences.”
Old Town resident Betsy Wallace came on as the Sundance Institute’s chief financial officer in 2015. She became the managing director of the film festival in 2017, a role she served in until 2023.
Wallace said one of her favorite Redford memories happened during her first month with the institute.
“I walked out with him after a board meeting at the Sundance resort, and there was an old Kawasaki leaning on its kickstand,” Wallace said. “And I was thinking, ‘There’s no way he’s going to ride that motorcycle at his age.’ And lo and behold, he put a bandana on his head, stood that motorcycle up, kick started it, said ‘Goodnight,’ and he drove off.”
Wallace described Redford as humble, insightful, passionate, conscientious, and most importantly, a leader.
“I think that his impact will be sorely missed,” she said.
Redford’s death comes months after the Sundance Film Festival announced plans to relocate from its longtime Utah home to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027.
Egyptian Theatre Manager Randy Barton met Redford decades ago at Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square when the event was called the U.S. Film Festival.
“For the first five or six years, he was not in charge of it,” Barton told KPCW. “He basically rescued that festival from collapsing and changed the name, eventually to the Sundance Film Festival.”
Barton said Park City, the state and the Egyptian Theatre owe the Sundance founder a “great deal of gratitude” for bringing independent storytelling to the Wasatch Mountains.
“He was such a down to earth gentleman, always so polite,” Barton said. “Would always call people by their first name, would always be approachable. And treated everybody that he interacted with with as much respect as you could even imagine from such a big star.”
Barton said Redford was the driving force behind bringing a major arts presence to a city largely focused on recreation. He counted the artist as a friend.
“There was a moment where [Redford] was standing by my side in the lobby of the theater with Bill and Hillary Clinton five feet away and Bill Gates right near us,” he said. “And that just doesn’t happen in a small town theater, to have that kind of a memory.”
Barton said Park City will struggle to replace the culture of Sundance once it departs for Colorado.
The Sundance Institute said Tuesday it was deeply saddened to learn of its founder’s passing.
“Bob’s vision of a space and a platform for independent voices launched a movement that, over four decades later, has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema in the U.S. and around the world,” the institute said in a statement.
Redford is survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars, along with two daughters and seven grandchildren.
