This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One could sum up Robert Redford's career by listing his job titles. There are quite a few of them:
Actor. Director. Producer. Ski-resort operator. Entrepreneur. Environmental champion. Political activist. Founder of the Sundance Institute. Icon of independent film.
Tonight in Washington, D.C., an audience of dignitaries in arts and politics will see the Sundance Kid's career celebrated at the 28th annual Kennedy Center Honors, an award given to people who have amassed a life of achievement in the arts.
Receiving the honor alongside Redford are singers Tina Turner and Tony Bennett, actress Julie Harris and ballet dancer Suzanne Farrell. Tonight's ceremony will be taped for a Dec. 27 broadcast on CBS.
This week, from his home in California's Napa Valley (where he lives when he's not home in Provo Canyon, at Sundance), Redford talked about his career, celebrity, politics and other subjects with Salt Lake Tribune movie critic Sean P. Means.
Salt Lake Tribune: What does receiving this Kennedy Center honor mean to you?
Robert Redford: It's obviously a big honor, that cannot be denied. My initial confusion was whether it was in any way tied to government. . . . Once I realized it was an honor above politics, I breathed easier. . . .
Tribune: You also received an honorary Oscar in 2002. Are you concerned that awards like this are the entertainment equivalent of the gold watch at retirement?
Redford: Yeah, it's like you suddenly feel like you're being bronzed. I don't feel ready for that yet, myself. I've got some nice projects ahead. . . . In no way do I feel in the mood to retire. Sometimes when you get a lot of awards, you begin to feel like, "Why don't you wait a little bit?"
Tribune: And the movie business tends to use people up. How do you achieve longevity in that circumstance?
Redford: First of all, you don't get too embedded in Hollywood. You get a little bit free of it and develop your own pathways, like Sundance, to keep going. . . .
Tribune: When did you realize the business was at the point where if you wanted to have the roles you wanted to do, you'd have to go out and get them yourself?
Redford: Well, not to seem prophetic, but the reason for starting Sundance had a little bit to do with seeing this coming. And that was 1980. . . .
The business was already showing signs back in 1980 of moving toward more formulaic, higher-budget stuff, starting to make big cartoons like "Superman," "Dick Tracy" and all that stuff. The technology was coming on fast, the distribution channels were exploding in 1979 with cable and video. . . .
Tribune: In the 1980s, when you were getting Sundance off the ground, you directed two movies - "Ordinary People" and "The Milagro Beanfield War" - and only acted in four. Did you have to sacrifice that part of your career to get Sundance going?
Redford: Yes. I did. I didn't imagine that was going to happen, but once I was committed I was committed. I had to spend 10 years literally trying to sustain Sundance and build it, keep it going, putting my own energies and money into it. It was not easy to raise money for Sundance. It was nonprofit, and was a little bit off the grid. There was no support from my industry at all. So it was kind of a tough road, and I had underestimated how much of my personal energy it was going to take. . . .
I was in movies I enjoyed being in, like "Out of Africa" and "The Natural." And I wanted to direct - after "Ordinary People," I wanted to go into a completely different direction with "The Milagro Beanfield War." . . . I enjoyed making it immensely, because it was a totally different film than "Ordinary People," and I was trying to branch out and test myself. . . .
Tribune: When you were starting out, doing TV and stage in New York in the '50s and '60s, was being handsome a help to you or a hindrance?
Redford: It wasn't an issue, because I was a character actor. There wasn't any leading man stuff until Broadway. . . .
I had such a great time in those early years, from 1960 to when I did "Barefoot in the Park" in 1963. . . . Most of the characters I played in those years were killers, rapists, deranged people on shows like "Naked City" and "Route 66." And they were so much fun. . . . There were occasional comments about my looks, but nothing like when I did film. . . .
Tribune: Was it difficult to adjust to having people judge you by your looks?
Redford: It took me by surprise. I have to be human, of course, to be flattered by it. How could you not be? But it gets pretty intense when people are going after your clothes, and mobbing you in the streets, and you have to hide. That's kind of amusing, and kind of mind-boggling when it happens - you kind of go with it and have fun with it. Then it gets tiring, and then it gets worse when you realize you're being robbed of a vital part of your life, which is your privacy. And you also know what's coming your way is artificial, because those people are reacting to something they saw on the screen, not you as a person. . . .
Tribune: Did working with Paul Newman help you deal with those things?
Redford: Yeah, it did. When we did "Butch Cassidy," there was a vast difference in our positions and careers. He was like 13, 14 years older than I was. He was a well-established name, had done many movies. I had done a few. . . .
When we'd go out to eat, everybody would be paying attention to Paul, and I'd just kind of breeze along. But I did pay attention to how he handled it, and I suspect some of that went down with me.
Tribune: How did he handle it?
Redford: He was probably a little stricter than I was. He would either ignore it, or politely excuse himself and say, "I don't do that." He'd be eating, and if someone comes up to the table, he'd say, "I'm very sorry - I don't do that while I'm eating." And I adopted that. . . . You should prepare when you go to a public event to be public. That's when I will sign autographs. But not when you're going about your normal business.
Tribune: How did your political voice develop?
Redford: It started in Provo, in 1969. I was sort of minding my own business, and I noticed they were putting trucks at the base of the road to Provo Canyon. . . . A group came to me and says, "We need your help." It was a local group of fishermen. They said, "[The state] was planning a big road in here that doesn't need to be here." . . . I said, "Why me?" They said, "Because no one's listening to us." . . .
I kept saying, "Why don't you just go to your elected officials?" "Because they won't listen, they're turning a deaf ear, they won't hold public hearings, they won't do anything." I told them to go to the governor. They said, "We can't get an appointment with him." That's when I stepped in. I thought due process wasn't being followed here. . . .
Finally I called the governor, Cal Rampton, who I had a great relationship with. He said, "Bob, that's in the hands of our elected officials." I said, "Yeah, they're not listening." . . . It got a little testy. . . .
Tribune: Does celebrity make a good soapbox?
Redford: Well, I didn't think so for many years. That situation with the road led me into environmental activism on a broader scale.
I learned early that you'd better know what you're talking about. You'd better realize that certain issues are going to be so hot - no matter what reason, what logic you apply to it - you're going to be met with an opposition just because their viewpoint is different, and there's no way they're going to accept your reasoning. Furthermore, they're going to attack you because you will be portrayed as not being credible: "You're an actor. What do you know?" . . .
The biggest event that put me crossways with the political elements in the state, and the more conservative elements down in south and eastern Utah, was the Kaiparowits thing - the coal-fired power plant that would have polluted the whole [area]. I went against that [in 1976], went on "60 Minutes" to expose what these energy companies were going to do. I got nailed, I got really hammered pretty bad. . . . But my feelings just grew stronger over time, that we were desecrating one of the greatest assets we had. . . .
I kind of went underground in the '80s, and developed an organization at Sundance called the Institute for Resource Management. We had a series of conflict-resolution conferences, where we bring industry together with the environmental groups and work out problems.
Tribune: Do you feel politically alien when you're in Utah?
Redford: Not really. I think I've moved away and above it. I was more in the middle of state politics in the '70s, when I was supporting Wayne Owens and Ted Wilson. I kind of moved away from that when I started focusing on Sundance. . . .
I figure at a certain point, actions speak louder than words . . ., like putting your energies into creating something active to demonstrate what you feel. Having conferences, starting Sundance, seeing your political thoughts out into supporting films that are about free speech - things that come under threat when you have totalitarian elements in government, which we now have. . . .
So you support films that deal with those issues, rather than going out there talking about them, or you make the films yourself, like "Quiz Show" or "All the President's Men." You just go put your energies into that, and a little bit more behind-the-scenes. . . .
Tribune: Do you see many younger actors taking up the role you've established as actors with a social conscience?
Redford: Yes, I do. You've got Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz. There's a few actors out there that are working in smaller areas. . . . [But] there is a tendency in Hollywood to be fickle about your commitments. Then it becomes a question: Is this commitment coming from an ego, when the actor says, "I want to be taken seriously, so I'm going to attach myself to a cause," and it lasts for about a year. . . .
Tribune: Are you letting the Sundance Institute run more on its own now?
Redford: Yeah, because it can. It is established very well. It's doing good work, it will continue to do good work, and I can just play more of a creative role
Tribune: At the Kennedy Center, you'll be sitting in a box with George Bush for a couple of hours. Is that an opportunity you'd want to take to say something to him?
Redford: No, it's not worth it. . . . I don't want to make it about politics, so I probably won't - unless it's brought up, then that's a whole other ballgame.
I also feel this is an administration that just doesn't care about opposing points of view. They're going to so-called "stay the course" - and the course is going so far downhill so fast that it's sort of pointless to get into any kind of a discussion. It holds no merit. There's no point in it.