My Time With Robert Redford The Sundance Kid

My Time With Robert Redford The Sundance Kid

It was as if I broke through a cosmic force field bonding with the film version of the Sundance Kid. I already had a relationship of sorts with Paul Newman, and now I was meeting Butch Cassidy’s sidekick and bookend, Sundance Kid. For me, it was the mid-1990s with my career continuing to build some traction, and this was a powerful moment.

Paul had named his camp for kids the Hole In The Wall Gang Camp after the film. Hole-in-the-Wall is a remote pass in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. Around the turn of the century, the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang met at the log cabin, which is now preserved as a museum in Cody, Wyoming.

On the other hand, Redford named his resort and film festival “Sundance” after his Sundance Kid character. Redford’s first wife, Lola, was from Utah, and they had built a home in the area in 1963. The movie Jeremiah Johnson was shot nearby and was one of Redford’s favorites and had heavily influenced him.

So here I was on this bridge from Paul to my connecting with Redford. I had been selected for work on his feature film Quiz Show. It was the story behind Twenty-One, an allegedly rigged game show. It starred Ralph Fiennes and John Turturro, the latter I’d later work as stand-in with Turturro on a film, Search and Destroy. Search was directed by artist David Salle. I earlier had worked on a commercial campaign directed by artist Norman Seff, but that’s another story later. What was it about artists turned directors?! Fascinating for sure.

Quiz Show took place in the 1950s, so the production had a strict attention to detail. The casting director was brought in who specializes in period films and already had a trail of industry accolades. They worked closely with the wardrobe and costume designer who was a close friend and trusted confidant. Her hard work can be appreciated in the visual palette.

I was to meet Redford at a wrap party for the film. I had befriended a grip assistant on the film, and we had become casual friends. I chatted with him while plotting how I would find my way over to the famed director and icon for a photo op. I took a deep breath and walked toward him as he was finishing a conversation with another partygoer. I made eye contact and congratulated him on the film while shaking his hand. He beamed a thank you, and without a beat, I asked if we could take a photograph, and bang, there it was!

It didn’t matter that I looked goofy and overly enthusiastic. I had that memory captured on film. In a way, I felt like I had rejoined Butch and the Kid cosmically in my own narrowing Six Degrees of Separation. Demi Moore (Indecent Proposal), Meryl Streep (Out of Africa), and Barbra Streisand (The Way We Were) were now within those six degrees. I’d later meet Demi while doubling for Alec Baldwin (The Juror) and Jane Fonda (Electric Horseman) at an event celebrating Stanley & Iris with Robert DeNiro.

They say never meet your heroes. Sometimes you meet someone, and it’s a dream, and sometimes a disappointment. Have you ever met a celebrity you had also had on a pedestal? Did they leave you excited or wishing you hadn’t experienced a closer look?