Robert Redford: The Biography

(Paperback)

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The definitive biography of Robert Redford.

He has appeared on stage and screen, in front of and behind the camera, earning Academy, Golden Globe, and other awards and nominations for his acting, directing, and producing. His Sundance Film Festival transformed the world of filmmaking. Robert Redford is among the widely admired Hollywood stars of his generation. But only now, with this revelatory biography, will we see behind the Hollywood faade to the surprising and complex man.

Redford made available to Michael Feeney Callan his personal papers: journals, script notes, correspondence, hundreds of hours of taped interviews. Here is his family background and childhood, his rocky start in acting, the death of his son, his star-making relationship with director Sydney Pollack, the establishment of Sundance, his political involvement, artistic successes and failures, friendships and romances. Here is a revelation of a man whose iconic roles on screen (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Natural) and directorial brilliance (Ordinary People, Quiz Show) have both defined and obscured him.

Reviews

"As incisive a biography of Redford as there is ever likely to be." --"The New York Times"
"One of the 10 Best Movie Books of the Year." -"Entertainment Weekly
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"Revealing. . . . An unusually well-written movie-star biography. . . . "Robert Redford" is as fascinating...as its subject." --"The Wall Street Journal"
"Meticulous. . . . Tells Redford's story through Redford's eyes and through the eyes of his family, friends and allied associates." --"San Francisco Chronicle"
"First-rate. . . . A layered portrait of one of the most famous--and elusive--faces in pop culture." --"Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"
"Deeply researched. . . . Callan's book begins and ends exactly where it should: with that quadrant of Utah soil christened by its owner 'Sundance.'" --"The Washington Post"
"Meticulous. . . . Covers in detail Redford's four-decade acting career, his emergence as a director and his dedication to environmental causes." --"The New York Times Book Review"
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"Genuinely insightful . . . Michael Feeney Callan remains keenly aware of his subject's larger-than-lifeness, even as he tries to chip away to reveal the person underneath." --"Entertainment Weekly"
"Callan's book is one of the most thoroughly researched, analytic examinations ever conducted into the life of a popular entertainer."" --The Sunday Times (London)"
"A precise, weighty analysis of Redford's life and impact, meticulously constructed and delivered with pace and style. . . . Set to become the definitive account, not only of Redford, but also of that era of movie-making that was his hey-day, the era of "All The President's Men" and "The Candidate."" --"Irish Independent"
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"A deft narrative about the business of making mainstream movies from the 1960s to the present, loaded with insider interviews and compelling mini-histories of how Redford movies like 'The Candidate, ' 'Out of Africa, ' and 'A River Runs Through It' came to be made.

Author Bio

Michael Feeney Callan is the author of short stories, for which he won the Hennessy Literary Award; two novels; and several plays, as well as biographies of Anthony Hopkins, Richard Harris, Julie Christie, and Sean Connery. He has worked for the BBC, ITV and Ireland's Ardmore Studios as a writer, producer and director of television dramas and documentaries. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.