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disaster. He was so anxious that he flubbed his lines and "broke into a cold sweat" . It was a humiliating moment that could have ended his career, but it also crystalized his determination. He would succeed on his own terms. Breakthrough on Broadway Redford's break came not in Hollywood but in New York theatre. He was cast in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, playing the charming, strait-laced husband opposite Elizabeth Ashley. The play was a massive hit, running for over 1,500 performances . Redford's performance, full of charm and physical comedy, caught the eye of Hollywood—including that of Jane Fonda, who would become his frequent co-star. Chapter Three: The Dawn of a New Era Barefoot in the Park Goes to Hollywood When Paramount Pictures decided to adapt Barefoot in the Park for the screen, they knew exactly who they wanted for the lead. The 1967 film version paired Redford with Jane Fonda and became a box-office hit. His transition from stage to screen was seamless. He had the matinee idol looks of a classic Hollywood star, but there was also something modern about him—a casualness, a wry intelligence that resonated with the changing times . The Sundance Kid If Barefoot in the Park introduced Redford to the world, his next film transformed him into a legend. William Goldman's script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was considered one of the best ever written, but there was initial hesitation from the studio about casting Redford. They saw him as a city boy, not a Western outlaw. Director George Roy Hill insisted on him . The 1969 film, starring Paul Newman as the fast-talking Butch Cassidy and Redford as the laconic, deadly Sundance Kid, was an instant classic . The film's blend of humor, tragedy, and New Hollywood sensibilities captivated audiences. It also forged a lifelong friendship between Newman and Redford, two of the era's greatest stars . The "Sundance Kid" was now Redford's nickname for life, and it would soon inspire the name of a film festival that would change cinema forever. Chapter Four: A New Kind of Hollywood Royalty America's Leading Man The 1970s belonged to Robert Redford. He became the embodiment of the new American movie star—cool, intelligent, and fiercely private. His films were not just popular; they defined the decade's cinematic landscape. In a single year, 1973, he had two of the biggest hits of his career: the romance The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand and the con-artist comedy The Sting, which reunited him with Paul Newman and George Roy Hill . For his performance in The Sting, Redford received his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor . But Redford was no mere celebrity. He sought out roles in projects of substance. He starred in The Great Gatsby (1974), a lavish but uneven adaptation of the Fitzgerald novel, and Three Days of the Condor (1975), a tense political thriller about a CIA analyst on the run . In 1976, he starred in Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men, playing the journalist Bob Woodward in the gripping account of the Watergate scandal . The Private Man in a Public Eye Throughout this period, Redford carefully guarded his personal life. He was married to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children (one of whom died as an infant) . He was a committed environmentalist and liberal, and he bought the land in Utah that would become his sanctuary—Sundance . While his public persona was one of effortless charisma, those who knew him described a more complex figure. Barbra