Overview

• He died on Sept. 16, 2025 at age 89, prompting a new round of obituaries and appreciations of his six-decade career.
• He won the Academy Award for directing Ordinary People and later received an honorary Oscar in 2002.
• As founder of the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, he helped launch filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, Steven Soderbergh and Ava DuVernay.
• His screen legacy spans The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, with a late-career turn as Alexander Pierce in Marvel films.
• Recent coverage also underscores his environmental advocacy and notes final credits including The Company You Keep (director, 2012) and The Old Man & the Gun (actor, 2018).