“Let us rise above the fray and focus on what unites us: our fate, as humans, that rests upon the earth.” — Robert Redford
Robert Redford, one of Hollywood’s most enduring icons, has passed away at the age of 89. Beloved worldwide for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and All the President’s Men, Redford also carried a little piece of Crete in his life story.
In a 2013 interview with Greek Reporter, the Oscar-winning actor and director revealed that as a young man, he lived on the island of Crete. Not just a fleeting visit — he spent five full months in Heraklion in the 1960s, alongside his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, and their young family.
“I’ve been to Greece,” Redford said in that interview. “I lived on the island of Crete, outside of Heraklion, for five months in the 1960s with my family.”
Five Months in Heraklion
It was a period of quiet discovery for the actor, years before he became one of cinema’s most recognizable faces. Redford also mentioned living for a time in Agios Triada, on the south side of the island, drawn by Crete’s landscapes and its people.
“I took my family there because I loved Greece, and I read about it, and I wanted to go there, and I love the Greek people,” he recalled.
Those five months in Heraklion were never the headline of his career. Still, they remain a remarkable footnote in the life of a man who would go on to transform both film and independent cinema.
A Life Larger Than the Screen
Redford’s legacy is vast: actor, director, producer, activist, and founder of the Sundance Institute, which reshaped the future of independent film. But his affection for Greece reminds us that even stars of his magnitude found meaning in the simple act of living somewhere quietly, anonymously, and falling in love with a place.
For Heraklion, for Crete, and for Greece, Robert Redford will always be remembered not just as a cinematic legend — but as the man who once made their island his home..
