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Robert Redford

Robert RedfordAKA Charles Robert Redford, Jr.

Born: 18-Aug-1936 [1]
Birthplace: Santa Monica, CA

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: The Sundance Kid

Robert Redford's father was an accountant for Standard Oil, and Redford was raised in a comfortable middle-class household. He earned a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado, but the scholarship was revoked after Redford hosted several drunken parties. He then studied drama at New York's Academy of Dramatic Arts, and became a busy actor on Broadway through the mid-1960s. On off days and between plays he worked on television a lot -- Perry Mason, Naked City, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, and so on. His first film was the 1962 Korean war drama War Hunt, with Redford in a supporting role as a naïve recruit, and co-starring Sydney Pollack, who later directed several of Redford's most famous films. Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park was Redford's biggest Broadway hit, and he also starred in a 1967 Barefoot film adaptation. It was his sixth film, and it made him famous.

His seventh film was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and at 32, Redford had become the embodiment of "the golden boy". Notable Redford films include The Candidate, The Way We Were, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor, and All the President's Men. He has also made dozens of near-classics, from Downhill Racer and Tell Them Willie Boy is Here to The Natural and The Clearing. He has directed six feature films, winning the Oscar as Best Director for Ordinary People in 1980. He was nominated again for Quiz Show in 1994, and has also directed The Milagro Beanfield War, A River Runs Through It, The Horse Whisperer, and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

Redford's Sundance Film Festival, named after his Sundance Kid character, began as the Utah-US Film Festival in 1978. Held annually in Park City, Utah, the event has evolved into America's most prestigious showcase for films made outside the studio system. Ruby in Paradise, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Blood Simple, Hoop Dreams, Reservoir Dogs, The Blair Witch Project, and The Kid Stays in the Picture are among the independent films that have been launched by Sundance buzz. Redford is also the driving force behind the Sundance Institute, the Sundance Channel, and the Sundance Cinema chain.

He is politically liberal and often outspoken about it, albeit more tactfully than Barbra Streisand.


[1] Verified with State of California, California Birth Index, 1905-1995.

Father: Charles Robert Redford (accountant)
Mother: Martha Hart (d. 1955)
Brother: William Redford
Wife: Lola Van Wagenen (consumer activist, b. 1940, m. 12-Sep-1958, div. 1985)
Daughter: Shauna Redford (painter, b. 15-Nov-1960)
Son: David James Redford ("Jamie", screenwriter, b. 5-May-1962)
Daughter: Amy Hart Redford (actress, b. 22-Oct-1970)
Girlfriend:
Sonia Braga (actress, ex-)
Girlfriend: Kathy O'Rear (costume designer, dated 1988 into the 1990s)
Girlfriend: Sibylle Szaggars (German painter, dating 1999-)

    High School: Van Nuys High School, Van Nuys, CA (1954)
    University: University of Colorado (lost scholarship)
    University: Pratt Institute

    The Weinstein Company Advisor
    Bill Bradley for President
    John Kerry for President
    Kerry Victory 2004
    Kappa Sigma Fraternity
    National Medal of Arts 1996

    FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
    Lions for Lambs (22-Oct-2007)
    The Legend of Bagger Vance (29-Oct-2000)
    The Horse Whisperer (15-May-1998)
    Quiz Show (14-Sep-1994)
    A River Runs Through It (13-Sep-1992)
    The Milagro Beanfield War (18-Mar-1988)
    Ordinary People (19-Sep-1980)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Lions for Lambs (22-Oct-2007)
    Charlotte's Web (7-Dec-2006) [VOICE]
    An Unfinished Life (19-Aug-2005)
    Tanner on Tanner (5-Oct-2004) Himself
    The Clearing (Jan-2004)
    Spy Game (19-Nov-2001)
    The Last Castle (19-Oct-2001)
    The Horse Whisperer (15-May-1998)
    Up Close & Personal (1-Mar-1996)
    Indecent Proposal (7-Apr-1993)
    Sneakers (9-Sep-1992)
    Incident at Oglala (8-May-1992) Narrator [VOICE]
    Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991) Himself
    Havana (12-Dec-1990)
    Legal Eagles (18-Jun-1986)
    Out of Africa (10-Dec-1985)
    The Natural (11-May-1984)
    Brubaker (20-Jun-1980)
    The Electric Horseman (21-Dec-1979)
    A Bridge Too Far (15-Jun-1977)
    All the President's Men (7-Apr-1976)
    Three Days of the Condor (24-Sep-1975)
    The Great Waldo Pepper (08-Sep-1975)
    The Great Gatsby (26-Mar-1974)
    The Sting (25-Dec-1973)
    The Way We Were (17-Oct-1973)
    Jeremiah Johnson (10-Sep-1972)
    The Candidate (29-Jun-1972)
    The Hot Rock (21-Apr-1972)
    Little Fauss and Big Halsy (21-Oct-1970)
    Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (18-Dec-1969)
    Downhill Racer (6-Nov-1969)
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (23-Sep-1969)
    Barefoot in the Park (25-May-1967)
    This Property Is Condemned (03-Aug-1966)
    The Chase (19-Feb-1966)
    Inside Daisy Clover (17-Feb-1966)
    War Hunt (1962)
    The Iceman Cometh (14-Nov-1960)


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