Posted on 09/21/2025 7:46:55 AM PDT by Rummyfan
The death of Robert Redford has inspired more than the usual somber eulogies, and one dominant message is that Redford was "the last movie star" and that his passing is an elegy, marking the end of Hollywood's best way of getting the most people in front of screens. "A star is different from an actor," wrote Joseph Epstein in the Wall Street Journal. "Stars always play themselves, while actors play characters. In an earlier day, one went to see a John Wayne or a Jane Russell movie, often not bothering to mention, or even learn, the movie's title. Redford, who was 89, was the last such movie star."
It wasn't enough that Redford was good looking – perhaps even the handsomest man to walk in front of a camera in his heyday. "He possessed an enduring American sensibility – a blend of cool and regal, charm and rebellion," wrote Charles F. McElwee in City Journal. "He broke the generation gap and drew young and old, men and women, to catch a glimpse of him. His looks weathered with age and time."
When I was growing up, the mere mention of his name was the set-up for a comic swoon by women in sitcoms. And there's Mike Nichols' famous story about rejecting Redford for the role Dustin Hoffman would play in The Graduate. "I said, 'You can't play it. You can never play a loser.' And Redford said, 'What do you mean? Of course I can play a loser.' And I said, 'Okay, have you ever struck out with a girl?' and he said, 'What do you mean?' And he wasn't joking."
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
“Who ARE those guys?”
As they watch then in the distance...
That movie was funny? I can’t swim-Newman laughs-the fall will kill ya.
I don’t get it.
Are you serious????
Are you serious????
Wouldn’t Clint Eastwood qualify? People have always said, I am going to see the new Clint Eastwood movie, NOT “For a Few Dollars More” or “Gran Torino” or “Sudden Impact”.
The article attached to this stated:
“In an earlier day, one went to see a John Wayne or a Jane Russell movie, often not bothering to mention, or even learn, the movie’s title. Redford, who was 89, was the last such movie star.”
Whoever wrote that was totally in the dark. Names like Eastwood and Bronson come to mind as still alive heart throbs that have outlived Redford and, with Eastwood, were performing as a name long before Redford became a front liner. Seems like every time someone of notoriety passes the thinking on the person morphs into almost hero worship and gets stupid.
wy69
Charles Bronson is dead, passed away in 2003.
"Robert Redford appeared in the 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone titled 'Nothing in the Dark.'
In this episode, he played Harold Beldon, a young police officer who is shot and wounded outside the home of an elderly woman, Wanda Dunn, portrayed by Gladys Cooper. Initially, Wanda fears that Beldon is Death incarnate, a figure she has long avoided, but she eventually brings him in after confirming he is not a threat."
Of course, he is death.
A young, very handsome Robert Redford at the beginning of his very long career:
If you mean Charles Bronson I didn’t know he was a heartthrob guy, he was an action actor, even Eastwood seemed to lose the heartthrob description after Rawhide, and was almost always thought of as an action guy wasn’t he, with rare exception?
Bronson died 22 years ago.
Paul and Robert might have been liberal, but not as liberal as today's unhinged Hollywood so called stars!
Joanne Woodward not Woodley.
“”Newman later flew as a turret gunner in an Avenger torpedo bomber. As a radioman-gunner, his unit was assigned to the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill with other replacements shortly before the Battle of Okinawa in spring 1945. The pilot of his aircraft had an earache and was grounded, as was his crew, including Newman. The rest of their squadron flew to the Bunker Hill. Days later, a kamikaze attack on the vessel killed several hundred crewmen and airmen, including other members of his unit.””
“”Bronson served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress aerial gunner with the Guam-based 61st Bombardment Squadron within the 39th Bombardment Group, which conducted combat missions against the Japanese home islands.He flew 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle.””
“”Eastwood was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. While returning from a prearranged tryst in Seattle, he was a passenger on a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes. Using a life raft, he and the pilot swam 2 miles (3.2 km) to safety.””
“Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?”
Charles Bronson wasn’t exactly what you would describe as handsome. Maybe “rugged looking.”
As an aside, if you're into "buddy"-type movies, I would recommend "Lucky Lady", a prohibition-era bootlegging movie starring Burt Reynolds, Gene Hackman, and Liza Minnelli, with John Hillerman as the bad guy.
Paul Newman was so much better looking than any other Hollywood plastic man {and was also a better actor} during his prime time.
Hollywood has always had good looking people {that's what they do} and looks are a matter of opinion, so I'll not get into a response because this is just my opinion.
I'd have to add, "The Natural," to that list.
Jeremiah Johnson.
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