There are few men in the history of Hollywood to have had the looks and charisma as well as the brains and decency of Robert Redford. Paul Newman was one. I’ve been a fan virtually my whole life and I’d still rate Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid as my all time favourite movie. Thanks for letting me watch that when I was only 8, Mum and Dad!

What a legacy. From Butch Cassidy to The Sting, All The President’s Men, The Candidate, Ordinary People, Barefoot In The Park, Three Days Of The Condor, The Way We Were, A Bridge Too Far, The Natural, Out Of Africa, Quiz Show etc etc – that’s some filmography, both as an actor and director.

And then you’ve got his championing of independent films and filmmakers with the Sundance festival, as well as decades of environmental and social activism and Redford is – much like his great old friend Newman was – one of the most profoundly and positively impactful of all Hollywood icons.

I must’ve watched Butch Cassidy at least 100 times. Every time it’s like the first and I find myself hoping Butch and Sundance will somehow escape the entire Bolivian army and make it to Australia. Funnily enough, they never do! That final image of the two of them frozen in time as the camera pans out while Burt Bacharach’s beautiful, mournful melody plays is as perfect an ending to a perfect film as you could get.

Katherine Ross says in the film in a memorable piece of foreshadowing that she will do anything for Butch and Sundance, “but I won’t watch you die – I’ll miss that scene if you don’t mind”. And so it’s true for us as the audience. We know they die, but we’re spared from actually seeing it.

The fact that in real life Redford and Newman were best friends makes rewatching them together all the more special. Newman was older and found people’s obsession with his looks to be exhausting. In Redford he found a slightly younger equal and it was a friendship that spanned decades. Maybe they’ll be hanging out again.

Robert Redford was 89.