Robert Redford, a renaissance man, recently announced his retirement from Hollywood acting career. However, don’t be concerned we have not seen the last of this fantastic gentleman once named as one of Time magazine “Most Influential People in World” or the “Godfather of Indie Film” he plans to continue directing and producing movies as well as being involved in political and social activism.

He was born in Santa Monica, California in 1936 to Marta W. Redford and Charles Robert Redford. His Father originally a milkman who later became an accountant. His great-great parents Elisha Redford and Mary Ann McCreery were immigrants with English and Irish-Scottish roots. He has been married twice and has four children. He attended the University of Colorado for a time, however, left due to drinking and partying issues he had when he was a member of a campus fraternity. Redford took some time off from schooling at that time and explored Europe. He eventually returned to studies at Pratt Institute and American Academy of Dramatic Arts where he developed his artistic qualities.

Over his career, his accolades include Seventy eight acting credits, ten directing credits, and fifty producing credits and numerous awards and honors. Additionally, he is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute and Sundance Cinemas which showcases new and independent indie movies.

Some of Robert Redford’s his most notable films include the following:

1) Barefoot in the Park, this 1967 movie starred Robert Redford as a stuffy, uptight young attorney Paul and his free-spirited wife Corie played by Jane Fonda. In the film, the couple lived in a small Greenwich Village apartment with unusual and odd neighbors. This plot leads to exciting drama and comical moments as personality differences clash.

2) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the 1969 film that teams up Paul Newman(Butch) and Robert Redford(Sundance) in roles as outlaws who run a gang involved in a train robbery that goes bad and results in them being on the run.

3) The Sting, the 1973 film teams Redford and Newman up again as expert conmen in Chicago in 1930’s in a shaking down of New York style gangster and gambler.

4) All the President’s Men is the 1976 drama that teams up Robert Redford as Bob Woodard and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein investigative reporters at the Washington Post trying to piece together the Watergate scandal that will shake a nation and its faith in its elected leaders.

5) The Natural, 1984 film Redford plays an extra-ordinary talented Roy Hobbs, who has a  dream to join the esteem of baseball legends. However, his dream shattered with a chance meeting with a mysterious woman. Hobbs reappears years later as he gets a  second chance as a leader on  the New York Knights, however age has taken a toll, and he has to fight against powers that want the Knights to lose a pennant race.

Redford social and political activism has supported both Republicans and Democrats over the years including more recently former President Barak Obama. He does have keys issues he is very vocal about especially environmental problems of which he  currently is a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council.  He is also opposed to Keystone Pipeline. He is a proponent of Gun Control, LGBT issues, and Native American Rights.

Robert Redford has forever shaped Hollywood into a medium that reflects and shapes society for the better his influence will continue to play a significant role.