Robert Redford
Robert Redford's Academy Honorary Award stands as one of the most significant recognitions of his career, honoring his body of work across multiple decades as an actor, director, and film producer.
Redford was born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. He attended Van Nuys High School and later studied at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Pratt Institute, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. That range of formal education fed into a career that took in stage, television, and film acting alongside work as a producer and director. He was a citizen of the United States throughout his life and worked across nearly every corner of the film and television industry, including as a voice actor and executive producer.
Beyond the Academy Honorary Award, Redford accumulated a series of major honors over the course of his career. He received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an Honorary César from the French film academy. He died on September 16, 2025, in Provo, Utah.
Quotes by Robert Redford
Robert Redford's insights on:
I had a mild case of polio - not enough to put me in an iron lung, but enough to keep me bedridden for weeks. As I came out of it, my mom wanted to do something for me. She realized that, growing up in the city, I'd missed out on a lot of nature.
I haven't seen 'The Revenant,' but I'm sure it was great because it has a lot of talent involved.
Going to Santa Fe is like going to Greece. It's not that special compared to other areas. The pinon pines are no different than pinon pines elsewhere. But there has been culture there longer than in most places, and you feel it.
What I would like to do is a thriller. I've been wanting to do that for a long time, but one that was not at all dependent on special effects. Just purely psychological, but will scare the hell out of you. That's what I would like to do. I have not found it yet.
For 'Jeremiah Johnson,' nobody wanted to make that film. I went to Sydney Pollack, and I said, 'Sydney, I live in the mountains, and I would like to make a film about a person that had to exist in the mountains and survive in the mountains.'
I didn't know the technical language of filmmaking, so I said, 'OK, I'm going to do my own storyboard,' because I had to explain to the crew and the technical people what I wanted.
I wanted to get out of this country and experience different ways of seeing the world. So I went to Europe, but I went as an artist. I was increasing my skill set and exploring storytelling through painting.