Archived // Cover Story

POWER IN FILm/ENTERTAINMENT: Robert Redford
Actor, Film Director, Producer, Businessman, and Founder of The Sundance Film Festival
By: Andrew Fiouzi

Born in Santa Monica, California, Robert Redford has emerged as one of the most influential actors of any generation.  Redford, an American film director, actor, producer, businessman, model, environmentalist, and philanthropist is also widely known as the founder of the Sundance Film Festival. Robert Redford’s all-American blond good looks and subtle, sardonic sense of humor made him one of the most popular leading men of the late 1960s into the 1970s in features like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), “The Sting” (1973) and “All the President’s Men” (1976). He was one of the rare movie icons who could balance being a respected actor and an undeniable sex symbol. He amassed dozens of hit films and all the notoriety and success a person could stand. He had long harbored ambitions to work on both sides of the lens. As early as 1969, Redford served as the executive producer for “Downhill Racer.” His first outing as director was in 1980's “Ordinary People,” a drama about the slow disintegration of an upper-middle class family, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director.


Redford became a man who got bored with the banality of the mainstream and sought out the tributaries in life. He created an image for himself that not only encompasses his exemplary skill and innovation in his craft, but also portrays his public commitment to social responsibility.  In 2009, The University of Southern California (USC) School of Theater announced the first annual Robert Redford Award for Engaged Artists. According to the school, the award was created to honor those who have distinguished themselves not only in their work, but also in their commitment to increasing social awareness of global issues and events, and to inspiring and empowering young people. "Celebrity is a big part of the American social system. I'm certainly grateful for what it's done for me, but I do think that celebrity is overdone in our society,” says Redford. “I think that people should be paying a lot more attention to other issues, rather than who's the top 10 this or... who's the sexiest or the most beautiful."

As an avid supporter for the arts, in 1997, Redford was the recipient of the National Medal for the Arts by President Clinton, and then in December 2005, accepted The Kennedy Center Honors for “his distinguished achievement in the performing arts and in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the life of our country.”
 
In addition to his work as an actor, director and producer, Redford has been a noted environmentalist and activist since the early 1970’s and has served for almost thirty years as a Trustee of the Board the Natural Resources Defense Council for which he received the 2004 Forces for Nature Lifetime Achievement Award. “I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?” says Redford.

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