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Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936 [1]) is an award winning American motion picture actor, director, producer, businessman, and philanthropist.
Born in Santa Monica, California to Charles Robert Redford, Sr. (an Irish Protestant immigrant from the British Isles) and Martha W. Hart (from Texas), Redford graduated from Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, California in 1955 and received a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado where he was a pitcher on the baseball team before losing his scholarship due to adolescent drinking fueled in part by the death of his mother when Redford was 18. He later was a painting student at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and took classes in theatrical set design at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Lola Van Wagenen (a consumer activist) dropped out of college to marry Redford on September 12, 1958. They divorced in 1985 after having four children, one of whom died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Their surviving children are Shauna Redford, Amy Redford, an actress, and James Redford, a screen writer.
Redford is known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Sting, The Natural, The Way We Were, Out of Africa, The Great Gatsby, and many others. Redford directed the films Ordinary People, Quiz Show, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Horse Whisperer, The Milagro Beanfield War, and A River Runs Through It. He was also a producer on all except Ordinary People.
In 1980, the first film Redford directed, Ordinary People, won him the Academy Award for Directing his 1994 film Quiz Show was nominated for the award but lost to Forrest Gump. Along with Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough, and Kevin Costner, Redford is one of 6 people to win and Academy Award for " Best Director" though they are primarily known as actors.
With the financial proceeds of his acting success, starting with his salary from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Downhill Racer, Redford purchased the ski resort just outside Park City, Utah called Timphaven. He renamed it the Sundance Resort, and not long after, portions of the movie Jeremiah Johnson (1972), a film which is both one of Redford's favorites and one that has heavily influenced him, was shot in the area. He then founded the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute, Sundance Catalog, and the Sundance Channel, all in and around Park City. The Sundance Film Festival caters to independent filmmakers in the United States and has received some recognition from the industry as a place to option films. The name Sundance comes from his character the " Sundance Kid." In addition he owns a celebrated restaurant called Zoom, located on Main Street in the former mining town of Park City.
In 1995, Redford received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bard College.
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