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More Robert Redford Bios & Profiles

 

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Biography #2 (for People I Know)

Robert Redford has received international acclaim for his work as an actor, director and producer, as well as for his efforts as a champion of independent film and as an environmentalist.

Redford won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Directors Guild of America Award for his feature film directorial debut on the emotionally shattering family drama Ordinary People. He went on to both direct and produce The Milagro Beanfield War; A River Runs Through It, for which he garnered a Best Director Golden Globe nomination; Quiz Show, earning duel Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director and another Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. The Horse Whisperer brought him his fourth Golden Globe nod for Best Director. Also honored for his acting work, Redford received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in The Sting. He recently starred in Spy Game with Brad Pitt, The Last Castle, and will next be seen starring with Helen Mirren in The Clearing.

A strong advocate of independent filmmaking, Redford founded the Sundance Institute in 1980 as an organization 'dedicated to the support and the development of emerging screenwriters and directors of vision and to the national and international exhibition of new American independent cinema.' The institute also sponsors the annual Sundance Film Festival, which is held every winter in Park City, Utah. From its modest beginnings, the festival is now the most important venue for the presentation of independent films in the United States.

In addition, Redford has been a noted environmentalist since the early 1970s. He is a founding board member of the Natural Resources Defense Council and has been very involved in educating the general public and government officials about local and national environmental issues and current Congressional proposals to weaken environmental laws. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work in the environmental and arts arenas as well as his advocacy on behalf of Native Americans. These include the 1987 United Nations Global 500 Award; the 1989 Audubon Medal; the 1993 Earth Day International Award; the 1994 Nature Conservancy Award; the 1995 Condor Award from the California Indian Legal Services organization; the 1997 National Medal of Arts; and the 2001 Freedom in Film Award jointly presented by the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and the Nashville Independent Film Festival.

Born in Santa Monica, California, Redford studied acting at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York before beginning his career on the stage. He landed his first Broadway starring role in Sunday in New York, followed by Little Man of Alban and Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, directed by Mike Nichols.

He reprised the role of newlywed Paul Bratter in the film version of Barefoot in the Park, opposite Jane Fonda, for which he received praise from critics and audiences. His other early film work includes War Hunt, Inside Daisy Clover, with Natalie Wood, The Chase, This Property is Condemned and Tell Them Willie Boy is Here.

In 1969, Redford and Paul Newman teamed to star in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Directed by George Roy Hill, the film became an instant classic and firmly established Redford as one of the industry's top leading men. He, Newman and Hill later reunited for the aforementioned The Sting, which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, in addition to bringing Redford his Best Actor nomination.

He has since had a wide variety of starring roles in such films as Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby, Three Days of the Condor, Brubaker, The Natural, Out of Africa, Legal Eagles, Sneakers, Indecent Proposal and Up Close and Personal and most recently, The Last Castle and Spy Game.

In addition, Redford has starred in several films produced by his own Wildwood Enterprises, which he founded in 1968. His acting credits under the Wildwood banner include Downhill Racer, The Candidate, The Electric Horseman and All the President's Men, which earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

Redford more recently produced A Civil Action, starring John Travolta, and executive produced the telefilm Grand Avenue. He also served as an executive producer on the films How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog, Slums of Beverly Hills, No Looking Back and She's the One, which were all produced by his recently formed South Fork Pictures. He also served as executive producer and narrator of Incident at Oglala, the documentary about Native American activist Leonard Peltier. His earlier executive producing credits include the Oscar-nominated short-film The Solar Film, Promised Land, Some Girls, The Dark Wind and the award-winning documentary Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven

Bio courtesy Miramax for "People I Know" (25-Apr-2003)