I just realized what today was! Aug. 18th is Robert Redford's birthday. I have been in love with him since the release of the movie"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". I think I was in Junior High at the time and I was in love the from first moment I saw him on the screen.
When I was a kid my family was on vacation in Utah. I made my dad drive us up to the Sundance Ski Resort. I just knew since this was the ski resort owned by the Sundance Kid himself, we'd see him just walking around....just waiting for silly Vivian to get an autograph. As we drove through the Provo canyon my heart was beating so fast. "I just know we're going to see him," I told my dad. I went into the gift shop and bought a postcard. I think I was shaking when I asked the girl at the counter if Mr. Redford was around. She said "No, not today."What! Oh the disappointment. A little girl's dreams crushed.
Still I continued to love him. I kept scrapbooks of all my movie ticket stubs, and pictures of him from all the magazines I could find. Throughout high school was drooling over him in movies such as "Jeremiah Johnson", "The Way We Were", "The Sting."
Then in about 1979 I was attending BYU, not far from the Sundance Ski Resort. One winter, (ok, I was not a very serious student that year) I took skiing classes all day long..morning and afternoon. (was I earning college credit for that?) After a while I became a pretty g
ood skiier. I spent a lot of time at the resort and never once saw Mr. Redford. I was enjoying the skiing so much and soon began to forget I needed keep my eyes open for him. Until one day...
ood skiier. I spent a lot of time at the resort and never once saw Mr. Redford. I was enjoying the skiing so much and soon began to forget I needed keep my eyes open for him. Until one day...I had gone to the lodge to get a snack--homemade bread with honey-butter--and coming out of the men's room was Robert Redford. What! He uses the men's room like a regular person? I thought he was a god among men! I was disheartened. And he was so short! Wow, in the movies they made him look so much taller! Robert Redford was just a normal guy. I was so surprised I couldn't even say a word. I just stared.
Ok....even though this should have broken the Robert Redford spell I was under all my life up to that point, it did not. Next he made movies like "The Natural", "Out of Africa", "Indecent Proposal", and "Up Close and Personal". I continue to be under his spell. My patient, understanding husband takes me to see all his movies and I sit there and sigh, staring up at the big screen, drooling over him, like I have all these years!
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Charlotte, another blogger, once wrote about seeing Robert Redford at the Sundance Film Festival. I like what she said about him. It made me happy. "...prior to the actual movie being debuted, he announced the film, the producers, and gave a brief introduction. He is very handsome. I think what stood out so clearly to me was the wrinkles in his face. They proved he is a happy man. Also very genuine. He isn't hiding anything. He is just himself. He has a beautiful smile. And he is short!"
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Happy 71st Birthday Robert Redford from your #1 fan always! Love, Vivian
7 comments:
He IS a beautiful man, isn't he? However, I just realized from your post that he is older than my father! Just one year, but somehow he just never has seemed that old to me. Wow.
You were at BYU the same year my parents were! And I was a twinkle in the eye in '79. :o)
Happy Birthday Robert!
I was in my late teens when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid came out and I was in love with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. I worked part-time for a dentist in the afternoons and he gave me big posters of each of them. I hung Paul on the wall of my small room and wanted to hang Robert on the ceiling over my bed. My dear daddy thought that was disgraceful and declined to help me hang it. I told him if he didn't help me, I'd get my brother to do it. So Daddy got out the ladder and helped me. Now that I'm a parent (and grandparent), I realize how hard that must have been for my saintly daddy to think of his daughter lying in bed looking up at a man.
I loved this post, because I was also a junior high student when I saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I fell so deeply in love with Robert Redford, that I also kept a scrapbook! I was in the little grocery store in my hometown of 800, scouring a movie magazine for photos of him. There was a picture of him with his family, and it listed the ages of his children. That's when I realized that I was the same age as one of his daughters. I could barely contain my tears until I got home. I cried my heart out, first, to find out that he was already married, and second, to know that I was the same age as his daughter! It truly devistated me! How funny that is to think of now. However, I still adore him. P.S. I'm short too! :-)
Oh. Swoon. My ski story didn't turn out quite as good as yours. Jan '77 -- taking my ski class at the Y. First class, first time on skiis, on the bunny slope I tore all the ligaments in my knee. And that darn Robert Redford wouldn't refund my season lift pass money. The nerve (as if he had any idea.) I didn't even get on that ski lift once and the Dr. wouldn't let me ski for the rest of the season and $80 was a LOT of money to a poor starving student back then. If only Robert could have walked by ... it would have been so worth it. He wasn't my friend for awhile. But I got over it and, like you, love all of his movies. The Sting = The Best!
When I was a newspaper reporter and in college, I was covering a rodeo in a small town in Utah, Robert was in the audience (all by himself) I secretly managed to take a ton of photos of him in the grand stand--instead of the cows and horses--later, after the rodeo was over, I was interviewing the rodeo clown for a feature story. Robert came up to tell the clown what a great job he did...The clown asked for a photo of him and Robert and I took them. Robert made sure to make me promise I would send a copy of the photos to the clown. I was impressed by how caring, nice and genuine he was. Plus so very good looking. Thanks for the post Vivian. Gina at www.QuiltersBuzz.com
Oh - And I also have been in LOVE with him since he first appeared on the screens!!!
How can someone so GORGEOUS already be 71 years old!!!
He's a hunk at any age.....
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