He was a striking man, that Robert Redford, no doubt about it, especially in The Way We Were, which I have seen over and over again. I can recite both his and the lovely and amazingly talented Barbra Streisand’s lines – and facial expressions – without hesitation.
Facebook posters gave him a lot of attention when he passed.
One such headline, “Robert Redford was a stunning man,” left me wondering how
the public would respond. While I agree 100%, I was sure that the naysayers
would trash him since that’s what people do nowadays. Even the most innocuous
post can turn sour, with people intentionally spewing negativity to stir the
pot.
I glanced down at the comments and saw that there were over 2,000.
I wondered how long it would take to get to the contrary nature of the
replies. I guessed that by the 10th comment, someone would say
that Bob (Robert) was a jerk, that Paul Newman was better looking, that he had
no talent, that he was arrogant, that he had body odor...you name it.
I got to the 10th comment and n o t h i n g! No harsh remarks!
In a sick way, I was almost disappointed! What’s going on here, I asked myself.
Surely by the 20th comment, someone would have to criticize him for
something. By the 50th, I was more confused than ever: compliments
multiplied. The guy loved nature and advocated for environmental causes; he
created the Sundance Film Festival, where independent filmmakers had a voice,
were seen, and advanced; he was a mentor to many actors; he was a caring and
compassionate friend, father, grandfather and so on.
Even though a total time suck, I indulged myself in another
20 minutes of scouring the comments. I became obsessed with what I’d read next.
I was determined to find cruel words that would feed into my assertion that no
subject can be complimented without some kind of disagreement and then a barrage
of personal insults. After about 100 more, I gave up. No unkind or dark
commentary. WTF??? Maybe people aren’t as predictable – or as nasty – as I had
come to believe.
No one I know personally knew Bob, so it’s impossible to
know what he was like behind closed doors. But, after reading all this praise,
I felt pretty good about this heartthrob.
Fast forward to yesterday. I was reading about actor Michael
J. Fox’s new book, Future Boy. I
adored him when he was Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties, before his Back to the
Future trilogy. Unlike his prior writing where he shared his life as a man with Parkinson’s Disease, this book focuses on his acting roles and
experiences breaking into the world of show business.
Turns out that Bob made a lasting impression on him too.
Michael said that before he was in Family Ties, he wanted to play the
role of the young boy in Ordinary People, a movie that Bob was directing,
and he auditioned for it, with Bob present. However, it didn’t go as Michael
had hoped. He said that Bob was clearly unimpressed with him, flossing his
teeth throughout the interview, which suggested to Michael that he was not
being taken seriously.
I guess Bob wasn’t perfect after all…but almost.
