It truly is the end of an era. Legendary actor Robert Redford will be retiring after almost 60 years in the acting industry. All good things must end and Redford has now confirmed that he will be taking a break from the acing world.
Redford has graced the big screen in some evergreen roles including but not limited to movies such as The Sting and Out Of Africa, after his breakthrough role in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
E is also popular for running the independent Sundance movie festival where emerging directors can come out to show their prowess.
However, despite his popularity, Redford has managed to stay under the radar, with his life being kept fairly private.
The late Paul Newman, his friend, and partner on two separate movies said about him, “I have known the man for over 40 years and I don’t know him, not really.”
Redford, who is now 82 years old, said that he will be retiring after his latest product, The Old Man And The Gun. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said, “Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and [I’ll] move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21.”
He added: “I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough.’ And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”
Interestingly, the role of Sundance, which shot Redford to stardom, almost went to Newman, while legendary actor Steve McQueen was invited to play the role of Butch Cassidy. When the director decided to perform a role swap, McQueen said he’d no longer be part of the movie and Newman urged the studio to hire Redford.
The pairing of Redford and Newman was a smashing success, s the two had some crazy on-screen chemistry. The both of them starred together in The Sting in 1973 as well.
Redford fell in love with and married Lola van Wagenen in 1957. A year later, he made his first appearance on a Broadway play and welcomed a son, Scott. Sadly, Scott died when he was just ten weeks old.
Robert once said, “We didn’t know anything about sudden infant death syndrome, so as a parent you blame yourself. It creates a scar that never completely heals.”
Their second son, James was born in 1962, although he was seven weeks premature. The also gave birth to two daughters, Amy, and Shauna, and David, another son.
In 1985, the couple got a divorce after 28 years.
Of his personal life, Redford once noted: “There have been so many hits on our family that no one knows about. I don’t want them to, for my family’s sake.’”
Also, concerning his divorce, he shared: “I never wanted to be one of those divorced showbusiness casualties. I wanted to prove a marriage could last. But I couldn’t.”
He eventually married his longtime partner, Sibylle Szaggars, in 2009.
Despite his immense talent in acting, Redford has only won an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. His other award was for directing Ordinary People in 1980.
Among the people who have commented on the coverage of Redford’s retirement by Daily Mail were people who thanked him for his years of excellent movie acting.
One person said, “Thank you Robert Redford for the enormous pleasure you have given us over the years. Have loved all your films and will enjoy watching them all over again. Enjoy your retirement… we will miss you!”
