One of the worst aspects of aging, aside from the increasing failings of our bodies, is seeing so many icons you loved, admired and grew up with exiting life’s rollercoaster before you. Sometimes, sadly, they disembark well before their time. Others leave after a long and memorable ride. Yet, whenever that moment arrives, it never quite feels like it was enough. You always wish that person hung around for a few more years. Such is the case with the late Robert Redford, one of those iconic actors of my youth.

Robert Redford, whose name became synonymous with handsome, was perhaps best known for roles in such popular favorites as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969) and “The Sting” (1973), both of which costarred the equally iconic Paul Newman (1925-2008). Redford would also star in other popular, mainstream movies I’ve enjoyed in my lifetime, including “All the President’s Men” (1976), “Three Days of the Condor” (1975) and “The Candidate” (1972). Redford appealed to later generations with roles in “Sneakers” (1992) and more recently in “Captain America: Winter Soldier” (2014), which was the Marvel universe’s answer (or tribute) to Redford’s gripping political thrillers of the 1970s.

The first film of Redford’s I remember seeing theatrically (at age 12) was “Electric Horseman” (1979), where he played a burned-out equestrian who runs away from a cheesy Las Vegas rodeo show and falls in love with journalist Jane Fonda, who was Redford’s costar in 1967’s “Barefoot in the Park,” which was a movie I vividly remember watching on cable TV much later in life, a few nights after I moved into my first apartment (very fitting). “Barefoot in the Park” is an adorably silly movie, with Redford playing a young, uptight New York lawyer newly wed to a free-spirited bohemian wife (a prototype for later TV sitcoms like “Mad About You” and “Dharma and Greg”).

In “All the President’s Men,” Redford plays real-life Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, who teams up with his more seasoned colleague Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) to crack the mystery surrounding the Nixon administration’s bungled 1972 burglary of Democratic Campaign Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. Sadly, that once ground-shaking constitutional crisis feels like small potatoes today, given the multiple constitutional crises we’re buffeted with almost daily, courtesy of the Trump administration.

“All the President’s Men” is my personal favorite movie of Redford’s. I first watched the movie on TV in my early-teens (uncut, in its entirety, on a special broadcast), and it’s one of the reasons I became so fascinated with journalism in high school. I would rewatch the film just about every year in multiple mediums; starting with an off-the-air VHS recording, and later on DVD, and finally on Blu-Ray. It remains a favorite rewatch, and I never tire of it. It’s a forever reminder of the fragility of democracy, and the responsibility of those in journalism to act as oversight (once upon a time, anyway…). It’s no surprise that Redford was also a strong voice for political activism in real life, championing the LGBTQ+ communities, the plight of Native Americans and environmental conservation.

Robert Redford has an IMDb acting credits list is as long as my arm, so I won’t bother to list each and every role of his. What inspired me to write this tribute to him came from one of his earliest roles, in a 1962 episode of writer/producer/creator Rod Serling’s TV series “The Twilight Zone” called “Nothing in the Dark.” Written by George Clayton Johnson and directed by Lamont Johnson, this was the first role of Redford’s I remember watching on TV as a little kid. There’s a reason Twilight Zone was a favorite show of mine growing up, and remains so to this day.

In the episode, written by George Clayton Johnson and directed by Lamont Johnson, we see an isolated old woman named Wanda Dunn (Gladys Cooper) living in a condemned building in a big city. She’s been introverted for decades, fearing death ever since she claims to have spotted the Grim Reaper many years earlier, and has been actively avoiding his ceaseless pursuit of her ever since. Construction crewmen and city officials have tried to evict the tenacious old woman, but without success.

Wanda’s life is upended when a handsome young policeman named Beldon, played by Redford, is shot by a fleeing suspect just outside of her window. From outside her door, Beldon begs for help, as he lies bleeding in the snow. Wanda has no telephone, since she shuns contact with the outside world, so she isn’t able to call for assistance. Against her own nature, she allows the wounded policeman to recuperate inside of her home. As the young cop slowly builds up his strength, Wanda opens up to him, telling him her incredible story of how she’s outwitted Death for most of her reclusive life, after learning to recognize him in his many guises and forms.

The classic Twilight Zone-twist comes at the end, when Wanda learns that the fresh-faced young Beldon is Death, and that he tricked her in order to peacefully escort her into the afterlife. The real shock comes as Wanda looks over and sees her smiling dead body lying peacefully in bed. She already died during her discussion with Beldon, but she never realized it. Still appearing as the kindly young cop, Beldon/Death gently reaches out to Wanda–appealing to her maternal nature by calling her “mother,” and offering his hand to escort her into the Great Beyond. Before they leave her apartment (and life), Beldon/Death tells Wanda:

“What you feared would come like an explosion, is like a whisper. What you thought was the end, the beginning.”

Now, at age 89, actor Robert Redford, after a long career and fruitful life in activism, has also passed away quietly in his sleep–just like Wanda Dunn. With this episode and its dialogue, writer George Clayton Johnson wrote a fitting little epitaph for us all. While I’m not a believer in an afterlife, I do hope that Redford’s passing was also “like a whisper.” With yet another icon from my younger days passing on, Redford remains immortalized through generations of great entertainment, political activism, and the Sundance Film Festival, which he founded.

While I never had the pleasure of meeting Robert Redford, his movies and TV appearances were a near-constant for much of my lifetime, and while it’s difficult to imagine an entertainment landscape without him, his appearance as the handsome Grim Reaper ‘Beldon’ reminds us that all good things end in due time, as they should. Life is only cherished because it’s finite, and if each of us can leave behind just a few good memories in the hearts and minds of others (no matter what the scale), it’s a life well-lived. And Robert Redford certainly lived well.

Robert Redford, August 18th 1936-September 16th, 2025