By Marcus Wratten

Copyright thepinknews

Hollywood legend Robert Redford, who won a Golden Globe for a 1965 movie role in which he played a bisexual actor, has died at the age of 89.

Redford, who went on to win two Oscars and founded the Sundance Film Festival, died in his sleep in the early hours of Tuesday morning (16 September), according to his publicist Cindi Berger.

Berger confirmed the news in a statement to The New York Times, saying that Redford died in Sundance, Utah, surrounded by his loved ones.

“He will be missed greatly,” she said, adding that his family are requesting privacy.

Redford began his starry career as a Hollywood leading man in the 1960s, appearing in TV series including The Twilight Zone and Playhouse 90.

His first major film role came in 1962’s War Hunt, but it was his 1965 film Inside Daisy Clover, in which he played bisexual film star Wade Lewis, that was seen as a big breakthrough for the star.

That year, he won the Golden Globe award for Most Promising Male Newcomer.

He went on to star alongside fellow Hollywood greats including Jane Fonda in 1987’s Barefoot in the Park, Paul Newman in 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and 1973’s The Sting, and Barbra Streisand in 1973’s The Way We Were.

The Way We Were was written by gay screenwriter Arthur Laurents, and the film was thought to be based on his life.

Redford secured his first Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category for his role in The Sting, and scored a slew of other major nominations and accolade wins across his career, including a Best Actor in a Leading Role BAFTA.

Redford became one of Hollywood’s most wanted leading men throughout much of the ‘70s and ‘80s, before founding the Sundance Film Institute and Sundance Film Festival in 1981, which he named after his Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid character. To this day, the Sundance Film Festival remains a major film industry calendar event every January.

On the back of his hugely successful acting roles, Redford launched a directing career, winning the Best Director Academy Award for his directorial debut Ordinary People in 1980.

His film career continued into his eighties, with the actor playing Marvel character Alexander Pierce in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. He also starred alongside Casey Affleck and Sissy Spacek in 2018 Forrest Tucker biopic The Old Man & the Gun, with Redford playing Tucker.

Later in life, the actor-turned-director became involved in a number of equal rights campaigns, including being vocal about his support for legalising same-sex marriage in the US.

Speaking at an event organised by LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Utah event in 2013, two years before same-sex marriage was legalised nationwide by the US Supreme Court, Redford declared it “un-American” to discriminate against gay people.

“I’m here for the same reason you are – equal rights for all,” he said

“Like you, I believe there’s no place in our world for discrimination. None. I think it is un-American.

“If we change discriminatory laws in Utah, it sets a benchmark for people in other states; it allows people to see what can be done… Utah is changing. There are good people in Utah. More people want to change the discriminatory laws than want to keep them. People should be able to marry whomever they love.”

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