Robert Redford—the beloved actor and Academy Award-winning director—has died at 89. Tributes poured in for “The Sundance Kid,” including one from President Donald Trump.
Redford, whose résumé spans classics such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President’s Men, and Out of Africa, also won the 1981 Oscar for Best Director for Ordinary People. The news was shared with The New York Times by Cindi Berger, chief executive of Rogers & Cowan PMK, who said Redford died in his sleep at his home in Utah. She did not specify a cause.
“Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah—the place he loved—surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly,” Berger said in a statement to CNN. “The family requests privacy.”
Colleagues and fans alike are remembering Redford’s singular impact on film and culture. President Donald Trump also paid tribute, telling reporters en route to the U.K., “Robert Redford had a series of years where there was nobody better. There was a period of time when he was the hottest. I thought he was great.”
A complicated relationship with Trump
Redford, long outspoken on politics, was no admirer of Trump. As Trump’s profile rose and eventually carried him to the White House, Redford repeatedly criticized the former real-estate mogul.
In 2015—three years before Trump won the presidency—Redford appeared on Larry King Now. Asked about Trump, he said, “He’s got such a big foot in his mouth, I’m not sure you’re going to get it out. But on the other hand, I’m glad he’s in there… because him being the way he is, and saying what he says the way he says it, I think shakes things up—and that’s very needed. Because on the other side, it’s so bland, it’s so boring, it’s so empty.”
Trump responded on X (then Twitter): “Wow! Such nice words from Robert Redford on my running for President. Thank you, Robert.” Redford’s spokesperson later clarified to The Hollywood Reporter that the actor’s remarks were not an endorsement, but an observation about Trump’s disruptive presence.
“Degrades everything he touches”
In 2019, while Trump was in office, Redford penned a Washington Post op-ed arguing it would be better for voters to remove Trump than to rely on impeachment. “It is painfully clear we have a president who degrades everything he touches, a person who does not understand (or care?) that his duty is to defend our democracy,” he wrote. That same year, in an NBC op-ed, he warned of “a dictator-like attack by President Donald Trump on everything this country stands for,” adding that although it was fair to “give the guy a chance,” Trump had undermined the rule of law and freedoms of speech and press. “Instead of the United States of America, we are now defined as the Divided States of America,” Redford wrote.
What are your reflections on Redford’s legacy and his candid views? Share your thoughts, and rest in peace, Robert Redford.