Robert Redford’s death on September 16, 2025, at the age of 89, brought a renewed focus on a family tragedy that remains unresolved. The FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Thayne Smika, a man connected to the 1983 killing of Redford’s daughter Shauna’s boyfriend, just one day after the actor died. Redford’s public image was that of a man who had it all: movie star looks, blockbuster films, an Academy Award for directing, and decades of fame. But behind that golden exterior was a private life marked by repeated loss.
He buried his mother, an infant son, close friends, and later, an adult son. Grief followed him from his youth until the end of his life. Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, he grew up in Van Nuys.
His father worked as an accountant, and his mother, Martha, was from Texas. Childhood trips to Texas shaped his deep connection to nature. He described himself as a bad student, caring more for sports and art than for school. At 11, he survived a mild case of polio that confined him to bed for two weeks.
Loss entered his life early. An uncle he loved was killed during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. His mother had previously lost twin girls after a dangerous pregnancy. In 1955, when Redford was just 18, Martha died of septicemia.
She was 40. He later said what hurt most was that she died before he could thank her for believing in him. His youth also included trouble with the law. He admitted to stealing hubcaps, sneaking into pools, and being arrested after riding in a car that contained stolen jewelry.
After high school, he attended the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship, but he began drinking heavily, lost the scholarship, and was expelled after about a year and a half. Feeling like a failure, he traveled through France, Spain, and Italy, studying painting. Upon returning, he attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan. He married Lola Van Wagenen in Las Vegas on August 9, 1958, before he had film fame.
Their first son, Scott Anthony Redford, was born on September 1, 1959. Less than three months later, on November 19, Scott died from sudden infant death syndrome. Redford was 21. He later said people move on because they have to, but such a loss never completely disappears.
Acting became his direction in New York, with stage work and television appearances in shows like Naked City, Maverick, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone. His Broadway debut in Tall Story came in 1959, followed by the 1963 hit Barefoot in the Park. His first film was the 1960 screen version of Tall Story, where he met Jane Fonda, beginning a lasting connection. Fonda later admitted she fell in love with him each time they worked together.
Natalie Wood, who had attended his high school, saw him on Broadway and helped him land the role in Inside Daisy Clover in 1965. Redford said he owed the beginning of his film career to her support. He won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer for that role. His good looks were both an asset and a frustration.
He worried about being trapped as a romantic leading man and turned down roles in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate. In 1968, he walked away from the Western Blue after questioning unfinished script pages. Paramount sued him, and the dispute was later settled. In 1969, he was cast as the Sundance Kid opposite Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The studio resisted, but Newman supported the choice. Their chemistry made the film a massive success and made Redford a major star. The two formed a friendship that lasted decades. The 1970s brought extraordinary success.
After some weaker films, The Candidate, Jeremiah Johnson, and The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand became hits. The Sting reunited him with Newman and earned Redford his only best actor Oscar nomination. Movie exhibitors voted him the top box office star from 1974 through 1976. Films like Three Days of the Condor and All the President’s Men, which he also executive produced, kept him at the center of popular culture.
He disliked the sex symbol label, calling his handsome image a handicap in 1974 because it could make people ignore his work. At home, Lola co-founded Consumer Action Now and built a life around education and environmental activism. Together they raised Shauna, James, and Amy after the loss of Scott. In 1980, Redford directed Ordinary People, a film about a family breaking apart after the death of a son.
It won Best Picture, and he won the Academy Award for Best Director. The themes were painfully familiar to him. During the same period, his family faced more tragedy. Natalie Wood died in 1981 at 43.
On August 1, 1983, Shauna’s boyfriend Sid Wells was shot dead in his apartment. Redford attended the funeral and helped provide security for the Wells family. A roommate, Thayne Alan Smika, was arrested, but prosecutors did not file charges due to insufficient evidence. Smika later disappeared.
In March 1984, Shauna’s car crashed through a guardrail near Salt Lake City and plunged into the Jordan River. She escaped with minor injuries because she was wearing a seatbelt. After more than 25 years of marriage, Redford and Lola separated in the mid-1980s. He described the split as mutual and said they still had love, affection, and friendship.
He later had long relationships with Brazilian actress Sonia Braga and costume assistant Kathy O’Rear. He continued acting and directing through the 1980s and 1990s with films like Out of Africa, A River Runs Through It, Indecent Proposal, and Quiz Show. In 1996, he met German visual artist Sibylle Szaggars at his Sundance Mountain Resort. She barely knew his films, which Redford said made their connection feel fresh.
She moved in with him in Sundance, Utah, that year. In 1998, he told people his greatest achievement was not his films but his children. He said his family had taken many hits the public did not know about, and he wanted to keep it that way for their sake. His friendship with Paul Newman remained one of the most important relationships in his life.
Newman had supported him when the studio was unsure about casting him. Redford hoped they would work together again on A Walk in the Woods, but that never happened. Newman died of lung cancer on September 26, 2008, at 83. Redford called him a man who lived a life that really meant something.
On July 11, 2009, Redford married Sibylle Szaggars in Hamburg, Germany, after more than a decade together. In his later years, he continued acting. All Is Lost placed almost the entire film on him, earning a Golden Globe nomination. He surprised younger audiences as Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
He reunited with Jane Fonda in Our Souls at Night in 2017. In 2018, he starred in The Old Man and the Gun and announced his retirement from acting, then later regretted making it sound final. He briefly returned as Alexander Pierce in Avengers: Endgame. The hardest later blow came through his second son, David James Redford, known as Jamie.
Born in 1962, Jamie suffered from serious health problems for much of his life. He was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare liver disease, and underwent two liver transplants in 1993. He founded the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness and made The Kindness of Strangers, a documentary about organ donors and recipients. Like his father, he became a filmmaker and activist.
His liver disease returned in 2018. In November 2019, doctors discovered bile duct cancer while he was waiting for another transplant. Jamie died on October 16, 2020, at 58. Redford was 84.
A representative described the grief of losing a child as immeasurable. More than 60 years after losing his first son, Redford was grieving another child. In his final years, Redford remained tied to Sundance, the environment, and family. He had seven grandchildren.
In 2025, he made a cameo appearance with George R. R. Martin in an episode of Dark Winds. Robert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance at 89.
His publicist said he died in the mountains, surrounded by people he loved. Tributes came from across Hollywood. Jane Fonda praised his work for independent movies. Meryl Streep wrote, “One of the lions has passed.
” Barbra Streisand remembered him as charismatic and one of the finest actors. Even after his death, the 1983 murder case remained open. The FBI’s $10,000 reward for Thayne Smika was announced the day after Redford died. Smika had disappeared decades earlier, and bail had been set at $5 million if he was ever found.
Redford had once personally called authorities to thank them for continuing to pursue the case. One painful chapter connected to his family was still waiting for an answer.
