‘We lost an absolute legend’: Leonardo DiCaprio pays tribute to Robert Redford

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has paid tribute to actor Robert Redford, who has died aged 89, saying the film industry has “lost an absolute legend”.

Redford was acclaimed for films including All The President’s Men, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and The Sting, and was also known for his activism, as well as directing films such as Ordinary People, for which he won an Oscar, and A River Runs Through It.

Speaking at the London premiere of One Battle After Another, DiCaprio, 50, told the PA news agency: “Very sad news, very sad day.

“We lost an absolute legend in our industry. I admire him for not only his work as an actor, but as a director with Quiz Show.

“We have a film tonight that we’re premiering, that is a political thriller in a lot of ways, and he was the one that created the foundation for all that, with All The President’s Men, Three Days Of The Condor.

“But more so than anything, I’ve said it over and over again, he was an avid environmental advocate, was a member of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defence Council) like me, and he was a hero to a lot of people in our industry, including myself, so it’s a huge loss.”

Actor Benicio Del Toro, also at the premiere, paid tribute to Redford’s work as advocate for independent cinema, which led to his creation of the Sundance Institute, known for its annual Sundance Film Festival.

He told the PA news agency: “One of my earliest memories in this business was the premiere of The Usual Suspects in Sundance, and I will never forget that moment, and it was amazing.

“And what he did for young film-makers with Sundance in America, in the USA, it’s unprecedented, and it was amazing.

“I believe that he touched my career, not only as an entertainer, but also as an influence, influencing great young film-makers that have been going through Sundance and becoming legends like probably Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another director).”

The festival has helped launch the careers of directors including Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh, and provided a launchpad for films such as Reservoir Dogs, Sex, Lies And Videotape, The Blair Witch Project, Little Miss Sunshine and recent Oscar-winner Coda.

Also paying tribute on Instagram was actress Demi Moore, who starred alongside Redford in 1993’s Indecent Proposal.

She said: “The world has lost an incredible actor, director, husband, father, friend … Robert’s legacy will live on forever in so many ways and I will carry the many memories we share close to my heart.

“What I would do for just one more dance.”

Also paying tribute was actress Barbra Streisand, who worked with Redford. She said in a post on Instagram: “Every day on the set of The Way We Were was exciting, intense and pure joy.

“We were such opposites, he was from the world of horses, I was allergic to them, yet, we kept trying to find out more about each other, just like the characters in the movie.

“Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting — and one of the finest actors ever.

“The last time I saw him, when he came to lunch, we discussed art and decided to send each other our first drawings. He was one of a kind and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him.”

US president Donald Trump also described Redford as “great” while speaking to reporters on Tuesday, adding: “He had a series of years where there was nobody better.”

It comes after a statement from Redford’s publicist Cindi Berger, chairman and chief executive of talent agency Rogers and Cowan PMK, said: “Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah – the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.

“He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy.”

Redford was a Hollywood golden boy in the 1970s after his leading roles in Barefoot In The Park, with Jane Fonda, and Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, in which he starred opposite Paul Newman.

He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in 1973’s The Sting, which reunited him with Newman, and starred opposite Faye Dunaway in Three Days Of The Condor and Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were, before taking on the role of Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in Watergate film All The President’s Men in 1976, opposite Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein.

Redford started to eschew his leading man status and turned his hand to directing, winning an Oscar for his directorial debut Ordinary People.

Other directorial projects included 1988’s The Milagro Beanfield War and A River Runs Through It in 1992, as well as Quiz Show in 1994 and 1998’s The Horse Whisperer, in which he starred opposite Scarlett Johansson and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Redford carried on acting throughout his career, with notable roles in The Natural, Out Of Africa and blockbuster Indecent Proposal, in which he starred opposite Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.

He won rave reviews in 2013 for his turn as a shipwrecked sailor in All Is Lost, in which he was the film’s only performer, and most recently he ventured into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing double agent Alexander Pierce.

Redford was also a passionate environmentalist and climate activist and founded The Redford Centre, an environmental non-profit that produces films and provides grants to filmmakers who direct films that touch on climate change and the environment, with his late son James in 2005.

Redford and ex-wife Lola Van Wagenen had four children together: Scott, who died in infancy, Shauna, Amy, and James, who died from bile duct cancer in his liver at the age of 58.

He married his second wife, artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford, in 2009.