Actor Robert Redford during a 2011 University of Texas panel discussion on Watergate, in conjunction with an exhibit of memorabilia from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's reporting that brought down the Nixon White House in 1974. Photo: Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images
Robert Redford, who died early yesterday at the age of 89, had a key formative experience in Austin — it's where he learned to swim, at Barton Springs at age 5.
What he said: "That time was very, very important to me," he said in 2008. My early experiences with land and with nature really started in Texas."
His mother's family was from Central Texas.
Between the lines: Redford was a supporter of the environmental group Save Our Springs Alliance, which focuses on preservation of Barton Springs, and was an executive producer of the 2007 film "The Unforeseen," about the battle over suburban development in Austin.
