Robert Redford Eerily Passed Just Weeks After the Death Anniversary of His Child—Inside the Tragic Story

Scott Anthony Redford

Birthday: September 1, 1959

Redford and Van Wagenen welcomed their first child, a son named Scott Anthony, on September 1, 1959. At two and a half years old, Scott died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) on November 19, 1959. He’s buried at Provo City Cemetery in Provo, Utah. 

Redford gave a rare comment on Scott’s death in an interview with Esquire in 2017. “I was only 21; my wife was 20. We were just starting our lives; I was just starting my career in New York,” he said. “Of course it was traumatic, and how that plays out over time, I don’t know. We had to deal with it. You have to move on. And we had other children who came. But something like that doesn’t get completely dismissed. It probably shows up in various small ways you’re not even aware of.”

Shauna Redford

Birthday: November 15, 1960

Redford and Van Wagenen welcomed their second child and first daughter, Shauna Jean, on November 15, 1960. Shauna graduated from the University of california Boulder with an art degree in 1986. She married her husband, Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser, at Redford and Van Wagenen’s home in Provo Canyon, Utah, in October of that same year. The ceremony was performed by a Utah State Supreme Cort judge and former Salt Lake City mayor Ted Wilson. Shauna and schlosser share two children: Mica and Conor Schlosser.

In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune in 2018, Redford opened up about his decision to give the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit he founded in 1981, to his children.  The organization operates the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. 

“I’ve been spending a lot of time bringing my children — Shauna and Amy and Jamie — into the picture, and now they’re there and they’re in a position to run the show,” he said. “Basically, they’re inheriting what I started, and they’re going to keep it going with my grandchildren.”

James Redford

Birthday: May 5, 1962

Redford and Van Wagenen’s third child and second son, David James “Jamie”, was born on May 5, 1962. He grew up in New York and spent summers at his parents’ home in Uah. He was diagnosed with primary schlerosing cholangitis, a disease that affects the liver and bile ducts, as an adult. He received two liver transplants in 1993. Following his surgeries, he started the James Redford Institute for Transplant awareness. He also produced the documentary, The Kindness of Strangers, in 1999 to shed light on stories of organ donors and recipients. 

James also studied at the University of Colorado Boulder, like Shauna, where he got his undergraduate degree in creative writing and film. He later acquired his master’s degree in literature from Northwestern University. While at the University of Colorado Bouler, James met his wife, Kyle. They married in June 1988 and share two children: son Dylan and daughter Lena. They live in Marin County, California.

He opened up about being Redford’s son in a 2016 interview with HollywoodChicago. “There can be no argument that I’m in a unique situation, at the very least,” he said. “But I think the name, for every time it has proved to be helpful, it has also proved to be a challenge. … At the end of the day, the task I have is just like anyone else, to prove myself through my product or work. I’ve really found this to be true, that it’s a zero-sum gain.”

James and his father also opened The Redford Center in 2005, a nonprofit that combined many of their family’s interests, including filmmaking and environmental activism. “After years of working to advocate for sustainability and protect wild places, my son James and I recognized the power of storytelling to bring light and advance these issues,” Redford said in a statement at the time. “We started The Redford Center to merge storytelling with action.”

On October 16, 2020, James’ wife, Kyle, announced that James had died from bile-duct cancer in his liver at their home in Marin County. “Jamie died today. We’re heartbroken. He lived a beautiful, impactful life & was loved by many,” she wrote in a statement at the time. “He will be deeply missed. As his wife of 32 yrs, I’m most grateful for the two spectacular children we raised together. I don’t know what we would’ve done w/o them over the past 2yrs.” 

James’ cancer was discovered in 2019 while he was waiting for another liver transplant.

Amy Redford

Birthday: October 22, 1970

Redford and Van Wagenen’s fourth and youngest child, daughter Amy Hart, was born on October 22, 1970. She grew up between New York and Utah, like her siblings, and studied at Dalton School. She also studied theater at San Francisco State University. In an interview with IndieWire in 2008, she opened up about pursuing filmmaking as a career because of her father. 

“As a kid, I witnessed the process of my dad making films and the extraordinary cast of characters that came together to make it happen,” she said. “I found myself drawn to the nomadic and creative life that that implied. … What led me to actually having the opportunity to do it was a combination of luck, timing and stubbornness.”

Amy’s directing credits include the 2008 movie The Guitar and the music video for Jeff Buckley’s song “Everyday People” in 2016. She was married to photographer Mark Mann from 2000 to 2004. She then married theater director Matt August in 2008 just six weeks before the birth of their first child. “It was actually easier to figure out when to direct a movie and have a baby than it was to figure out when to get married,” she told Observer in 2008. 

Amy and Mann also welcomed a seet of twins before their divorce. “I would say there’s sort of a cost and benefit in many ways. It’s very easy to kind of point the finger at the other person that’s staring across the kitchen table from you when you’re doing parenting in the same house. And when you’re not, you have to take a lot more responsibility for the culture of your home in a way that’s pretty autonomous,” she told the Ageist in 2022 about being a single mother. “And it’s made me have to look at some of my own instincts in a different light.”

After spending time in New York City and Los Angeles, Amy currently lives in Salt Lake City, where she hosts the podcast, “Scrappy Broads.”