American actor Robert Redford has passed away at the age of 89 at his residence in the state of Utah, leaving behind a remarkable career that spanned from classic Hollywood of the 60s to indie cinema of the 20th century, of which he was a promoter through the Sundance Film Festival. Auteur cinema, romantic comedy, thriller, western, war films, the New Hollywood of the 70s... The entire history of cinema in the second half of the 20th century could be narrated through his filmography and his image as a slightly self-parodic, eternally youthful, carefree, and blond gentlemanly heartthrob. Redford was Gatsby and Jeremiah Johnson, two antiheroes that complemented each other. He was Woodward in All the President's Men and the perfect boyfriend in Barefoot in the Park... He worked with Marlon Brando in The Chase and with Paul Newman in The Sting, and he stood up to them in both cases. The dilemma between Redford and Newman, the two great heartthrobs of their generation, was a cultural key of the 20th century. Newman was caustic and tormented. Redford was tall and friendly in a very American style. But he was by no means a lesser actor.
His biography was also not a typical success story. In Robert Redford: The Biography (2000) by Michael Feeney Callan, it was recounted that the idol's adolescence was that of a misfit in Los Angeles who traveled to Europe in a replica of the beatniks' journeys and returned home without a trade or prospects, with an anguishing sense of failure. He then turned to acting in theater, made the leap to film, and had instant success with Barefoot in the Park, alongside Jane Fonda, the mold for the romantic comedies to come. Witty, New Yorkers, modern, handsome, carefree...