You’ve seen the face. That rugged, quintessential "Sundance Kid" look that defined Hollywood for half a century. But behind the myth of Robert Redford—the guy who basically invented the modern indie film scene—is a woman who was there before the fame, the money, and the Oscars.
Lola Van Wagenen, Robert Redford's first wife, isn't just a footnote in a celebrity biography. Honestly, calling her a "celebrity wife" feels like a bit of an insult once you actually look at her life. She was a 19-year-old college dropout when they eloped, sure, but she grew into a powerhouse historian and activist who arguably influenced the actor just as much as he influenced the culture.
They were kids. That’s the thing people forget.
When they got married in 1958, they had roughly $300 in the bank. They had to borrow a car just to get home from the ceremony. It wasn't some glitzy Hollywood affair; it was a desperate, impulsive leap of faith. Redford has even said since then that getting married so young was a move to "save his life" because he was a bit of a loose cannon back then.
The Tragedies Nobody Likes to Talk About
People look at the Redford family and see the beautiful Utah ranch and the Sundance success, but the early years for Lola Van Wagenen and Robert were marked by the kind of grief that breaks most people.
Their first son, Scott, died when he was only two months old.
It was 1959. Back then, "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" (SIDS) wasn't a term people really knew. You can only imagine the guilt. Redford once mentioned in an interview that as a parent, you just assume you did something wrong. It’s a scar that doesn't go away.
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They had three more kids: Shauna, James (who everyone called Jamie), and Amy.
But the "Redford Curse"—if you want to call it that—didn't stop in the fifties. Their son Jamie, who became a massive advocate for the environment and an acclaimed filmmaker in his own right, battled health issues for years. He had two liver transplants before eventually passing away from bile duct cancer in 2020.
Lola has always been the private one. While Redford was out being the biggest movie star on the planet, she was the one holding the family together through these literal life-and-death struggles.
Why the Marriage Really Ended
The divorce happened in 1985.
It wasn't a "scandal." There were no screaming headlines about affairs or secret lives. In fact, they had been quietly separated for years before the paperwork was even finalized. The truth is probably a lot more boring—and a lot more relatable—than a tabloid story.
Basically, they grew up.
Lola Van Wagenen wasn't content being "Mrs. Robert Redford." While her husband was filming All the President's Men and Out of Africa, Lola was going back to school. She went to Vermont College, then NYU. She eventually earned a Ph.D. in American History.
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She became a serious scholar. She co-founded Consumer Action Now, a non-profit that was way ahead of its time regarding environmental protection and consumer rights.
What Lola Did Next
If you think she just lived off a divorce settlement, you're wrong.
- Historian: She wrote Sister-Wives and Suffragists, a deep dive into Mormon women and the right to vote.
- Filmmaker: She didn't leave the film world entirely; she produced documentaries like Miss America and The State of Marriage.
- Activist: She spent decades on boards for the Vermont Historical Society and the New York Women’s Foundation.
She remarried in 2002 to George Burrill, a businessman and philanthropist. They’ve spent their time doing things like setting up scholarship funds and working with indigenous groups. She’s lived a full, noisy, complicated life that has very little to do with the "sexiest man alive" trope her ex-husband carried for so long.
Robert Redford's First Wife: The Lasting Impact
It’s easy to simplify her as the woman who was there during the "struggling artist" phase. But if you look at the DNA of what Robert Redford became—the environmentalist, the champion of independent stories, the guy who values privacy over the red carpet—you see Lola’s influence everywhere.
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She was the one who pushed for environmental activism in the 70s when it wasn't cool yet. She was the one who prioritized education and historical context.
What you can learn from Lola’s story:
- Identity isn't fixed. You can be a wife and mother at 20 and a Ph.D. historian at 50.
- Privacy is a choice. You don't have to be a public figure just because you're adjacent to fame.
- Grief can be a catalyst. Instead of folding, she used her experiences to fuel her work in consumer safety and education.
If you’re looking into the history of the Redford family, don't stop at the filmography. Look at the organizations Lola started. Look at the books she wrote. She’s the proof that the person standing next to the spotlight is often doing work just as important as the person standing in it.
To get a better sense of her academic work, you might want to track down a copy of her book on the suffrage movement; it's a fascinating look at how religious identity and political power intersected in the American West.