Key Takeaways:
- Robert Redford was one of the greatest stars of his generation but preferred to keep his family and his personal life out of the public eye.
- The actor grappled with death and grief throughout his life, including his loosing his mother at age 18 and outliving two of his children.
- Redford relied on acting and directing to help him cope.
Some of Robert Redford’s most famous roles and projects—including his Academy Award-winning 1980 drama Ordinary People—tackled themes of grief and trauma. They were subjects the Hollywood star knew all too well.
Redford, who died Tuesday at age 89, experienced multiple tragedies in his own life. “There have been so many hits on our family that no one knows about, and I don’t want them to, for my family’s sake,” the actor and director told People in 1998. “I’ve made some interesting movies, and I’ve been very satisfied with the work, but if someone wrapped it all up and said to me, ‘What’s your greatest achievement?’ I’d say, ‘The children. They’re the best thing in my life.’”
The losses that Redford endured didn’t just influence his dedication as a father. They also shaped his acting career.
Redford’s mother died when he was 18
In some respects, Redford had a fairly typical childhood growing up in California during the 1940s and ’50s. He played multiple sports, including tennis, football, and track and field, but particularly excelled in baseball. Beyond athletics, he loved reading Greek mythology and the Sunday comics.
Yet, some of his struggles were unique. He overcame a mild case of polio at age 11, and not long after that his twin sisters died shortly after they were born. Redford later said his family navigated their deaths like they did any other challenge: by not talking about it.
“You don’t ask for anything. You bear the brunt of whatever comes your way, and you do it with grace,” he told NPR’s Fresh Air in 2018. “So as a result, when my mom went through that, there was no talk about it. Everybody moved on.”
Redford’s promise as an athlete became more apparent with time. He even earned a collegiate scholarship at the University of Colorado. But as Redford began the next phase of his life, tragedy struck. His mother, Martha Woodruff Hart, died in 1954 from septicemia, or a bloodstream infection.
Once at school, Redford found it hard to stay focused. “I became the campus drunk and blew out before I could ever get going,” he told People. It’s unclear whether he dropped out or was expelled, but Redford moved to Europe and became interested in the arts.
Redford’s infant son died at the outset of his career
Returning to the U.S. after a year and a half abroad, Redford started a family with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, whom he married in 1958. The couple were excited to welcome their son, Scott, in September 1959, but the child died of sudden infant death syndrome within months.
“We were just starting our lives; I was just starting my career in New York. Of course it was traumatic, and how that plays out over time, I don’t know. We had to deal with it. You have to move on,” Redford told Esquire in 2017. “But it’s pretty traumatic when it happens, particularly when you’re that young. You’re not equipped to deal with it.”
Only 21 at the time, Redford immersed himself into his new passion for acting. He made his Broadway debut in the comedy Tall Story in 1959, followed by productions of Little Moon of Alban and Sunday in the Park. He also added onscreen credits in TV shows including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and The Twilight Zone. In the latter, the young actor played a human embodiment of death for the episode “Nothing in the Dark.”
Meanwhile, Redford and his wife went on to have three more children—Shauna, Jamie, and Amy—between 1960 and 1970.
Redford channeled his emotions for Ordinary People
Redford became one of Hollywood’s most prominent leading men thanks to movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973), and All the President’s Men (1976). Seeking his next challenge, he turned to directing with his 1980 adaptation of Ordinary People.
The movie starred Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland as parents struggling after the accidental death of one of their sons. “I was looking for a piece of material that was about behavior and feelings. When I read Judith Guest’s book, I thought, this is it,” Redford told Entertainment Weekly in 2016.
Initially, studios weren’t interested in the project because of its dark themes—especially with comedic actor Moore in a prominent role. But Redford’s persistence paid off, as he won the Oscar for Best Director, and the movie won Best Picture.
Redford said he never watched the movie afterward. “It belongs to the public now; it no longer really belongs to me,” he said.
The actor supported his children through trying times
As his career progressed, Redford continued to prioritize his family. That was especially true during hard times.
In 1983, his daughter Shauna’s boyfriend, Sid Wells, died from a gunshot wound in an apparent attack. At the time, Redford was filming the 1984 baseball movie The Natural with co-stars Robert Duvall and Glenn Close. According to The Mirror, he halted production so that he could attend Sid’s funeral.
Meanwhile, Jamie was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disease affecting the liver and bile ducts. In 1993, he underwent two liver transplants—the second because the replacement liver had a faulty valve, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Redford offered Jamie a screenwriting job to boost his son’s morale during the ordeal. “He knew I was at my lowest, that there were so few people for me to lean on, and he gave me this gesture of hope, something to hang in for,” Jamie said. He recovered and continued working alongside his father for years before he died from bile-duct cancer in October 2020.
For the Hollywood icon, Jamie’s death was one more loss to bear largely in private. “I’ve always separated my public self from the private so I could have one,” Redford said in 1990. “I don’t feel I’ve owed my life to the public—a performance, yes, but my life, no.”
But considering how much emotion Redford could convey onscreen, often with few words, there’s no denying that his feelings in the wake of numerous personal tragedies helped fuel his legendary performances.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
