Tragic Details About Robert Redford

Still going strong well into his 80s, Robert Redford is one of the last surviving stars to have broken through during Hollywood's Golden Age. But despite a six-decade career in which he has been recognized at the Academy Awards as both a filmmaker and actor, founded the independent film festival known as Sundance, and even won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, little is known about Redford the man.

Yes, as with many of his peers, the Californian has always preferred to keep his private life, well, strictly private. You may therefore not know that away from the cameras, the star of such classic films as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Sting," and "All the President's Men" has been beset by tragedy.

In fact, Redford had suffered more hardships by the time he first appeared on screen in 1960's "Tall Story" than most do in a lifetime. Sadly, his later years haven't been much kinder, either. From childhood illnesses and near-death experiences to marriage break-ups and several devastating losses, here's a look at many of the tragic aspects of Redford's life, which proves that being an award-winning movie icon doesn't make you immune from problems.

The famously private Robert Redford surprised everyone when he agreed to cooperate with author Michael Feeney Callan on a book about his eventful life, 2011's "Robert Redford: The Biography." One of the many intriguing revelations that emerged from the book was the actor's bout of polio as a child. Thankfully, it wasn't a severe case, but even so, the future Hollywood star was forced to spend weeks in bed when he was 11 years old after overexerting himself during an ocean swim when he had the disease.

Redford recalled to NPR in 2018 how the mid-1940s was a scary time to fall victim to the condition. "Before the Salk vaccine was discovered, what hung over your childhood was always the fear of polio because all you saw were people in iron lungs," he explained.

The actor would later pay tribute to Jonas Salk — the scientist who discovered the polio vaccine in the 1950s — as part of a 2014 short film series. The Oscar winner stepped behind the camera to direct a segment of the 3D documentary, "Cathedrals of Culture," about San Diego's Salk Institute for Biological Studies. "I was around when the polio epidemic was still a threat," Redford remarked in the documentary (via Express). "So when Jonas Salk invented the vaccine, it was just earth-shattering news."

Who knew that Robert Redford was something of a teenage tearaway? That's right; the now hugely respectable Hollywood star spent much of his high school years causing trouble with a street gang in his hometown of Van Nuys, California. Dangerous dares were part of their daily routine, but unfortunately for Redford, one nearly cost him his life.

The future Academy Award winner was challenged to jump off a relatively high building by the gang in order to prove he wasn't a complete and utter wuss. In his 2011 memoir, "Robert Redford: The Biography," he reflected on how life-threatening moments like these affected his mindset growing up, saying, "Facing down fears hit home early ... You have two choices, it seemed to me. You can be led by your fears, or you can overcome them."

Having apparently proved his manliness once and for all, and only just without breaking every bone in his body, a young Redford was allowed to continue wreaking havoc with the rest of the gang. Petty theft was their main source of entertainment, with alcohol from nearby stores a particular favorite activity. Redford's life of crime appeared to end when he was 16 years old after being arrested for possession of stolen jewelry, but those charges were later dropped.

Robert Redford had those attending the Utah Women's Leadership Celebration at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in tears when he paid an emotional tribute to his mother. Martha Redford sadly passed away in 1955 from a hemorrhage at the age of just 40 when  Her death was linked to a blood disorder she had contracted during the stillbirth of her twin daughters eight years previously.

The Hollywood star admitted on stage that he hadn't made things easy for his mother as a teen but that she always stood by him. "She believed that all things considered, she just had faith that I had something in me that was going to turn out okay," he remembered (via Closer Weekly). Sadly, Martha didn't get to see her faith repaid, as her son would make his screen debut five years after her passing.

Robert went on to sing his mom's praises further, complimenting her smile, adventurous spirit, and positive attitude. He also told the star-studded audience — which included his longtime friend, fellow actor Jane Fonda – that he wished he appreciated her more when she was around: "I took [her] for granted because that's the way kids were at that age. My regret is that she passed away before I could thank her."

Robert Redford first experienced grief when he lost the uncle who had served as a second father figure to him during his early years. The actor regularly missed out on spending time with his actual dad, Charles Redford, due to the long and unsociable hours he kept as a milkman.

As a result, a young Robert developed a close bond with his Uncle David, who was not only quite the football player but could also speak no fewer than four different languages. The pair would reportedly often spend time on the football field practicing their throwing techniques. But, once again, Robert was left without a strong paternal presence when his uncle entered the Army to serve in World War II. Sadly, he never returned home.

David lost his life in 1945 when the Jeep he was traveling across a Luxembourg bridge in was caught in crossfire. In 2013, Redford told NPR, "The way the family dealt with it — it just wasn't talked about. It just happened, and you didn't ask a lot of questions. It was what it was. I think that was sort of built into the family structure ... There was no talk about it, and everybody moved on."

Robert Redford may have waved goodbye to the criminal life as he entered his late teens following a run-in with the police. But that didn't mean he was ready to become an upstanding member of society. Indeed, while attending the University of Colorado, the future star built quite the party boy reputation.

In his 2011 book, "Robert Redford: The Biography," Michael Callan Feeney wrote, "Redford had become beloved in the drinking circles but was regarded as a loose cannon." The author doesn't explain exactly what went down in the Kappa Sigma fraternity that a young Redford belonged to. But considering Redford was kicked out of the college after just 18 months, we can't imagine it was pretty.

But that wasn't the end of Redford's education. After losing his baseball scholarship and the death of his mother, he spent time learning how to paint in both Florence and Paris and later studied at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Thankfully, the University of Colorado didn't issue a blanket ban on any other Redfords attending; two of the star's kids, Shauna and Jamie, were later accepted into the institution.

Robert Redford has often been able to draw upon his own darkest moments in his acting career. The reason why his filmography has regularly been intertwined with the sporting world – his portrayal of Olympic skier David Chappellet in "Downhill Racer," for example, or his performance as baseball player Roy Hobbs in "The Natural" — is because he knows exactly what it's like to use physical activity as an emotional coping mechanism.

"For me it was anger and finding a place to put my disappointment and frustration with a lot of things," the Hollywood icon told the Los Angeles Times in 1990 about his own experiences. "I was a mess. I was somewhat in trouble socially. I lost my [baseball] scholarship pretty quick after I discovered drinking. When I left [college] and got into art, that got me out ... finding my place in the world had a lot to do with acting."

This ability to utilize his own real-life trials and tribulations has also been channeled in Redford's directorial work, none more so than on his 1980 debut, "Ordinary People." "It is the inability to express feelings in our culture, that's what's interesting to me," he remarked about the Oscar-winning tale of a rich family as oppressed as they are privileged. "It was certainly part of the fabric that I grew up in. I was given legacies that I came later in life to realize were not only untrue but unhealthy."

Things appeared to be going swimmingly for Robert Redford toward the end of the 1950s. He'd just become a married man after walking down the aisle with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, made his Broadway debut in "Tall Story," and became a parent for the first time with the birth of their son, Scott.

Tragically, his world would come crashing down one day in November 1959 when the 10-week-old Scott passed away from a condition that would later be termed sudden infant death syndrome. Understandably, the incident devastated Redford, who believed he was responsible for not checking in on the baby earlier.

The "Out of Africa" star said, as quoted by the Mirror, "It was really hard. We were very young. I had my first theater job, which didn't pay much. We didn't know anything about sudden infant death syndrome so as a parent you blame yourself. It creates a scar that never completely heals."

Just three years after his firstborn son, Scott's, tragic death, Robert Redford was forced to face the very real prospect of losing his second. Not only that, but his wife, Lola's, life hung in the balance at the same time, too.

In 1962, David James Redford was prematurely born with the same condition that had robbed John F. Kennedy of his second son, Patrick. According to biographer Michael Feeney Callan's book, "Robert Redford: The Biography," Robert and Lola's baby was only given a 40% chance of survival after being diagnosed with hyaline membrane disease. But luckily, the tot and his mother both managed to pull through. "It was a colossal relief for us," Robert explained.

The Oscar winner had previously alluded to the hardships that his offspring have faced over the years in a 1998 chat with People magazine. "People think it's been easy for me. That's hard to live with. It's so untrue," he expressed. "The hardest thing in the world is when your children have problems. There have been so many hits on our family that no one knows about, and I don't want them to, for my family's sake."

Tragedy struck Robert Redford's family, and his daughter, in particular, once again in 1983. In what is still something of an unsolved mystery, Shauna Redford's journalism student boyfriend, Sid Wells, was fatally shot in the back of his head at his University of Colorado apartment.

His roommate, Thayne Smika, who was reportedly due to pay rent that day, was soon named as the number one suspect for the shocking murder. Although he was arrested, the lack of proof meant that Smika wasn't charged or indicted by a grand jury. Smika's car was found abandoned in Beverly Hills in 1986, and reports suggest he may have fled America altogether.

The plot thickened in 2010 when enough new evidence emerged for a case review. The district attorney's office in Boulder County subsequently gave the go-ahead for an arrest affidavit for the roommate. But despite issuing age-progressed mugshots to the public and a more concerted effort to find him, Smika still remains at large. In 1997, Redford, who attended Wells' funeral after initially deciding to keep away over fears of press intrusion, said — as reported by The Minnesota Star Tribune – that he's still very much haunted by the incident: "It's like a partially opened door with a very dark room behind it."

Robert Redford may well have had Natalie Wood to thank for his breakthrough Golden Globe-winning role as closeted film star Wade Lewis in "Inside Daisy Clover." Wood, who was very much the bigger star at the time, reportedly recommended the man she first met at high school to Warner Bros. for the 1965 drama. The close-knit pair would also share the screen a year later in "This Property Is Condemned."

Tragically, in 1981, Wood lost her life in circumstances that remain mysterious to this day. The multiple Academy Award nominee was on a boating trip around Catalina Island with her husband, Robert Wagner, and their fellow actor friend, Christopher Walken, when she drowned. It's still not known how or exactly when Wood ended up in the water, but speculation has continued to grow ever since.

Redford was understandably left devastated by the loss of his friend, and despite his reputation as a private man, has often spoken about their connection. He narrated a glowing tribute to his former co-star for the Turner Classic Movies network and also agreed to be interviewed for the 2020 HBO documentary about Wood's legacy, "What Remains Behind."

Back in the mid-1980s, Robert Redford and Lola Van Wagenen appeared to have one of the most stable marriages in Hollywood. The pair had tied the knot in 1958 and overcame the tragic death of their first-born Scott to have three other children, Shauna, James, and Amy. So, it was a bit of a bombshell when the pair announced — albeit a decade after it actually happened in 1985 — that they were going their separate ways.

In 2001, 16 years after the split, the "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" star told The Telegraph that the relationship had come to a natural end: "It was mutual and it was right to move on. We still have great love, great affection, great friendship. It is wonderful, and I think we probably deserve credit for it because the kids are great, they came through it okay. I never wanted to be one of those divorced showbusiness casualties — so predictable! I wanted to prove that a marriage could last and prove the business wrong. But I couldn't."

Redford waited quite a while to say 'I do' again. He walked down the aisle with German artist Sibylle Szaggars in 2009, almost a quarter-century after his divorce. However, the pair had been living together since the mid-'90s at Redford's Sundance home.

No parent should outlive one of their children, let alone two. But that's the situation that Robert Redford and his ex-wife, Lola Van Wagenen, faced in October 2020 when son James Redford passed away from liver cancer at the age of just 58.

James, who was born three years after the death of his baby brother Scott, had suffered from liver problems throughout his life. He underwent liver transplant surgery in 1993 and later founded an institute for awareness about the procedure. Sadly, while awaiting a new transplant in 2019, the documentary filmmaker was diagnosed with bile-duct cancer. A year later, his wife. Kyle, also the mother to his two children, confirmed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he'd succumbed to the disease: "We're heartbroken. He lived a beautiful, impactful life and was loved by many."

In a statement given to People magazine, publicist Cindi Berger relayed that Robert was "mourning with his family during this difficult time and asks for privacy." She continued, "The grief is immeasurable with the loss of a child. Jamie was a loving son, husband and father. His legacy lives on through his children, art, filmmaking and devoted passion to conservation and the environment."