Robert Redford, who had a close connection with North Carolina, has died

Robert Redford, who died Tuesday, had ties to North Carolina, including two films created in the state and a history of environmental activism.

Famous actor, director and advocate Robert Redford has died at age 89.

Redford’s acting career spanned over 60 years, during which time he used his fame and spotlight to advocate for independent filmmaking, LGBTQ rights and environmentalism. He was known for big titles, including the 1969 Western adventure film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

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Redford also had a history of success off-screen and behind the scenes, including a 1981 best director Academy Award for family drama “Ordinary People.”

Here’s what else to know about Redford, including his activism, his history of films in the Carolinas and more.

What movies did Robert Redford film in North Carolina?

Redford’s ties to North Carolina primarily involve two movies filmed in the western part of the state.

“The Clearing,” released in 2004, is a crime thriller starring Redford and Helen Mirren as successful husband and wife Wayne and Eileen Hayes. The couple’s lives are turned upside down when disgruntled employee Arnold Mack, played by Willem Dafoe, kidnaps Wayne and holds him for ransom.

While in Asheville for the filming of “The Clearing,” Redford spoke to the Citizen Times on shortcomings of the state’s Senate candidates and other politicians.

“What I think the people deserve and are not getting, whether it’s the state of North Carolina or pretty much anywhere else in the country, we are entitled to forthright and forthcoming information and I think we are entitled to a debate on a particular issue,” Redford said in an interview with the Citizen Times.

His other North Carolina film was “A Walk in the Woods,” released in 2015. The biographical comedy-drama film features Redford as travel writer Bill Bryson and Nick Nolte as his long-lost friend, following the two as they undertake the ambitious goal of hiking the roughly 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail together.

When did Robert Redford die?

Redford died Tuesday, Sept. 16, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah, “the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly,” his rep Cindi Berger told USA TODAY in a statement Tuesday. “The family requests privacy.”

What was Robert Redford’s cause of death?

USA TODAY wrote that no cause of death has been announced. Redford’s publicist said that he died in his sleep.

Reporting by Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Citizen Times

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