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Robert Redford, who died at the age of 89, featured in over 50 films, earned an Oscar for his work behind the camera, and was known as a strong supporter of non-mainstream creators via creating the yearly Sundance Festival.

Career achievements empowered him to handpick roles that reflected his politically liberal views, and he furthermore an advocate for ecological issues and Native American rights.

His quintessential heartland features could not be overlooked: A critic commented he looked like “a piece of a granite memorial wearing stonewashed denim.”

A different critic noted he possessed “an effortless bodily elegance and a glow that gave the impression as if he was lit from within.”

Yet Redford himself thought his beauty proved more of a limitation than a help in Hollywood, and remarked that fate had brought sorrow in his personal life as punishment for his good fortune.

Redford entered the world on the West Coast in the late 1930s, the offspring of a milkman who subsequently worked as a bookkeeper for Standard Oil.

During school, he was part of a street gang and faced charges for “taking a car that contained stolen jewelry within.”

He received a baseball scholarship to college, but was expelled after 18 months due to alcohol-related issues. Simultaneously, his parent succumbed in her forties.

Overcome with sorrow, he traveled for a time, working in drilling sites then visiting the Old World, where he learned artistic techniques.

Living overseas gave him a new perspective about the United States: “I began to look at America from another angle,” he said.

Once home, he signed up at the American Academy of Dramatic Art hoping to become a stage designer—though quickly changed to acting.

As with most performers at the time, he secured bit parts on Broadway and in series, including spots in well-known dramas such as Dr. Kildare.

His cinematic debut came in that decade with a small part in a motion picture, where he worked with an emerging talent.

Unfortunately, it proved a strong beginning for his movie path. The film flopped—with a publication stating that “not anything can rescue it.”

But, it was the start of a lifelong friendship between them, who later admitted to falling in love whenever they teamed up.

“It was always an enigma as he didn’t reveal everything,” she noted. “He has an aura about him.”

The initial significant stage success came as confident counsel Paul Bratter in Neil Simon’s love story the show. He later repeated the character in the film version, once more with Fonda.

That year, he won a award for best new talent for his performance in Inside Daisy Clover with a leading lady.

However he turned down for the part of Benjamin Braddock in the iconic film because Mike Nichols felt he seemed too attractive—causing Redford cautious of stereotyping due to his appearance.

Global fame came at the end of the sixties with the western classic.

Redford’s portrayal of the relaxed Kid, alongside Newman’s quick-witted role, became among Hollywood’s great pairings.

Ironically, Redford almost not getting on the part when one studio executive remarked: “He’s merely one more Hollywood blond. Throw a rock out of an opening in California, you’ll hit many similar.”

The production company attempted not to casting Redford, until Paul—an enormous figure—stepped in and required that he join.

Both performers found they both loved a passion of theatre, and remained good pals up until Newman’s death in that year.