Robert Redford forged lifelong bonds with co-stars like Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, and Barbra Streisand, whose before his death at the age of 89
Best-known to many as the twinkly-eyed outlaw in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Robert Redford’s relationship with his co-star Paul Newman was perhaps the most important of his six-decade career.
They remained close until Paul died in 2008, and in the final months of his life he sent Robert a poignant handwritten letter which said: “You were always the Sundance to my Cassidy.”
Devastated by the loss, it took Robert weeks to find the right words, and he eventually said: “It was like losing my balance. Like one leg of the table was gone. He was my partner. My friend. My brother.”
A shared love of banter on the Butch Cassidy set once saw Paul fill Robert’s car with popcorn. He retaliated by unscrewing all the lug nuts on Paul’s tyres, causing one to roll off as he drove to the studio lot.
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“It was like we were teenage boys who happened to be in a Western,” Robert later said. Their natural chemistry ran so deep that when they reunited for The Sting in 1973, they barely rehearsed, with director George Roy Hill telling the crew, “Just roll the cameras and let them do their thing.”
Another hugely influential figure was Robert’s Out of Africa co-star Meryl Streep, who said upon the news of his death: “One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend.”
In one of Out of Africa’s most touching scenes, Robert – who starred as game-hunter Denys – washed her character Karen’s hair by the river.
“It was magical,” Meryl said of the experience. “We see so many sex scenes in movies, but rarely something with that kind of tenderness and intimacy. I never wanted it to end – even though we were surrounded by hippos.”
Jane Fonda was another key of his key leading ladies, and after working together on 1960’s Tall Story they collaborated again in 1966’s The Chase and then Barefoot in the Park the following year.
Nearly four decades later, they reunited for Netflix film Our Souls at Night, which explored late-in-life romance. “It just makes a lot of sense, the two of us in a movie like this,” Jane said, adding that it felt “like hands going into comfortable gloves.”
Reacting to his death, she said: “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.”
Meanwhile, it was Barbra Streisand who convinced Robert to star in 1973 film The Way We Were after he turned down the role – twice. “Bob is that rare combination,” she once said. “An intellectual cowboy… a charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation. He’s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.”
Summing up his appeal, late director Sydney Pollack who partnered with Robert on seven films, said: “He never seduces his audience but makes them come to him.””
That was surely never more evident than in survival drama All is Lost, in which Robert spoke just 51 words – and still found himself nominated for a Golden Globe.
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