The iconic actor and Academy Award winner died Tuesday. He was 89 years old.
SAN ANTONIO — Among the outpouring of tributes for the Hollywood actor and pop cultural icon Robert Redford – who died Tuesday morning at the age of 89 – is a message from another, Texas-born Robert who credited Redford with supercharging his career.
Robert Rodriguez, the San Antonio native whose microbudget action/Western debut “El Mariachi” provided the spark to a successful filmmaking career, shared on Facebook that Redford was “the massive superstar of my youth.” Redford parlayed his blonde, showstopper looks into A-list star status through films like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Natural.”
Rodriguez also shared a personal note of gratitude connected to Redford’s founding of the Sundance Institute in 1981. Named after his role in the 1969 movie, the institute’s creation provided a new platform to spotlight young rising stars like Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater and Rodriguez, whose “El Mariachi” – famously made for just $7,000 – debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993.
“To have ‘El Mariachi’ accepted into his Sundance Film Festival – the most important and prestigious independent film festival in the world – remains one of the biggest highlights of my life,” Rodriguez wrote, calling his visit to Park City “a dream.”
“The greatest honor I’ve ever had and will ever have was being awarded at Sundance,” Rodriguez went on to say. “Thank you, Mr. Redford. Your vision and independent spirit forever changed my life.”
Rodriguez would go on to work with the likes of Tarantino, George Clooney and Antonio Banderas in movies like “Desperado,” “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn” and “Spy Kids.” He’s based out of his Troublemaker Studios in Austin.
Among the dozens of comments on the filmmaker’s post are similar sentiments of gratitude for how Redford created timeless moviegoing memories while using his stardom to help get bold works produced. The Santa Monica native received his first Academy Award nomination for acting in “The Sting” and won the Oscar for Best Director for 1980’s searing family drama “Ordinary People.”
“He was as much a humanist as he was an artist,” wrote one Facebook user on Rodriguez’s post. “He advocated for the arts, but film was pushed in a direction because of him (that) we never knew was possible.”
The Alamo also pays tribute
The iconic San Antonio landmark joined in on the sharing of memories amid Redford’s death—including a local connection.
In a social media post, the Alamo shared a photo of what Redford wrote in the downtown Spanish mission’s guest book when he visited 20 years ago.
“What a wonderful experience,” Redford wrote of the visit, calling the Alamo a “great symbol of American heritage and early times of my own family’s heritage in San Marcos and Austin.”
Adding to his Lone Star State legacy, the City of San Marcos honored the Redford family’s San Marcos connection in a 2017 proclamation naming him an honorary citizen of the Central Texas city.