It’s hard to imagine a world without Robert Redford in it.
When I heard he had passed away at 89, I felt a lump in my throat.
Redford wasn’t just a movie star — he was the kind of figure who made you believe in cinema, in storytelling, and even in America itself.
All-American golden boy
To me, Redford was always more than the golden-haired charmer on screen. Sure, he was breathtakingly handsome, maybe the last true matinee idol, but beneath that, there was a quiet strength, a searching soul.
In every role, whether as the Sundance Kid or Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men, he seemed to be holding up a mirror to our country. He made us reflect who we are, and sometimes who we were afraid to admit we had become.
Redford was the all-American golden boy with the tousled hair and sunlit smile, but what made him unforgettable was that he never settled for being just a heartthrob. From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to The Old Man & the Gun, he stood at the crossroads of entertainment and cultural reckoning, turning popular films into mirrors of America’s anxieties and hopes.
