A Statement from UNC Greensboro on the death of Robert Redford plus GreensboroSports Baseball Insider Enad Haddad always said, “Roy Hobbs(The Natural) was Da Man”

A Statement from UNC Greensboro on the death of Robert Redford
Courtesy of Brian Clarey
University Communications at UNCG
btclarey@uncg.edu

**********GreensboroSports Baseball Insider Enad Haddad always said, “Roy Hobbs(The Natural) was Da Man”…**********

GREENSBORO, NC – Actor, director, producer, activist, entrepreneur, and leading man for the ages Robert Redford? died at his home in Utah early Tuesday morning at the age of 89.

His filmography, which spanned six decades as actor, director, and producer, lists one classic after another: “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “All the President’s Men,” “Ordinary People,” “Legal Eagles,” “The Natural(Roy Hobbs/Enad Haddad),” “Out of Africa,” “Indecent Proposal,” “The Horse Whisperer,” and dozens more.

But UNCG professor Jennifer Vellenga, director of the School of Theatre, reminds us that Redford began his career on the live stage.

“His stardom is really about his film persona as a leading man, and many people know he started the Sundance Film Festival,” she says. “But what they probably don’t know is that he made his debut on Broadway; his breakout role was in the play ‘Barefoot in the Park’ by Neil Simon.

“Because of his love of live theater,” she continues, “he not only developed filmmakers through Sundance, but there was this whole arm of the Sundance Institute he founded to nurture theater artists, with actors, writers, and directors working in a lab, training students in the initial development of new work. We have a collaborative course at UNCG modeled after that work, where we bring actors, playwrights, and directors together at class time to produce a new play festival and develop new work. That’s exactly the model he used.

“I think he will be most missed in that area in terms of working with new artists and making sure that we keep bringing new ideas out into the world as we reflect upon the moment in which we live.”

Vellenga also says that Redford was the rare leading man who was able to transcend his matinee-idol looks.

“He was a handsome guy and a wonderful actor,” she says, “but he was also funny. He got his start in a Neil Simon play before turning into this leading-man type. More than just a leading man, he was an entrepreneur with the development of Sundance. He was a comedian, a director, a producer, an environmental philanthropist. His staying power and his ability to connect so many generations in his lifetime is really impressive.”