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Robert Redford to retire from acting roles

Hollywood legend Robert Redford, known to generations of fans as the Sundance Kid, has announced he is retiring from acting.

The 81-year-old Oscar winner told Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday the upcoming movie Old Man & His Gun will be the last film in which he will act.

“Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and (I’ll) move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21,” he said.

“I thought, well, that’s enough. And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”

However, despite his plan to step away from the acting spotlight, Redford remained tight lipped about his prospective retirement extending to directing, saying “we’ll see about that”.

In 2016, Redford hinted at the greener pastures of working behind the camera, saying he was “getting tired of acting” and intended to focus more on directing.

Robert Redford

Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) was filmed in 1969. Photo: Getty

“Once they’re done I’m going to say, ‘Okay, that’s goodbye to all that,'” he said in an interview with his grandson.

“At this point in my life, age 80, it’d give me more satisfaction.”

Redford won an Academy Award in 1981 for directing Ordinary People and has a number of other directing credits, including the critically claimed A River Runs Through It and Quiz Show.

As an actor, he was best known for his break-out roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidThe Sting and All the President’s Men.

His final film sees him play Forrest Tucker, a real-life career criminal who robbed banks and escaped prison.

Tucker was famous for making a 14ft kayak with the name “Rub-a-Dub-Dub – Marin County Yacht Club” stencilled on one side while incarcerated in California’s San Quentin Prison.

He escaped from prison in 1960 along with two other inmates, using the kayak to paddle away.

-with agencies

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