By Ena Saracevic
Copyright scotsman
Hollywood actor and director Robert Redford has died at the age of 89. Redford died in his sleep, and a specific cause was not given, according to a statement by Cindi Berger, the chief executive of the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK. Among his most famous starring roles were Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and The Sting. In a statement, his representative said he died at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah – “the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved”, on Tuesday morning. “He will be missed greatly,” she added. According to reports, Robert’s Edinburgh-born father Charles Redford moved to California from Scotland in 1936 when he realised he would never make enough money to support a family in the Depression. He followed several Scottish friends out to Santa Monica and set up his own milk delivery business. It was there that his son, Charles Robert Redford Jnr, was born on August 18, 1936, in the beachside community of Santa Monica to Martha Hart and Charles Robert Redford Sr. Make sure you keep up to date with breaking news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. Robert eventually moved to New York City, enrolling in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in the play Tall Story (1959) and went on to appear in several popular television shows of the early 1960s, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Redford was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2002, a lifetime achievement Golden Lion from the Venice film festival in 2017, and an honorary César in 2019. In 2016 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. The Oscar-winning star of Out of Africa was also known for founding the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The actor and director was married twice: to historian Lola Van Wagenen between 1958 and 1985, with whom he had four children, and artist Sibylle Szaggars in 2009. One of their children, Scott, died at the age of two months from sudden infant death syndrome and James died of cancer in 2020. He is survived by his wife Sibylle Szaggars and two daughters – Shauna, an artist, and Amy, a director. More to come.
