Jane Fonda is grieving the loss of her dear friend Robert Redford, who died at his Sundance home in Utah on September 16, 2025, at the age of 89.
“It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can’t stop crying,” Fonda, 87, said in a statement, published by The New York Post. “He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for.”
Redford’s family confirmed his death in a statement to People, sharing that he passed “surrounded by those he loved” in the Utah mountains.
A Hollywood Friendship That Spanned Six Decades
(Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)Fonda and Redford first appeared together in the 1960 romantic comedy “Tall Story.” They went on to co-star in “The Chase” (1966), “Barefoot in the Park” (1967), “The Electric Horseman” (1979), and reunited decades later in “Our Souls at Night” (2017).
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Their on-screen chemistry made them one of Hollywood’s most beloved duos, while off-screen, they maintained a warm friendship that lasted more than 60 years.
Fonda’s Sweet Confessions on Redford
(Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)Over the years, Fonda openly spoke about her admiration for Redford. In 2008, she told People magazine, “He is so handsome and just such a wonderful human being. Every movie I made with him, I developed a crush on him.”
In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, she admitted, “I was always in love with Robert Redford. I made three films with him and nothing happened because I was married and he was married.”
Two years later, Redford told The Telegraph he never realized she had feelings for him, joking, “I didn’t know she was in love with me!”
Redford’s Final Years & Legacy
Redford’s final screen appearance came in 2025 with a cameo in the AMC series “Dark Winds.” Before that, he had lent his voice to the 2020 film “Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia” and contributed to his wife Sibylle Szaggars Redford’s 2024 performance art piece “The Way of the Rain — Hope for Earth.”
The Oscar-winning actor, director, and Sundance Film Festival founder is survived by his wife, Sibylle, his daughters Shauna and Amy, and his grandchildren.
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)In August 2018, Robert Redford told Entertainment Weekly (as reported by People) that he intended to retire after filming “The Old Man & the Gun,” in which he appeared alongside Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover, Tika Sumpter, and Tom Waits.
“Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and I’ll move toward retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21,” he said at the time.
Just a month later, Redford admitted he regretted making that declaration, telling People he wasn’t sure what the future might bring. “I think it was a mistake to say that I was retiring because you never know,” he said.
