“Did Robert Redford die?” The question hung in the air for a moment as my mind struggled to absorb the question and implication. I was a bit surprised by the sensation – a strange combination of disbelief and that surreal feeling of metaphysical ground shifting around me. I wasn’t so much saddened, but more shocked at the feeling that something significant had changed in the world. If I was an actor and filmmaker whose work had spanned 66 years, I suppose “significant” would be a word I’d want attached to my legacy. Yes, as I consider it, “significant” would be a very nice word.

Charles Robert Redford Jr. died on September 16, 2025. My first recollection of him was his role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid followed by The Way We Were – films I saw with my parents at a drive-in theater in Indianapolis in the early ’70s. I don’t think I would have described myself as a Robert Redford “fan,” I came to age preferring action movies over his more dramatic roles, however I read a description of his on-screen presence as “magnetic” and feel that is an apt characterization. Robert Redford was an American Icon.

Like so many things of my life, it was Sally who brought me to true appreciation of Redford later in his career as a director. Watching The Legend of Bagger Vance, she commented: “Robert Redford is a great storyteller. I love the pace of his movies – he’s willing to let the story unfold.” Storyteller. Pace. Unfolding. A few more great words to lay beside “significant.”

In remembrance, we decided to watch some of our favorite Redford movies this week. We started with my favorite, The Natural, released in 1984 and starring Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, and Robert Duvall alongside Redford. Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is derailed by health issues after being shot. Hobbs returns to baseball at the age of 35 and proceeds to become a superstar on his amazing hitting, leading the last place New York Knights to win the pennant in dramatic fashion.

One of the most powerful things I noticed about Redford’s character in The Natural, is how much he does not say in the movie. Roy Hobbs does little explaining and no complaining. Redford is able to convey the weight of moments in very few words, drawing the viewer in with that magnetic presence. Never hurried, the movie and Robert Redford are quite comfortable letting the story unfold. The movie is adult but reveals much innocence in its portrayal of imperfect, but good people, alongside their corrupted counterparts.

There is a nostalgic wholesomeness in the movie and much of it lands squarely on Robert Redford’s imperfect Hobbs whose only aim was to “be the greatest ever.” “Is that all?” Glenn Close asks. She plays his high school girlfriend, left behind as he went off to pursue his baseball dream and disappeared from her life after being shot. Later, she reveals to him that he has a son and the movie closes with Hobbs playing catch with the son he never knew he had.

We followed The Natural with Out of Africa, an epic drama set in British colonial Africa during World War I. Redford’s character is an American hunter who becomes involved with the Baroness Blixen, played by Meryl Streep, during her efforts to build a coffee farm in Nairobi, British East Africa. The story is complex and layered, blending the intricacies of human relationships with the tectonic shifting of the world at the end of British colonial dominion. The unfolding of the drama of their relationship amid the greater drama of the world around them makes for a powerfully engaging movie. Streep and Redford are outstanding.

Redford did not direct either of these movies but they reflected his presence, pace, and his storytelling style. Both films are unhurried. They are not in a rush to get to the climax and seem very comfortable living in the tension of the relationships and situations. This seems to be a hallmark of Redford’s career as an actor and a director. There is no striving to entertain, no grasping for reaction – only an authentic faithfulness to the story itself and an invitation to be moved by it.

I didn’t know Robert Redford and am only familiar with a portion of his work. However, I am moved by his passing, the story of his life, and the art he created to invite us in to those stories that moved him. There is a great lesson for each of us in his willingness to let those stories unfold and his devotion to his art. Our world has lost something in his passing but we remain blessed with the legacy of his efforts.