Dateline: Park City, Utah, September 16, 2025
Robert Redford, who died on September 16, 2025 at the age of 89, lived as more than an actor or director. He was a true patriot, one who believed that America’s soul was worth fighting for, even when he felt it slipping away.
In his 2018 statement “A Brief Statement About Big Things”, Redford admitted with startling candor that, for the first time in his life, he felt out of place in his own country. He lamented that leaders had traded civility for “bigotry, mean-spiritedness, and mockery as the now-normal tools of the trade.”
That honesty was not despair. It was patriotism. A patriot does not turn away when their country stumbles. A patriot demands better, even when it costs comfort or applause. Redford’s legacy is not just in the films that shaped American culture or the Sundance Institute that launched generations of storytellers. His legacy is also in speaking truth about democracy’s fragility, and reminding us that public life must be grounded in fairness, compassion, and decency.
Now that he is gone, his challenge to us remains. Will we shrug off cruelty as normal, or will we rise to prove that democracy is still worth entering, still worth defending?
Robert Redford believed America could be better. To honor him, we must prove him right.