Working (and Not Working): Updating Studs Terkel for the Recession

When Robert Redford died on September 16, most of the ensuing tributes focused—quite naturally—on his versatile acting skills. But the Hollywood icon also directed a number of acclaimed films, including 1980’s Ordinary People (which won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director), 1992’s A River Runs Through It, and 1998’s The Horse Whisperer. On the latter movie, he worked with 12-year-old future star Scarlett Johansson, and their time together had a major impact on the young actor—inspiring her to eventually helm her own film over two decades later.

Promoting her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Johansson talked about the "extraordinary" experience of collaborating with Redford, whom she nicknamed "Booey" at the time. "He was such a warm, kind, patient, generous, wonderful man," she said. "And he would take so much time with me every day…We had a very special relationship in the film, the characters do, where he actually really therapizes my character. And he, in real life, had that type of persona: so calm and kind and patient…[E]very scene we would do, he would [sit and] talk me through where my character had been up until that point. It was like he had all the time to do that."