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SUNDANCE, United States: Cinema legend Robert Redford, a screen great in front of and behind the camera whose career spanned six decades, died early Tuesday morning at his home in Utah, his publicist said. He was 89.
Redford died in his sleep, and a specific cause was not given, according to a statement by Cindi Berger, the chief executive of publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK.
“Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” Berger said.
The tousle-haired and freckled heartthrob made his breakthrough alongside Paul Newman as the affable outlaw in the Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969.
After 20 years as an actor, he moved behind the camera, becoming an Oscar-winning director and co-founding the flagship Sundance festival for aspiring independent filmmakers.
A committed environmental activist, Redford also fought to preserve the natural landscape and resources of Utah, where he lived.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, he was the son of an accountant.
Redford had four children with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, one of whom died as an infant.
He married German artist and longtime girlfriend Sibylle Szaggars in 2009.

‘Intellectual, artist, cowboy’

A household name in English-language cinema around the world, Redford won a directing Oscar for his 1980 film “Ordinary People,” as well as an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2002.
“Robert Redford’s work as an actor, director and producer always represents the man himself: the intellectual, the artist, the cowboy,” Barbra Streisand said in 2002 when presenting him with the special award.
Tributes began to pour in Tuesday for the screen great.
“One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend,” said Meryl Streep, in a brief emailed statement.
Jane Fonda mourned Redford, a fellow activist, as “a beautiful person in every way.”
“It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for,” she said.
President Donald Trump hailed the actor as “great.”
“Robert Redford had a series of years where there was nobody better,” Trump told reporters after a journalist told him that Redford had died.
One of Redford’s most beloved roles was in the classic American political thriller “All the President’s Men” (1976), which tells the story of how two journalists exposed the Watergate scandal that brought down US president Richard Nixon.
Redford earned his only nomination for the best actor Oscar when playing a 1930s con artist in “The Sting” (1973) — but he did not win.

‘Redefined cinema’

In the snowy mountains of Utah that he called home, fans on Tuesday paid tribute to Redford’s conservation work as well as his movie legacy.
“I’ll remember him for his commitment to protect nature, Native Americans and animals,” 59-year-old Swiss pastry chef Monika Suter told AFP, weeping outside a conference building named after the actor.
One of Redford’s greatest achievements was the launch here in 1985 of the Sundance Film Festival.
Created to discover new filmmakers and as an antidote to Hollywood’s commercialism and lack of diversity, it has fostered leading directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford,” the Sundance Institute said in a statement.
“Bob’s vision of a space and a platform for independent voices launched a movement that, over four decades later, has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema in the US and around the world.”

ABU DHABI: Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi hosted a thought-provoking exchange on Sunday as Palestinian-American stand-up comedian and actor Mo Amer joined Egyptian technologist and author Mo Gawdat for a panel titled “The Power of Personal Narratives in the Age of AI” at the annual Congress of Arabic and Creative Industries.

Over the course of the discussion, Gawdat — Google X’s former chief business officer and a prominent voice on artificial intelligence — warned of the rapid pace of technological change. “AI is already smarter than us in everything,” he said, adding that society faces a choice: use these tools to improve life or allow them to fuel greed, war, and control.

While he acknowledged AI’s transformative potential, Gawdat insisted that “it will never create a comedian,” because true comedy requires a uniquely human spark.

Amer responded with his trademark humor and touching perspective. Born in Kuwait and raised in the US, he recalled discovering stand-up in Houston and realizing immediately “this was it” because of the raw storytelling the art form allows.

“Comedy is the greatest art,” he told the audience, emphasizing that every comedian offers a different truth and connection. Amer reflected on his own journey to representation on platforms such as Netflix, hoping young viewers can see themselves in his story and feel empowered to tell their own.

The conversation moved fluidly between technology, faith, and creativity. Gawdat mused on whether AI could ever possess a “spark of spirit,” while Amer countered that humanity’s heart and soul cannot be replicated by machines.

When asked if he is scared that he could be replaced by AI, Amer said: “I’m not scared of AI because AI can never be me. A joke written by me, delivered by someone else, will never be the same. That’s happened to me before where I go up on stage and be like, ‘Let me show you how the joke is done.’ The joke kills and everyone’s laughing and they go, ‘Oh, it’s the person who is delivering the joke, who is the author of the joke, who really lands it.’”