By Mary O’KEEFE

The “end of an era” is a reference that is used a lot but with the news of the death of Robert Redford that phrase seemed to fit. 

Robert Redford seemed to be part of our lives forever. His films were iconic with dialogue and action that was delivered so perfectly it became part of our societal identity. From “The Natural” – “I guess some mistakes you never stop paying for” – to “Indecent Proposal” – “Suppose I were to offer you one million dollars for one night with your wife” – and of course “Three Days of the Condor” – “You know, you guys are amazing. You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth.”

Robert Redford was also one of the first actors I was aware of who worked to better the environment. I know there were others before him, and a lot after, but listening to his interviews where he spoke about the environment with such quiet passion made an impression on me.  

Redford was a born and raised Californian. He was from Santa Monica and apparently had worked in an oil field when he was a teen. 

“Even at the age of 16, it bothered me because I could see what was happening up there [was] the propaganda of oil companies, and the lobbyists they hire, were selling the idea that it was going to be great for the economy, great for everybody. And I saw it differently,” he said in a 2010 video for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill really made an impression on him, according to an interview in Time magazine. 

“I know what it’s like when a person’s job, their own livelihood, depends on having to hold that line and how difficult it is when the ethics of a company goes against some of the dangers attached to it,” he told Time. “That’s tough because that’s the job you’ve got, and it may be the only one you can have.”

These experiences fueled his lifelong commitment to helping the environment. 

In 2018 he wrote to legislators about solar power. 

“Time is running out. Our window of opportunity is narrow. I believe there are true limits to the resources of our planet, but there is no limit to the human imagination and our capacity to solve the biggest challenges of our time,” he wrote. 

He moved to Utah and successfully campaigned against a six-lane highway that was proposed to travel through a canyon. He co-founded the Redford Center in 2006 with a mission to support environmental impact filmmaking. In 2009, he testified before the House Committee on Natural Resources about America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act that called for the protection of Utah’s wildlands. 

“Unless we move quickly away from fossil fuels, we’re going to destroy the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health of our children, grandchildren, and future generations,” he told the United Nations during a 2015 event. “No country can solve this crisis alone. We’ve just got to do more.” 

What is amazing about his advocacy is that he used what he knew best –storytelling – to get out his message. He knew the way film could reach people in ways that a lecture, or PowerPoint, just couldn’t do. The first film released by the Redford Center was titled “Fighting Goliath.” It told a story of Texans coming together to oppose the construction of 19 coal-fired power plants that inaugurated a high stakes battle for clean air. It was successful in helping halt the construction of over 200 coal plants across the U.S., according to the Redford Center. 

Robert Redford’s legacy will continue through his films and his advocacy for the planet. 

However, of all of the times he was on the screen, the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of his passing was his “Twilight Zone” episode. The episode aired in 1962 and was titled “Nothing in the Dark.” He was 26 years old at the time. 

The episode is about an elderly woman, Wanda Dunn, who lives in the basement of an abandoned apartment complex. She wakes to hear an altercation outside where a young police officer, Harold Beldon, was shot. He falls at her door and pleads for help – but she is old, frightened and knows Death comes in a variety of ways. She has been terrified of Death for a long time and is not willing to open the door to this man, just in case he is what she dreads the most; however, eventually he persuades her to open her door. A construction worker also bullies his way in,  knocking her down. The construction worker is there to give notice that she must leave because the building is about to be torn down. Wanda turns to Harold for help, but the construction worker does not see Harold. She looks in the mirror and Harold does not have a reflection. She realizes he is Death. 

But Harold is so kind, so handsome and has such a calming smile that she realizes that she does not have to be afraid of Death … and walks arm and arm out of the apartment with him. 

The first time I saw this episode I thought how brilliant it was to cast him as Death, that Death does not always have to be frightening, that sometimes it is okay to go “gently into that good night.”

I hope that is how Mr. Redford went into that next plane of existence – not with fear but with calm resolve.

Today we should see an increase in clouds with a high in the low 80s. Friday will be the same. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be a little warmer and clearer. There is a “hint” of another tropical moisture entering the area next week, according to NOAA.