Robert Redford

Movie Star. And I mean that as a compliment.

I watched BAREFOOT IN THE PARK this weekend. He was so beautiful.

Widely accomplished as actor, director, producer, conservationist and political activist. But, in the end, he may well be best remembered as the blonde, handsome hearthrob alongside Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy.

He will be most remembered for founding the Sundance Film Festival.

R2. He was so damned handsome in that. The acting though for both he and Fonda was so clunky. As if the adirector had them act it like a play. Still he was beautiful. And God knows in The Way We Were he was stunning. All in all, I think his obit will say something about playing the quintessential American archetype - embodying the hopes, the beauty, the flaws that mirrored the US post WWII

Great technical actor, good director, decent guy if you're not married to him, very short. Fucks around. He was a drunk for years, some of his most famous performances were given while drunk. Then there were the stoner years, there was some overlap. Now he's mellowed.

And of course, beautiful.

So hot playing Mr. Death in that Twilight Zone episode.

Did he ever throw Babs a pity fuck?

More than one, R8, she had a great ass in those days.

BAD WIGS

He will most be remembered for his terrible wigs.

"Fucks around. "

Um, no. Never. Is this a DL fantasy? Redford was very buttoned down and conservative in his personal life. That's a fact.

No, R12, he was nothing of the kind. He kept the wife and kids in Utah or Malibu or the NYC apartment and fucked around to his heart's content. He's even semi-admitted it in an interview at least once when discussing going to parties in Hollywood.

He said the girls were on offer in the pool and he jumped right in and took them (although professing some shame about it now). Look at the scene in Havana with the two girls, directed by Redford's close friend of many years, Sydney Pollack. That's drunk Redford was like with one night stands./party girls. Back when he was married to the first wife he would fuck a girl for a while and then dump them brutally when he got bored or they got clingy. One phone call, it's over. Done.

Conservative and buttoned down? You know nothing. Are you the same dumb cunt who has been posting that tired crap every time we discuss Redford here? Because you're not fooling anyone and I don't know why you bother. The last time, or maybe it was the time before that, another DLer cracked, "Who knew he had PR working online?"

R13 you write this as if you have first-hand information. How do you know what he did in his personal life? I have never heard anything about him fucking around and in this day and age all of that shit would have come out already.

I have friends who have known him professionally and socially for 40 years. I've met him, I don't know him.

This has definitely come out already, decades ago, at least in Los Angeles and New York. He's been a superstar since Butch Cassidy in 1969 and a man is only as faithful as his options. Redford had a lot of options. Remember, kid, this day and age ain't that day and age.

Wasn’t he married to the same woman for many years? They had a couple of daughters.

He's said this is his last film as an actor.

Her name was Lola, I don't know if she was a showgirl. But it would make sense for her to stick around. She'd get a great divorce settlement.

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He was married to Lola the Mormon for a hundred years. They had four children, the first died of crib death when they were a young couple. They went on to have two daughters and a son. There was something with the son, Jamie, a serious illness of some kind but I don't remember the specifics. He survived. Lola and Redford divorced when the kids were older, in the mid-80's. No muss, no fuss, nothing untoward in the papers.

He went through several relationships and eventually married a German artist about ten years ago. They are still married.

And he still fucks around, just not as vigorously.

His son James looks older than his 56 years.

As a director, he gave us this movie . . .

A Datalounge CLASSIC FAVE, R23. For that alone, we owe Redford a debt of something or other. Drinks, maybe.

For being snubbed by that pig Streisand when he came to surprise her on Oprah.

The most asexual gorgeous man to ever appear on screen. No heat whatsoever.

Redford was stunning in The Way We Were.

He had a nice phallic neck, with that golden chest hair subbing as pubes.

R26 I found him far sexier than Brad Pitt. Pitt was very pretty but never sexy to me. His stilted voice takes away from any sexuality he possesses. He tries to sound more articulate than he actually is. Sometimes just being simple is sexier.

Seeing Redford's face in close-up on the big screen always had me searching for the Big Dipper. Such horrible skin, it prevented him from being a true pretty boy. And increased my attraction to him.

Good director, producer, activist. Awful stiff actor.

I used to like him but in hindsight, yes, he is boring as an actor. Brad Pitt has the same problem.

So hot playing Mr. Death in that Twilight Zone episode.

R7 Yes!

Redford was also hot in a few Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Missing posts

Must be that ranting straight chick I blocked on another thread.

I watched a Jeopardy where they showed his picture and not a single contestant knew who he was. He is already forgotten like Dustin Hoffman.

So with all this philandering and alcoholism and whatnot what’s kind of amazing is that he has never had any negative gossip about him - basically ever. Was never in the gossip columns I don’t even think at the peak of his fame. How did he manage to dodge that bullet and keep such a lily white reputation?

Mind you I think he’s an overall good guy, but things like the above - especially for a star of his magnitude - almost always get reported. I guess what I’m saying is it’s amazing how much of his private life he managed to keep private and I don’t really know how he managed to do that. But good for him.

True r27. Very handsome in Butch Cassidy too.

Meh. Well he was good in Daisy Clover.

Pretty boy. Lousy actor.

"...last film as an actor."

R17, he never had a FIRST film as an actor.

Bob "Bad Hairpiece" Redford and his current missus, Sibylle Szaggars Redford

He still has that boyish smile.

Wonderful and sexy in “Three Days of the Condor” (1975) with Faye.

(Also agree with, R7! Redford was great and stunning in that epidsode; I never forgot it after I saw it..)

He will be remembered for his time when he was at his peak, 1960-70's. His iconic role was in Barefoot in the Park when he was at his physical peak.

R13 is the Robert Redford is a womanizer troll, and he's been spewing this shit here for years.

So what’s the truth, R46?

I want to see links or even any printed gossip to substantiate any of R13's claims, R47. There has NEVER been anything about Redford screwing around on his first wife anywhere. And I'm an elder gay from NYC who has worked in the theater. He claims the gossip was common in New York and LA, no, it wasn't. He claims Redford admitted seeing other women when he was married, he claims he claims he claims... it reads like some sort of male fan fantasy. Only here I'd expect a gay fantasy.

[quote]Lola the Mormon

Is that available for a drag name?

I agree, R48. R13 reads like bad fan fiction.

I especially like this bit: "Back when he was married to the first wife he would fuck a girl for a while and then dump them brutally when he got bored or they got clingy. One phone call, it's over. Done."

[quote]Conservative and buttoned down? You know nothing. Are you the same dumb cunt who has been posting that tired crap every time we discuss Redford here?

LOL! This is what I love about DL.

I know a woman who dealt with him within the last five years and she said he was very grouchy.

Like a perfectionist or like an asshole, R52?

I remember people being surprised and disappointed when he and his wife broke up because they had appeared to have a long successful marriage. They blamed it on being apart so much, but I think they waited until the kids were grown up.

That they were divorcing was announced in 1984. Cindy Adams, of all people, said it was what "everybody already knows." They had separated in 1981-82. I don't think the kids being grown up had much to do with it since the youngest was only 11. Redford was all hung up on Sundance and directing from the late 70s on.

He's never appeared nude in any of his films.

He did r56 but it was so small no one noticed he was nude.

"...never appeared nude..."

But, R56, I think he was in an episode of "Naked City."

Those bumps on the right side of his face near his mouth .... are those from an STI?

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Legacy: staying too long in front of the camera.

Give him a break, R60. He's 82-years-old.

[quote]The most asexual gorgeous man to ever appear on screen. No heat whatsoever.

Yes. He reminds me of A Hammer that way. Handsome but not sexual, and just as stiff as an actor, with limited range. Good at what he does, which is narrow.

he will be remembered as a very blonde 85 yo man. A miracle of nature.

Some of you are just being nasty, without even being particularly clever.

Redford looks fine for 82. He’s closer to 90 than 70–so I think he’s doing just fine.

I admire that he’s so active, professional, and committed to his work at this age....

R62, he's in his 70s in that photo. Plus, what kind of 70+ year old wears Speedos???

One that thinks no one knows he wears a wig, one that thinks it's 1976.

He was on a Route 66 I watched last week.

He and Fonda are wonderful in Barefoot. A gorgeous couple that was also genuinely funny.

There are other very funny couples in films(Loy and Powell, Tracy and Hepburn) but none so good looking and who give off such sexual heat.

He was great in BAREFOOT. I played that role in community theatre and he did some things I wish I'd thought to do!

He's gorgeous in the Way we Were, but c'mon. He looks middle aged in those college scenes.

R69 you didn't have Mike Nichols working with you on the role.

I was very disappointed when I heard that he wanted to do "The Verdict" but only on the condition that the script be rewritten so that the lead character, Frank Galvin, was no longer an alcoholic. Clearly Redford had no understanding of the character at all. And he was fired or abandoned the film.

Paul Newman did the role as written and got an Oscar nomination. In fact, Newman once said he would have liked to do a follow up movie about the character to find out what had happened to him.

Finding out about Redford insistence on changing the basics of that main character removing his flaws reminded me that in almost all of his movies he plays the good guy. Nice guy. Rather flawless.

(Someone also told me that Redford had demanded similar changes in "The Horse Whisperer".)

Exception is "Downhill Racer" which was early in his career and perhaps that movie he did with Woody Harrelson (which I never saw).

Unlike Newman who was a far superior actor and loved the Galvin character and who was not afraid to play nasty guys - thinking of "Hud".

Redford was undoubtedly handsome but not a very brave actor.

And his still hanging onto that "surfer boy" image at his age is just silly.

Fascinating, how his hair color is identical to his son’s in that photo. Wonder if they see the same colorist.

One thing about Redford’s characters in his films: their hair never goes grey. Even as the oh-so-down-to-earth “Horse Whisperer, all I could think of when I watched him was, “How often does that character go to the beauty parlor?”

Redford was a much better actor than Armie Hammer, but he never really made the transition to character actor that comes with age. Newman remained a leading man but in essentially character parts. Newman started out a "star" and more pretty than skilled as an actor, but he developed with time. Redford gave some good performances and hass given back to the profession through Sundance, but seems more stunted as an actor and a bit too vain to come up with a more realistic way to age. In a way, he's old Hollywood in that way, but even those oldtimers knew when to stop. Cary Grant retired when he was too old to play Cary Grant, leading man. Of course, the point was that he retired rather than let his vanity get the better of him. John Wayne was able to play ancient versions of his Western characthers but he came to realize he was awful in modern dress parts.

R72 yeah I remember reading that and being very disappointed - that said I’m so glad it was Newman who ended up doing it. And the thing is...movies like The Candidate, Three Days of the Condor, and All the Presidents men especially he was very, very good, and looked like he could go in a Newman type direction. But he didn’t, sadly, and became stunted like you said.

I still admire that be was able to keep his private life private though, like I said. Not really sure how he did it.

R66, I just saw that photo in the DM a few months ago. I don't recall it being referenced as an older photo.

"...what kind of 70+ year old wears Speedos???"

The kind who has done something with his life and doesn't give a fuck what some nasty envious queen spews.

I think the most famous instance about him not being brave as an actor is in The Way We Were and having the reason for the breakup of the marriage cut out of the film.

To be honest if I were the producer of the film I would have wanted it out as well. It would have left too bitter a taste in people's mouths for such a big epic romance. Who wants their romantic hero in a Hollywood film to turn out to be a sniveling shit? Sorry Arthur but you were wrong.

So, what was the reason for the breakup that was cut out of the movie?

BTW, I always thought the most interesting character in "The Way We Were" was Bradford Dillman's. Streisand's character was a pain in the ass and Redford's character was boring and bland.

Speaking of "The Way We Were", the Wikipedia entry for the film gives a blow by blow description of the lead up to the film's creation.

R78 yeah I forget what was the reason? And I thought Sydney Pollack cut it out actually...

Yes, please do respond with the answer, R78.

I’ve just googled “The Way We Were Orginal Ending” for 30 minutes and nothing I’ve read (including the whole Wikipedia article) says why they originally broke up in the screenplay and who cut it out....

Is this the reason?

From Wikipedia...

[quote] Hubbell has a liaison with Carol Ann, his college girlfriend and the divorcee of J.J., his best friend.

J.J. is the Bradford Dillman character - the most interesting character in the movie.

Didn't Lois Chiles play Carol Ann?

[quote] J.J. is the Bradford Dillman character

A DLer no doubt. He was always asking things like, "best year?" "Best wine." Etc.

R83 if that’s been Beekman Place then yes. She was so gorgeous in that movie - have we ever extensively discussed her beauty here?

Miss Beekman Place.

R85, there have been threads but she was such a bad actress that they never took much traction beyond that. Didn't she marry rich and retire from acting?

Lois Chiles was the murder victim in the all star version of Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" from 1978.

Also in the cast of "The Great Gatsby" (1974) which starred Redford and Mia Farrow.

Known to her friends (of whom she has many) as "Honey."

Lois Chile’s had that Tina Louise quality.

^ Chiles

R90 nothing of the sort - she was classically beautiful ; Tina L had and has one of the worst nose jobs I’ve ever seen - like it puts Marlo Thomas’s to shame.

Damn that's hot r40

The thing that kept Robert Redford from being one of the true stars in the firmament is the habit he had of chewing on his inner cheek and a glancing at the camera as if it were all a joke. We know that, Robert, but as the leading man, you’re not supposed to.

It’s so weird how the commercial for his movie says “final performance”; it sounds like he’s dead.

Any pics sans wig, or it somewhat askew?

R95 And now he says it’s not necessary his last anyway.

Gary Oldman on Redford:

I will always say this to students of acting—we talk about phone acting… There’s an example in Darkest Hour when I’m on the phone with Roosevelt. Often you’re not speaking to the other actor; someone is reading the lines in the room or you’re not even getting any of the feed. There are people who are very good at it and people who are not good at it. In All the President’s Men, there is one take of Redford switching phones, talking to different people; it’s about six or seven minutes long. Very, very slow push in on Redford. And I would say to students, “You want to see phone acting? That is the Michelangelo of phone acting.”

R98 Huh? I recall that scene very well. Redford makes a mistake in names, but the kept it in.

they ^

Excellent quote, R98!

Never heard that and really appreciate you posting it.

Arthur Laurents never stopped talking about his resentment about the cutting of the film though he made a fortune off it, more than Redford or Streisand, due to L Bernstein's brilliant sister who was his agent.

The reason the couple break up is because as a communist she will harm his career in Hollywood. His ambition and wanting to look good in front of McCarthy is more important to him than any great love. He will not look like a communist sympathizer. So he dumps her. It's a bit more nuanced than that but it's basically what happens.

R94, he IS one of the true stars.

R22-Redford's son James is good looking.

R102, thank you for the explanation about the cut out scenes that explain the ending.

Are you also R78?

By the way Betsy Blair who was Gene Kelly's wife was an avowed unashamed communist and though Kelly was not and was pressured to divorce her he refused. They did eventually because in Hollywood everybody does.

Yes.

He is a lousy actor but quite a good director, pretty boy, but no sex appeal.

I always loved 'Milagro, The Beanfield War', which is an unknown gem he directed.

He's very good at romantic comedy which is very hard. To be effortlessly charming, handsome and funny is not a small talent. Is there anybody comparable today?

[quote]To be effortlessly charming, handsome and funny is not a small talent. Is there anybody comparable today?

Clooney was pushed as such, and seemed to agree with the evaluation, but the answer is no.

"His ambition and wanting to look good in front of McCarthy"

R102, who is McCarthy? Sen Joe McCarthy? He went after the State Department in the 1950s and had nothing to do with the story in The Way We Were. HUAC did.

The real reason Streisand and Redford split in The Way Were was because her college boyfriend (James Woods) named her before the committee (HUAC), and she was called to testify. Because she planned to refuse to name others as communists, which would have ended Redford's career, they divorced. She had to choose between her beliefs and her marriage, like how much of herself was she willing to sacrifice for her husband/the marriage.

In previews, the audiences hate these scenes, so Pollack took scissors and cut them out himself in the projection room (his words). They were out of the final print delivered to theaters when the movie opened on Oct 73. The original storyline could have been saved with 3-4 minutes added to a couple of scenes to explain it when they originally filmed, not the 15-20 of scenes that Pollack eventually cut.

But Pollack was not the sharpest guy in the world. Wasn't it he who Arthur Laurents credited with the line that went something like "you wrote such a beautiful love story even though you're a homosexual."

Redford's blondness came out of a bottle his entire career. I think he handsome heartthrob status would never have happened without the bleach, because his looks were far less compelling with his natural reddish brown. However, there are limits. Being blonder at 45 than you were at 35 is absurd. Here he is a child in natural, if he had been a real blond, it would have been almost white-blond at this age:

Plenty of male (and female) blond actors have colored their hair. Big deal. He looked great as a blond. He should be grey by now, though.

Contact his wigmaker, or the wig counter at Walmart, R111.

Maybe he’s one of the guys who takes off his wig and walks around bald when he doesn’t want to be recognized.

The reason why Hubbell and Katie broke up is because they just weren’t compatible and the struggle got tiresome.

[quote]But Pollack was not the sharpest guy in the world. Wasn't it he who Arthur Laurents credited with the line that went something like "you wrote such a beautiful love story even though you're a homosexual."

Crass indeed. Droll though that he, um, evolved enough to end up playing Will's dad in 'Will & Grace.' And grudgingly conceded that his son was gay in his retirement speech. 'He's here…he's queer…get…used to it.' Some sort of reparation, perhaps.

Redford was undeniably beautiful in his youth and VERY supportive of gays and lesbians.

How, R116? I'm not saying he wasn't but his history is checkered. For instance, Redford was very unhappy that the character he played in Inside Daisy Clover was "made gay" by other characters in scenes he wasn't in.

R117 that’s because being a gay character would require real acting and range that Redford doesn’t have.

I don't think he wears a wig, but he dyes his hair in this reddish tone that used to be his real hair color. He's a ginger which you can see from his chest hair in that beach/spedo picture up thread. I did see a picture of him with grey hair once but can't find it anymore.

About that Oprah appearance - Barbara S begged him to make a sequel to The Way We Were. Begged. Several times, he very politely said no.

Politely?

Lola went on to become a PhD or something after the divorce.

"The reason why Hubbell and Katie broke up is because they just weren’t compatible and the struggle got tiresome."

She was PREGNANT, R114. Couples don't split up when the wife is pregnant for incompatibility.

Lola Van Wagenen, historian

Damn, I would've bet a month's salary he was dead already.