Robert Redford’s grandchildren posted heartwarming tributes to the Oscar winner following his death at age 89, including never-before-seen family photos.
For seven people, Robert Redford was simply Grandpa.
Following the Oscar winner’s death at age 89 on Sept. 16, several of his grandchildren paid tribute with never-before-seen family photos of him.
“He was larger than life to the world, but to his family, he was simply that…family,” Conor Schlosser, son of Robert’s daughter Shauna Redford and Eric Schlosser, wrote on Instagram. “Rest in peace, Grandpa.”
The 33-year-old, who included photos of himself and the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star riding a horse, opening presents, sitting down for dessert and golfing together, added, “If anyone has a favorite story of him you’d like to share, please send it to me in a private message—I’d love to collect them.”
And riding horses with his family was clearly a favorite pastime as Lena Redford—daughter of Robert’s late son James Redford and his wife Kyle Redford—also shared horseback photos, as well as pics of the two sharing sweet moments with family.
Lena captioned her Instagram post with a red heart emoji and added on her Instagram Stories, “Taught me so much,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories, alongside the photos from her post, before joking of his preferred hat brand, “Had us all in kangol.”
And the 29-year-old also posited what she imagines the reunion between The Sting actor and her father—who died at age 58 in 2020 after battling bile duct cancer—would look like.
“Dad & Grandpa,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories alongside a photo of the father and son. “I feel like they are riding awesome horses in heaven.”
But amid Robert’s storied career both in front of and behind the camera, for many years his grandkids weren’t aware of his fame. In fact, Dylan Redford, 34, James and Kyle’s son, previously told his grandfather of realizing just how well known he was.
“I remember the time when I was in fourth grade and you came to my school for Grandparents’ Day,” Dylan revealed to Robert in a 2016 interview for Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center. “That was a real moment for me, where I was like, ‘What is going on? This is my grandpa. Why is everyone so interested?’”
“I remember this one girl came up to me and handed me a note,” he continued. “She was like, ‘This is a note from my grandmother that she gave to me to give to you to give to your dad to give to your grandfather.’ It was like, ‘What is going on here? Is this like all grandparents? Is there some sort of communication between grandparents that’s going on that I don’t know about?’”
For Robert—also dad to late son Scott Redford and daughter Amy Redford with first wife Lola Van Wagenen—it also marked the first time he was aware his grandkids were seeing this part of his world.
“I’ll bet it did. I remember that Grandparents’ Day and realizing, ‘Jesus, Dylan and Lena, they don’t know,” he admitted. “They’re probably wondering what the hell is going on here, because I’m going to Grandparents’ Day but I’m suddenly not a grandparent. I’m a celebrity.’”
But for Dylan and the rest of his family that celebrity element never factored in. “Well, I’ve talked with Lena and the cousins about how lucky we all feel to have you as our grandfather and as someone in our lives who is so open and honest and willing to give advice and to tell stories,” Dylan emphasized. “It’s always felt to us that you are first and foremost our grandfather.”
After all, he praised how Robert—who was married to Sibylle Szaggars from 2009 until his death—was able to keep his family life away from the outside noise, adding, “It’s always felt like there’s the outside world that has its own thing and then there’s our family, which feels really special. I think it’s something that you’ve clearly put a lot of thought and effort into making.”
For more of Robert’s life, keep reading…
1965
1967
Barefoot In The Park
1969
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1970
Little Fauss and Big Halsy
1973
The Way We Were
1978
1980
Directing Ordinary People
1981
1985
Out of Africa
1988
1993
Indecent Proposal
1995
1998
The Horse Whisperer
2002
2007
2012
2013
2015
2018
The Old Man & the Gun
2021
Source: www.eonline.com