Hollywood icon and Academy Award-winning director Robert Redford, renowned for his roles in films such as Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and The Sting, has passed away at the age of 89.
Redford, also a co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, the premier independent film festival in the U.S., died on Tuesday morning.
His representative confirmed that he was at his beloved home in Sundance, nestled in the Utah mountains, surrounded by loved ones. “He will be greatly missed,” she added.
Throughout his life, the leading man faced an astonishing amount of adversity, misfortune, death, dysfunction, disaster, and tragedy.
In 2011, Redford collaborated with author Michael Feeney Callan to release Robert Redford: The Biography.
“It wasn’t an iron lung case. It was a case of mild polio, but it was severe enough to put me in bed for two weeks,” Redford shared with NPR’s Fresh Air.
The Hollywood legend revealed that he contracted the disease after swimming in the ocean, stating, “I couldn’t move very well, but I was not paralyzed.”
Later, the actor would honor Jonas Salk – the scientist who developed the polio vaccine in the 1950s – in a series of short films in 2014.
“I was around when the polio epidemic was still a threat,” Redford remarked in the documentary (via Express). “So when Jonas Salk invented the vaccine, it was just earth-shattering news.”
Redford would also reveal that during his teenage years he was dared to leap from a towering building by local gang members to demonstrate his courage to his childhood tormentors – but he nearly perished.
DON’T MISS:
DWTS fans swoon over Robert Irwin’s dance moves as they make prediction
Heartbroken Karoline Leavitt shares Charlie Kirk’s impact on her career
In his 2011 memoir, “Robert Redford: The Biography,” he reflected on the life-threatening moment.
“I toughened up fast if only for survival,” he said. At one point, some of those bullying forces persuaded teenage Redford to join them on the rooftop of a building.
He accepted the deadly challenge and the jump almost cost him his life.
The actor has also endured devastating personal losses throughout the years, beginning with his mother, who tragically passed away when he was just 18-years-old.
Having achieved strong academic performance and an outstanding athletic record, it secured him admission to the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Within months, Redford became a fixture in campus “drinking circles,” he started consuming alcohol, orchestrating pranks, and dedicating more time to drag racing and motorcycle riding than academics, according to NPR.
However, the heartbreaking death of his cherished mother drove him to consume more alcohol and resulted in losing his baseball scholarship. Without that financial support, he could no longer remain enrolled, and he was dismissed from the University of Colorado.
In the early 1950s, Redford confessed to experimenting with marijuana and becoming engrossed in drag racing that took place in Santa Barbara, California.
En route to one of these races, Redford wrecked his car while speeding at 90 miles per hour. According to his biography, he survived the crash but was “lucky to be alive.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
