Charles Robert Redford Jr., was born August 18, 1937 in Santa Monica, California to Charles Sr. (an accountant for Standard Oil) and Martha Redford (died 1955, the year of his high school graduation). Undaunted by the loss of his mother, Robert went on to attend the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship.
In 1957 he dropped out of college and traveled Europe painting but returned with a newfound interest to the limelight of the stage. He began studies in theatrical design and acting in New York.
Married by the age of 21 to Lola Redford (who dropped out of college to marry him, 1958) his acting career began with TV appearances in shows like The Twilight Zone (1959), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (in three different episodes, 1955, 1962), Maverick (1957), Naked City (1958), Route 66 (1960) and even on the hit 60’s show Dr. Kildare.
Broadway was his home in the early part of his career with such hit productions as Tall Story (1959), The Highest Tree (1959) and Sunday in New York (1961). But his most known role was in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963), which later he co-stared with Jane Fonda in the movie of the same name (1967).
The movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), marked Redford’s career opposite Paul Newman. He played the lovable Sundance (Harry Longbaugh) in a warm-hearted western with comic lines, but not a true western movie. Nonetheless, this is the movie that will always anchor him to memory of movie watchers.
His famous romantic and love movies were: The Way We Were (1973) with the infamous Barbara Striesand, The Great Gatsby (1974) with Mia Farrow and Out of Africa (1985) the tumultuous love affair with Meryl Streep. A truly successful box office hit was The Horse Whisperer (1998) and one can not forget the movie Up Close and Personal (1996) with Michelle Pfeiffer.
Most men will remember him for the manly characters in movies like, Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Sting (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Brubaker (1980) and The Natural (1984).
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