Robert Redford, Inspiration Behind Bret Hart’s Signature Catchphrase, Passes Away At Age 89
Hollywood loses another icon.
On Tuesday, September 16, the New York Times broke the news of Robert Redford’s sudden passing at the age of 89. Redford is often considered to be one of the greatest actors in the history of Hollywood, starring in films like ‘All The President’s Men’, ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, ‘The Sting’, ‘Three Days of the Condor’, ‘Out Of Africa’, ‘The Old Man & the Gun’, ‘The Way We Were’, ‘Spy Game’, ‘Indecent Proposal’, ‘Sneakers’, and ‘The Natural’.
Acclaimed for his directing work as well, Redford helmed films like ‘Ordinary People’, ‘Quiz Show’, ‘A River Runs Through It’, ‘The Legend Of Bagger Vance’, and ‘Lions For Lambs’. He won the Best Director award at the Academy Awards in 1980 for ‘Ordinary People” before being nominated again for ‘Quiz Show’ in 1994.
Redford also has a special connection to the world of wrestling. In his ‘Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling’ autobiography, Bret Hart revealed that he pulled his ‘The best there is, best there was, and the best there ever will be’ catchphrase from Redford’s film ‘The Natural’.
Directed by Barry Levinson, ‘The Natural’ is a baseball movie that follows Redford’s Roy Hobbs character. The film, which was released in 1984, also stars names like Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, and Robert Prosky.
Fightful would like to send our condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Robert Redford at this time.
Back in August, Bret Hart reflected on SummerSlam 1992, saying that he it took him three weeks to get out of bed after the show. Check out his full comments here.
