00:00We're just going to break into that to bring you some breaking news from the world of Hollywood
00:04and that is that it's been reported that the actor, director and heartthrob Robert Redford
00:09has passed away at the age of 89.
00:12He was known as an actor in the 70s, a real bankable leading man for films like Barefoot in the Park,
00:19Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Out of Africa,
00:22but also then went on to direct, winning an Oscar for the film Ordinary People that he directed.
00:29Also founded the Sundance Film Festival, which supports emerging filmmakers and showcases independent film,
00:36a real legacy in Hollywood.
00:40He was an environmental activist, he supported Native American rights
00:45and he announced his retirement from acting back in 2018,
00:50but he continued to work as an environmentalist and a campaigner since then.
00:56Throughout the 70s, he was on the screen so much, as I've said, you know, a real heartthrob.
01:04Films like Barefoot in the Park, All the President's Men as well,
01:09The Sting that he won an Oscar nomination for,
01:11and more recently films like The Horse Whisperer and All is Lost in 2013.
01:16We've had a statement just come through from the firm Rogers & Cowan PMK,
01:24which is his Blissley company, saying,
01:27Robert Redford passed away on September the 16th, 2025,
01:32at his home in Sundance in the mountains of Utah,
01:36the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,
01:40and he will be missed greatly, go on to say in this statement,
01:44that the family requests privacy.
01:48Let's bring in our arts and entertainment correspondent, Katie Spencer.
01:53Katie, what to say about her?
01:55I mean, he was, on one hand, you know, just an astonishing heartthrob.
02:00You know, any film that he was in, he was pretty much guaranteed to do well,
02:04but also then went on to have this amazing career behind the scenes as a director
02:08and as somebody who supported the film industry.
02:11Just looking at this footage now, you just see how absolutely gorgeous he was on screen,
02:16but his contribution to film, you really can't underestimate it, really,
02:20because he has just had an extraordinary career,
02:24and he's one of those names as well,
02:26whereas we've been finding this out in the newsroom itself.
02:29There's been gasped from people who are absolutely sort of gutted to hear this news, really.
02:34He is someone that really, I think, within the industry is considered to be an elder statesman
02:40within the film circuit, particularly within the indie film circuit.
02:45He was the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, which he started in the early 80s,
02:51which, over the course of the decades since then,
02:55has produced some phenomenal indie hits over the years,
02:58and he has been a real champion of new filmmakers and new talent.
03:03And from somebody coming from such experience,
03:06it has helped really lift people up within the industry
03:09and made names of a lot of directors that we consider to be sort of established names nowadays.
03:16But he is a talent that first started out on Broadway in the late 50s,
03:21but it wasn't until the end of the late 60s when he really found fame,
03:26of course, playing Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
03:30He has made some magnificent films over the years,
03:34but for many, that will be the one that he is most remembered for
03:37because that is the one where he really sort of shot to fame on that.
03:41Thank you and thank you for your support.
03:50And look,
03:52and we can't just comment on that.
Comments