Robert Redford, legendary actor and advocate of Wyoming’s outlaw history, died at his home in Utah on Tuesday. He was 89.
Redford is known internationally for his acting and directing, which spanned more than six decades, as well as his deep love for the Western way of life.
That was revealed in his preservation efforts, best exemplified in the early 1990s when he tried to save a Wyoming bar frequented by some of the West’s most legendary outlaws.
Buying A Piece of Wyoming’s History
In 1993, Redford came to Thermopolis to buy the Hole-in-the-Wall bar, but discovered it had been installed in the Hot Springs County Museum. Even though he offered a substantial sum, the local Pioneers Association was not about to let their history go.
However, Redford was told by the Hot Springs County Sheriff Vince Hayes about another historic bar that was for sale. Redford rescued the Owl Bar for $8,000 and hauled the pieces to Sundance in 1994 to be renovated.
Yet, Redford still wanted the infamous Hole-in-the-Wall bar and came up with a plan.
“When Vince told him that it was not for sale, that he couldn't buy the bar, Redford got to thinking that he would have a duplicate made in Europe,” Gail Schenck said.
Gail’s husband, Jeb Schenck, was hired to take pictures of the bar in the museum and Redford had a duplicate made for his home.
Redford’s Resume
Redford’s love for the West grew out of the roles he had played.
In 1969, Redford starred in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” about the infamous Wyoming outlaws and then three years later, starred in “Jeremiah Johnson.” The 1972 American Western was based partly on the life of the legendary mountain man John Jeremiah Johnson a.k.a Liver-Eating Johnson.
Through these films, Redford fell in love with the western way of life.
“It felt good to shake the city dust from my bones,” Redford wrote for the National Geographic in 1976. “As technology thrusts us relentlessly into the future, I find myself, perversely, more interested in the past.”
He said that we tend to view the western outlaws as a romantic figure because we have lost our own individuality and passions.
Robert Redford shares a laugh with a group of mountain men at the reburial of Liver-Eating Johnson in Cody's Old Trail Town. (Courtesy Dewy Vanderhoff) 
Actor Robert Redford played the lead role in the hit movie "Jeremiah Johnson" and was the lead pallbearer for the remains of the real John "Liver-Eating" Johnson whose life loosely inspired the movie. (Courtesy Dewy Vanderhoff) 
Robert Redfore at the Sundance Kid, left, and Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy. (Getty Images) 
Hot Springs County Museum employee Terri Geissinger poses at the bar that Robert Redford attempted to buy in 1993. She holds the 1976 National Geographic magazine that he wrote the cover article for about his trip along the Outlaw Trail that took him through Wyoming. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily)
Redford’s Legend Lives On In Wyoming
“Redford really bought into the Butch Cassidy Sundance Kid thing,” said Bill Sniffin, a former longtime Wyoming newspaper publisher and columnist for Cowboy State Daily. “He rode the outlaw trail on horseback and gave Wyoming tremendous publicity.”
As Redford is remembered for his tremendous acting and directing talent, in Wyoming, his legacy is about preserving our history for the next generation.
Fifty years ago, Redford took a step back into time on his visit to Wyoming. At South Pass, he reflected on the men who came before him and today, as we honor Redford’s own legacy, we remember his words.
“I was lost in a memory of the rich, raucous innocence of the new frontier, of boardwalks and tents and snake-oil eagerness,” Redford said. “An indomitable spirt. All quiet now, faded into a still freeze here in the sepia time of late afternoon.
“All an echo now, of a rich and vibrant part of our heritage.”
Liver-Eating Johnson
Redford did not leave his passion for the Wild West on the big screen but often would help preserve the history itself, such as helping to rebury Jeremiah Johnson in Wyoming two years after the release of his movie about the mountain man.
“Jeremiah Johnson” had reignited interest in the American West and mountain men in particular and came at a time when Tri Robinson’s middle schoolers in California were leading the charge to rebury the mountain man in his home state of Wyoming.
Johnson had died after seeking medical care in California and had been buried there, far from his home. The students thought this was an outrage and wanted the mountain man back home where they felt he belonged.
An article published by the Los Angeles Times catapulted Redford into the reburial effort.
Redford was one of the many people who received and didn't respond to a letter from Robinson's middle schoolers. The LA Times took the inch and ran the mile on their front page.
"The LA Times story said, 'Redford Red Faced Over The Reburial of Jeremiah Johnson,' because he didn't respond to the kids," Robinson said. "I don't know how that got out, but the article said that he was embarrassed because he didn't do anything to help these kids out."
Robinson's class was hugely surprised when Redford called them directly, applauding their perseverance and determination to find a final resting place for Johnson. Dewey Vanderhoff was a 23-year-old at the time and said Redford's connection to the mountain man was already firmly in place when Redford got wind of the effort to rebury him.
"The story I heard was that Redford was still riding that wave two years after the movie came out,” Vanderhoff said. "It was a very popular movie. Redford was getting 100 fan letters every day. But believe it or not, that kid's letter stuck with Redford, and he picked up on that."
Redford immediately lent the weight of his name and celebrity to the cause.
But, according to Vanderhoff, the actor went above and beyond to ensure the students' success.
"There were a lot of outside expenses involved in getting that whole thing done," he said. "Redford paid some of the expenses to get it done, but that was never said at the time. He paid Western Airlines to fly those kids to Cody, and he kept real quiet about that. But he made sure that it would happen to the extent that he could influence it, and he did."
June 8, 1974, was a perfect day in Cody, Vanderhoff recalled. By then, Johnson's reburial had become a national news story and people from all over the world were arriving in Cody to attend.
"I don't think I'm going out on a plank if I say that was the biggest crowd that ever was in Cody for any event that wasn't a Cody Stampede or John Wayne," he said. "There were over 2,000 people, I'd say closer to 4,000, at Old Trail Town that day. All three networks were there, and every wire service and magazine called Cody saying they wanted pictures."
Redford was the chief pallbearer, leading Johnson's coffin out of the house. He was accompanied by members of the American Mountain Men Association, who sent more than 200 men in full Western regalia to Cody.
Redford also spoke at the ceremony. Vanderhoff said the actor's genuine connection to Johnson and the campaign to return him to the mountains were evident in his words.
"Redford didn't say one word about himself," he said. "He didn't make hay or do anything to build up his name or reputation. He thanked those kids. He was impressed with those kids and wanted to make sure that the world knew this wouldn't have happened if they hadn't taken the initiative."
Johnson's coffin was lowered into what so far has been his last grave to the playing of taps and a 21-musket salute from the American Mountain Men Association. And with that, the ceremony ended — short and simple, just as everyone assumed Johnson himself would have preferred it.
The Hole in the Wall Bar was the place to be once upon a time in Thermopolis at the turn of the 20th century and was a favorite spot for Butch Cassidy's notorious Hole in the Wall outlaw gang. (Courtesy Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center) 
Drinking at the Hole in the Wall bar in Thermopolis, Wyoming. (Courtesy Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center) 
A cash register like one that would have been in the Hole in the Wall Bar. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Following The Outlaw Trail
Two years after helping to rebury the mountain man, Redford once again made headlines outside his cinema success. This time it was by following the 600-mile Outlaw Trail. His adventure was featured as the cover article for the National Geographic in 1976.
“Keep in mind that the National Geographic was the largest circulated magazine in America with 10 or 12 million circulation,” Sniffin said. “Robert Redford gave Wyoming tremendous publicity. He started, of course, with the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" but after that, he really does walk the walk.”
Redford had planned the trip carefully, bringing along his own photographers and team of people to capture the trail they followed.
“I have been fascinated by that part of the West that offered sanctuary and escape routes to hundreds of colorful, lawless men,” Redford wrote in his article, describing the passion that drove him to ride on horseback this remote trail.
Redford met Kaycee cowhand, Tex Raper, and stayed up late in the night, listening to Raper’s stories. Redford also mistakenly brought his young son’s sleeping bag instead of his own and paid the price with a few miserable nights out in the cold.
Sniffin had heard about Redford’s Outlaw Trail ride and when the actor had stopped at a local clothing store in Lander, Sniffin grabbed his camera, intending to grab an interview for the Lander Journal.
“I snuck in there with my camera, and he was with a couple guys, and he could hardly stand up. He was so exhausted and sweaty,”’ Sniffin said. “They had just ridden their horses and he was so tired and he was complaining so loud that I decided I'm just going to leave him alone.”
Redford was tired. But it was a good tired as he left Hollywood behind and followed his passions into Wyoming's Wild West history.
“On a distant ridge a few aspens still struggled to hold their awesome yellows against oncoming winter,” he wrote nearly fifty years ago. “The October wind stung me into an alertness I hadn’t felt for months."
He was on the Outlaw Trail and has now ridden into the sunset.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
