Robert Redford says he is retiring from acting

Robert Redford has had a long, prolific career in Hollywood, starring in groundbreaking hit movies such as 1973’s “The Sting” and 1985’s “Out of Africa.” This week, however, the 81-year-old actor revealed that he plans to retire from the industry.

Redford confirmed to Entertainment Weekly in an exclusive interview that he will hang up his acting hat following the release of his latest film, “The Old Man and The Gun.” The Oscar winner said that the “framework” of the crime comedy, based on real-life career criminal Forrest Tucker (played by Redford), helped him come to the decision.

“Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and [I’ll] move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21,” Redford told Entertainment Weekly. “I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough.’ And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”

Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Redford has never shied away from taking on meaty roles that pushed boundaries. But the Hollywood star is not known only for his acting chops — he’s also a talented director who won a Best Director Academy Award for 1980’s “Ordinary People.” The California native would take home his second Oscar in 2002 when he was given the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Here are a handful of Redford’s other career highlights.

“Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid”

Although Redford made his acting debut in 1960, it was 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” that put him on the map. The American Western comedy, loosely based on the story of two outlaw legends, also starred the late Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy and won three Academy Awards — Best Song, Best Writing and Best Cinematography — in 1970.

“All The President’s Men”

In 1976, Redford would go on to star alongside Dustin Hoffman in “All the President’s Men,” a political thriller based on the real-life work of reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who investigated the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post. The film was selected for preservation in the U.S. Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 2010 for its cultural and historical significance.

The Sundance Film Festival

In 1981, Redford founded the Sundance Institute, a non-profit for independent artists, and then the Sundance Film Festival began in 1984. In the decades since, Sundance has become the quintessential festival for independent films and has launched hundreds of careers in Hollywood.

Presidential Medal Of Freedom

Before leaving office, President Barack Obama honored Redford with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 for both his extensive body of work and his role in advocating for other artists. Obama also noted Redford’s history of philanthropy, particularly for environmental causes.

Hollywood will surely miss a legend with Redford stepping away from the big screen. What is your favorite Redford movie?