Published on: September 16, 2025, 10:51h.
Updated on: September 16, 2025, 11:04h.
- Legendary actor Robert Redford passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89.
- Redford had significant connections to Las Vegas, especially noted for his iconic horse ride on the Strip in 1979’s “The Electric Horseman.”
- A passionate environmentalist, Redford dedicated efforts towards conserving Nevada’s wild horse populations and natural landscapes.
Robert Redford, the Academy Award-winning actor, director, and founder of the revered Sundance Film Festival, passed away on Tuesday morning at the age of 89. According to publicist Cindi Berger, he was “at his beloved home in Sundance, nestled in the Utah mountains, surrounded by loved ones.” The cause of death remains undisclosed.
Best recognized for his performances in classics like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting,” and “All the President’s Men,” Redford’s connections to Las Vegas were profound, both personally and through cinema.
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. in Santa Monica, California, he eloped with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, in Las Vegas in 1958. They wed on August 9 at an unassuming chapel off the Strip, marking the beginning of a nearly 30-year partnership that would shape Redford’s early years as a struggling actor and dedicated father.
Redford’s cinematic relationship with Las Vegas was indeed flamboyant. In Sydney Pollack’s “The Electric Horseman” (1979), he portrays a character who famously rides a thoroughbred on the Caesars Palace casino floor, adorned in a dazzling suit illuminated with lightbulbs.
Redford revisited Vegas in Adrian Lyne’s “Indecent Proposal” (1993), where he played a wealthy businessman who proposes $1 million for a single night with Demi Moore’s character. Much of the movie was filmed at the Las Vegas Hilton, now known as the Westgate.
Champion of Environmental Causes
Outside of acting, Redford was a staunch advocate for environmental issues in Nevada, home to nearly half of America’s wild horse population.
He was among the few public figures who challenged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) about its treatment of wild horses, voicing opposition to helicopter roundups in Nevada and supporting initiatives for the relocation of these horses tied to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. He also lobbied Nevada’s congressional delegation for reforms to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, calling for greater oversight of BLM practices and improved transparency regarding population counts.
Redford also championed desert ecosystems, aligning with conservationists against the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s 1989 initiative to divert groundwater from eastern Nevada to Las Vegas. He fervently supported federal protections for Nevada’s desert landscapes, particularly those established under the Antiquities Act of 1906. He lauded the creation of the Gold Butte National Monument and the Basin and Range National Monument as “significant steps for cultural and ecological preservation,” emphasizing their importance in protecting petroglyphs, rare desert species, and pristine wilderness from development.
Robert Redford is survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars Redford, an environmental artist, along with his daughters Amy and Shauna. He was preceded in death by his son James and infant son Scott. His legacy endures, not just through his films and the festival he founded, but also in the freedom of Nevada’s wild horses and its preserved deserts, as well as in the hearts of those who remember the sight of him riding through the iconic city.