The only sour note of my birthday was when I learned of Robert Redford's passing at the age of 89 when I got into the elevator after arriving at work.
If you saw Robert Redford, even for only a moment, he left an immediate impression. When he spoke, the impression was lasting. He just had it.
This was evident in his TV appearances in the early 1960s (i.e. The Twilight Zone, The Naked City, The Untouchables, Perry Mason). He was surrounded by plenty of good actors. But Redford had a magnetism which leapt off the screen.
Then there were his films - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jeremiah Johnson, The Candidate (my personal favorite), The Sting, The Great Gatsby, Three Days of the Condor, All the President's Men and The Natural. Of course, I have not seen all of them including Barefoot in the Park (which began for him on Broadway) and The Way We Were. Hopefully, this will be rectified preferably on the big screen.
Redford was a classic leading man - handsome and didn't need to say much but what he said mattered and you liked him and wanted to be his friend, even if he wasn't always on the up and up. He proved equally adept behind the camera winning his only Oscar for Ordinary People in his directorial debut.
Although Redford had retreated from the spotlight, he remained front and center behind the scenes with the establishment of the Sundance Film Festival and his ongoing environmental activism.
But all things come to an end no matter how wonderful a life one has led. For however many birthdays I have going forward, I shall now forever associate those days with Robert Redford leaving the stage no matter how good my story might be that day. R.I.P.
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