In many ways, Redford disliked his native city, Los Angeles, and especially Tinseltown. His favorite place was Mount Timpanogos in Utah, which first captivated him as a student driving home from the University of Colorado. It was also in Utah, surrounded by the mountains he loved, that he took his final breath.

He fought for the environment long before it was fashionable, speaking up for the land and wild spaces that defined his identity as much as the silver screen ever did.

”Because of my beliefs, I was burned in effigy, and there were threats to my life. It wasn’t fair to my family,” he once said.

How he handled personal loss

Behind the iconic smile, Redford’s life was marked by deep personal loss — his mother, gone too soon; his infant son, lost to SIDS; his adult son Jamie, taken by cancer. It was those tragedies, I believe, that gave his work its gravity. The man who looked like a golden god understood heartbreak, and it made him human.

As a director, Redford also achieved great success. Robert Redford’s directorial debut, Ordinary People, dived deep into grief, guilt, and family tension – showing audiences the raw, unfiltered side of loss that Hollywood rarely dared to portray at the time.