Remembering Robert Redford (1936-2025)

Robert Redford, the megawatt movie star of some of the greatest films of all time, as well as an Oscar-winning director, producer, activist, and godfather of independent cinema through his Sundance Institute and film festival, died today at the age of 89.

For those newbies who can’t recall any of Redford’s work beyond those Marvel movies and what is perhaps the most famous smiling gif/meme in internet history, here’s just a few: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (my personal favorite), The Sting, All the President’s Men, Three Days of the Condor, The Candidate, Jeremiah Johnson, The Great Waldo Pepper, The Electric Horseman, The Natural, Out of Africa, The Horse Whisperer, and the much-underrated Sneakers.

I’ll let some industry obits provide a more fitting chronicle of Redford’s life and career here, but the man holds a unique distinction among Richard Amsel’s works: he was one of the artist’s most frequently illustrated male subjects.

Amsel’s poster for The Sting is something of a legend in its own right, but there were also magazine portraits of Redford done for Argosy Magazine (promoting The Great Waldo Pepper) and GQ (The Great Gatsby). Redford’s superstar status was attributable to not just his supremely good looks, but fierce intelligence, and an assured, supercool demeanor that was every bit as powerful as Steve McQueen’s, yet in a more softspoken, reserved way.

Rest in peace, Sundance. I hope you’re riding out into that sunset.