Remembering Robert Redford: One of his final movies was filmed in Fort Worth
Academy Award winner Robert Redford died at his home in Utah on Tuesday, Sept. 16. He was 89 years old.
Redford died in his sleep, his publicist told the New York Times on Tuesday morning. The legendary actor is known for founding the Sundance Film Festival, as well as his roles in “All the President’s Men,” “The Natural,” “Sneakers,” “Quiz Show” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
While Redford was born and raised in California, he has numerous ties to Texas, including in Fort Worth.
Here’s what to know.
Robert Redford’s Fort Worth connection
Redford’s last major starring role in a film came in the 2018 movie “The Old Man & the Gun,” which primarily filmed in Cowtown.
The biographical heist film tells the true story of Forrest Tucker, who escaped San Quentin State Prison in 1979 at the age of 70 and went on to rob a series of banks over the next few years.
In 2000, Tucker was apprehended and sentenced to 13 years in prison at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth. He died just a few years later in 2004 and is buried in Mansfield.
Dallas-based director David Lowery said he chose to film in Fort Worth, given Tucker’s ties to the area and the look of the city.
“[Fort Worth] also feels older than nearby Dallas, and has that sense of the West, so aesthetically it was just right. We didn’t even consider anywhere else,” Lowery told Variety in 2018.
According to the Fort Worth Film Commission, “The Old Man & the Gun” filmed at the following locations in the Fort Worth area:
- Double F River Ranch
- T&P Station
- Underneath downtown in the former Leonard’s subway tunnel
- Tarrant County College
- Tarrant County jail
- Three local banks
The film also set up a production office at Near South Studios and filmed on the surrounding streets, according to the FWFC.
Robert Redford’s other ties to Texas
Redford’s mother Martha Woodruff Redford was from Austin.
As a kid, Redford said he spent summers in Austin and San Marcos. He even learned to swim at a popular Texas body of water.
“I learned to swim in Barton Springs,” Redford told the Houston Chronicle in 2008. “That time was very, very important to me. My early experiences with land and with nature really started in Texas.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Remembering Robert Redford: One of his final movies was filmed in Fort Worth."
