Robert Redford died peacefully at age 89 at his home in the mountains outside Provo, Utah, surrounded by the affection of his large family. His life was an intense existence, marked by both success and deep trauma.
Born in Santa Monica on August 18, 1936, Redford grew up in a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles. As a teenager, he was lively—not always diligent in school, but with a strong interest in drawing and painting. He contracted polio at age 11, and though the infection did not have long-term effects, it kept him bedridden for weeks.
Redford’s family life was also marked by early losses. When he was a child, his mother lost twins at birth. When he was 18, his mother died at the age of 40, causing him great grief. “The regret that I had was that I couldn’t thank her,” Redford told Esquire in 2017.
After being expelled from the University of Colorado due to alcoholism, Redford moved to Europe with his drawings and a dream of becoming an artist, living between Paris and Florence. Returning to the United States in 1957, still shaken and searching for direction, he met Lola Van Wagenen, whom he married in 1958 “to save my life,” he later said. Van Wagenen, young and shy, encouraged him to study art and to discover acting.
Redford and Van Wagenen had four children. Their eldest son, Scott Anthony ,died at just two and a half months from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. “I don’t know. I was only 21; my wife was 20,” he later said in an interview. “We were just starting our lives. Of course it was traumatic…Something like that doesn’t get completely dismissed. It probably shows up in various small ways you’re not even aware of.”
Shauna Redford, born in 1960, grew up between New York and Utah, and built her life around art and family. In 1985 she married Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and had two children, Mica and Conor, who have taken creative and professional paths, continuing Redford’s legacy of attention and artistic curiosity.
Son James, born May 5, 1962, faced health challenges from a young age, including primary sclerosing cholangitis that led him to receive two liver transplants in 1993. His experience prompted him to found the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, dedicated to raising awareness of organ donation, and make documentaries on the subject. James married his wife Kyle in 1988, and together they had two children, Dylan and Lena. James died on October 16, 2020 from liver cancer, another immense grief for his father Robert.
Amy Redford, the youngest of the four, was born in 1970. Growing up between New York and Utah, she studied theater in San Francisco and chose a career in directing and film production. Amy has three daughters; Eden, born in 2008, and twins born in 2010.
Redford’s marriage to Van Wagenen lasted 27 years, until 1985. Then Redford had a few casual relationships, including those with costume designer Kathy O’Rear, French supermodel Nathalie Naud, actress Debra Winger, and, for seven years, Brazilian actress Sonia Braga. In 1996 he met Sibylle Szaggars, a German painter, who became his second wife in 2009. Redford later said that Szaggars had given him “a whole new life,” combining his love of painting and his commitment to the environment.
Today his grandchildren, many of whom work in creative fields, carry on the legacy of Redford’s values. Mica Schlosser works as a copywriter and illustrator in New York; Conor Schlosser is a producer in New York; Dylan Redford, James’ son, is a filmmaker and collaborated with his grandfather; and Lena Hart Redford, James’ second daughter, is an artist and filmmaker.
Originally published in Vanity Fair Italy.
