There are people who go out and encounter their destiny, and others whose destiny catches up with them when they least expect it, as in the case of Robert Redford, the eternal Hollywood heart-throb. In order to understand his story, we must go back to his birth in Santa Monica, in 1936. The son of Charles Robert, a milkman of Irish origin who later worked as an accountant in an oil company, and Martha, a housewife, Robert grew up in West Los Angeles, in a neighbourhood that moulded his rebellious character.
Thanks to his skills as a baseball player, he was able to attend the University of Colorado with a scholarship to study the arts, but after his first year he decided to drop out and travel around Europe. He lived in Florence and Paris before settling in Malaga, in a modest house by the sea. When the bohemian lifestyle lost its appeal, he thought he could make a living as a set designer, and enrolled at the Pratt Institute in New York. One of his professors insisted that he try his luck as an actor, and that is how he ended up enrolling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Unstable times
The early death of his mother had sent him into a deep depression, which he tried to drown with drink. However, the woman who would become his first wife appeared in his life; Lola van Wagenen, who practised the Mormon religion and got him out of the downward spiral of destruction. After their wedding, they moved to a cabin in Utah, where they had four children: Shauna, Amy, James, and Scott, who died two months after his birth, plunging Redford into such profound sadness that it ultimately caused the couple to separate.
Just when everything seemed to be falling apart, his professional life began to promise him a bright future. After the debut on Broadway of the comedy Barefoot in the Park, which was later adapted to the big screen with great success, the whole world took notice of the blonde heart-throb and began to idolise him.
Then came the classic Hollywood films, such as The Candidate, The Way We Were and The Sting, in which he starred alongside Paul Newman. With this film, Redford received his first Oscar nomination.
Protective of his private life
After filming All the President’s Men with Dustin Hoffman came one of the greatest successes of his career: Out of Africa, with Meryl Streep. No one seemed to suspect that his relationship with his wife was not at its best. They separated in 1985, after 27 years of marriage, and he began a long-term relationship with the Brazilian actress, Sonia Braga. Redford, despite a long list of romances with beautiful women, such as designer Kathy O’Rear, model Nathalie Naud, or actress Debra Winger, was always very protective of his private life.
Rather than going to Hollywood parties, Redford preferred to find peace in contact with nature, which earned him a reputation as an unsociable character. Despite this fact, the contracts kept flooding in, but Redford decided to turn his professional career around, and made his directorial debut with the film Ordinary People, which won him an Oscar. Other successes would follow, such as A River Runs Through It with Brad Pitt, and The Horse Whisperer. Committed to the film world, he created Sundance Institute, which became a production company committed to promoting independent artists. A lifetime dedicated to The Seventh Art earned him the National Medal of Arts, awarded by the president of the United States, in addition to receiving France’s prestigious Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Recent years of serenity
After a relationship of almost 13 years, Robert Redford married the German painter, Sibylle Szaggars, who is twenty years his junior. They live in Santa Fe (New Mexico). And although Redford had announced his retirement from the world of cinema, in 2019 he made his last appearance participating in the film Avengers: Endgame.
The death of his son James in 2020, after a battle with cancer, has marred the quiet life he leads with his wife. In his latest appearances, he has been looking remarkably older, with tousled hair and deep wrinkles furrowing his face. And yet his eyes are brighter than ever, which would suggest that Redford has finally managed to master the destiny that the cinema, his talent, and his imposing physique have marked throughout his life.
