Robert Redford’s 10 Most Iconic Roles That Made Him a Bonafide Movie Star

The Western buddy film starred Paul Newman as Wild West outlaw Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy, and Redford as his partner Harry Longabaugh, aka the “Sundance Kid.” The movie, one of the top-grossing films of 1969, went on to receive numerous accolades, including four Oscar wins and a nomination for Best Picture.

In a previous interview with Collider, Redford revealed that he and Newman were actually up for each other’s parts initially, but director George Roy Hill switched the roles at his request.

“I was being put up for Butch Cassidy because I’d done the comedy. But that part didn’t interest me,” Redford told the publication. “What interested me was The Sundance Kid because I could relate to that based on my own experience and particularly my own childhood and feeling like an outlaw most of my life. So I told George and he knew Paul really well and knew he was much more like Butch Cassidy, so George turned it all around. He went to Paul and they argued a bit until Paul finally realized that George was right. He was well known and I wasn’t, which is why they switched the title too.”

The Candidate (1972)