When Robert Redford opened up about being a reluctant sex symbol: ‘Glamour image can be a real handicap. It is crap’

Robert Redford, sun-kissed, blue-eyed, and effortlessly cool, was the epitome of American male beauty for a generation. Redford was the movie star, not merely a celebrity, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to The Way We Were. However, Redford never saw the moniker of “sex symbol” as a mark of honor. He actually detested it.

In an interview with The New York Times dated 1974, Redford reflected on the discomfort that came with being idolised for his looks rather than his craft. “I never thought of myself as a glamorous guy, a handsome guy, any of that stuff. Suddenly, there’s this image. And it makes me very nervous, because it keeps people from judging you on performance.”

That image, according to Redford, often got in the way of being taken seriously as an actor. He pointed out how critics dismissed his performances as typecasting: “When I made The Candidate, people said, ‘Yeah, sure, slick, handsome guy, the part’s just right for him.’ When I made The Way We Were, they said, ‘Yeah, Ivy League WASP jock. The part fits him like a glove.’”

Redford, however, was always fighting the mold. He had to struggle to get parts that didn’t fit his image of the golden lad. “The picture” didn’t fit Jeremiah Johnson, so he had to struggle to obtain him,” he said. In contrast to the polished romantic leads Hollywood expected of him, the role—that of a lonely mountain man surviving in the wild—was gritty and introspective.

He also talked about the criticism he got for The Great Gatsby (1974), a movie that critics frequently criticized for being more flair than content. “A lot of the knocks I took for Gatsby were because of image. Critics said Redford was too good-looking, Redford was awkward with the language. But Fitzgerald never said Gatsby wasn’t good-looking… He said Gatsby’s language was awkward, bordering on the absurd. That was a quality I worked for. I mean, didn’t they read the book?”

On September 16, at the age of 89, legendary actor, filmmaker, and activist Robert Redford passed away in his sleep at his Sundance, Utah, home. With roles in movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and All the President’s Men, Redford established himself as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men over the course of six decades. He also left a lasting legacy behind the camera. In addition to promoting indie film and founding the Sundance Film Festival, he received other honors, including an Oscar for directing Ordinary People.