Faye Dunaway has honoured her late co-star Robert Redford, describing him as a “heartfelt American original” after his death earlier this week. The 84-year-old actress reflected on their time working together and praised his talent, character and enduring legacy.
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Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: “Robert Redford embodied the phrase ‘Le vrai elegance American’ – the true American elegance (misattributed to Alexis de Tocqueville) – in every way: physically, emotionally, artistically. He was a heartfelt American original. I am proud and fortunate to have called him a colleague and a friend.” Dunaway starred alongside Redford in Sydney Pollack’s 1975 spy thriller Three Days of the Condor, in which he played a CIA agent opposite her character.
Tributes have also come from the family of Paul Newman, with whom Redford shared one of Hollywood’s most famous partnerships. Newman’s daughter Nell described their relationship as “a movie friendship that blossomed into a more serious friendship” after their acclaimed performances in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. She said the pair developed a strong bond both on and off screen, with Redford proving to be a lasting influence on her father.
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Nell Newman also highlighted Redford’s commitment to environmental causes, noting that he was a “quiet philanthropist” who inspired her father’s own activism. She recalled his frequent invitations for her family to visit his home in Sundance, Utah, and remembered him as “a regular man with a deep passion for the environment”. Redford, who died at his home in Utah at the age of 89, is being remembered by colleagues, friends and admirers as one of cinema’s most enduring figures.
