Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were
Robert Redford, the actor turned Oscar-winning director (for Ordinary People) who also promoted independent film with the Sundance Film Festival, has died a month after his 89th birthday.
Redford's acting career started in the 1960s. He starred opposite Natalie Wood in Inside Daisy Clover, and later did a piece for TCM when they honored Wood as Star of the Month many years back -- I don't recall how long ago, but it's a piece TCM trots out often enough when they want to plug one of Wood's films coming up on the channel.
Redford was already becoming a star thanks to that role and other pictures like Barefoot in the Park, but acting opposite Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid really made him a star; the two reunited a few years later for The Sting which won Oscar's Best Picture. A bunch of other interesting roles followed in the 1970s, notably All the President's Men about the Washington Post's investigation into the Watergate scandal. And then Redford abruptly turned to directing with Ordinary People, continuing to direct and act for the next several decades.
Among these later performances, I'd like to mention the film Sneakers, which may not be the greatest movie ever made, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. Redford plays a computer hacker from back in his days in university in the late 1960s who gets roped into doing another job and finds too many secrets -- far more than the bargained for -- working with among others James Earl Jones and River Phoenix. It's one of those 80s and 90s films that has become a bit of a cult classic.
As far as I'm aware, TCM hasn't yet mentioned anything about when a programming tribute to Redford will be taking place. I also have to admit that I haven't been watching the channel live all that much, so I haven't seen whether they're already put out a TCM Remembers spot for him. I'll obviously have more details on the programming tribute when it happens.
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