“He stood up for me”: the actor who changed Robert Redford’s life
There are few more iconic multi-decade-spanning actors than the incomparable Robert Redford, and over the years, the iconic model of stardom has worked with a fair few partners in some epic films.
Whether your favourite is All the President’s Men, 1967’s Barefoot in the Park, or indeed the iconic Charlotte’s Web, Redford has appeared in some of the most legendary movies of all time. One of Redford’s most well-known flicks, though, was, of course, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which he worked very closely with Paul Newman. The two embarked on a lifelong friendship after the making of Butch Cassidy, up until Newman’s death in 2008.
Redford looks back on his time meeting Newman and making Butch Cassidy with fondness, and the friend he found in Newman clearly made a huge impact. In an interview with Esquire, Redford said: “I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve had wonderful relationships with people I’ve worked with. But nothing has sustained like Paul Newman. Nothing has sustained like our connection. It went into movie friendship, into personal friendship. It cut very deep.”
In an admission that’s very rare in friendships, especially male ones, he continued: “He changed my life: he agreed to have me in the movie [Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid] that I shouldn’t have been in. He was that generous. The studio wanted Steve McQueen, they wanted Marlon Brando, they wanted big-name people. And I was not that. I had only done Barefoot in the Park. I was 11 years younger than Paul, and [the director] George Roy Hill and I met, and he and I clicked. He wanted me,” it was a moment that would provide a fork in the road for the young actor and see him fly into the stratosphere as success beckoned.
“And then [the screenwriter] William Goldman wanted me, but the studio didn’t: ‘We can’t put Paul in with a no-name like that.’ George said, ‘Let’s go meet Paul.’ And Paul and I spent an evening together, drinking and talking. After, he said to the studio, ‘I want to go with Redford.’ He stood up for me. They didn’t pay me anything. [Laughs.] I almost had to pay my way into the movie.”
Clearly, the way Newman fought for Redford struck a chord, as he said: “But that generosity really struck me hard, that he could be that generous and have that kind of integrity. And then as the film went on, we both pushed aside our movie personas and just became friends. We developed this relationship that was full of a lot of kidding and tricks played on each other, just great fun. It turned into a longtime friendship that still exists, even though he’s not with us anymore. I think about him. And I will always be grateful for his generosity.”
And Redford, of course, still sings his pal’s praises. He continued: “Well, he was a pretty big deal, and he was always humble. That impressed me. I never felt like it was going to his head. He developed a way to behave in public, and a way to be in private.”
In comparison to some stars of the day, it was a unique way to live one’s life, but Newman fostered a sense of normality that allowed his close friends to be even closer: “Friendship was very important to him, and being able to be a real person was very important to him, to be an authentic person rather than to behave like a star. In his private life, he was just a real person. Very, very humble. I think I benefited from that friendship in that respect. He was just a down-home guy.”
It seems like we could all use a Paul Newman in our lives, and with the way Redford talks about him, it’s a great pity that he’s no longer around – imagine the antics they could be getting up to.
