Once upon a time, let’s call it August 18, 1980, I was trying to locate a former college friend of mine. (This was long before Google, mind you.) Deep in the recesses of my memory, I recalled that my friend was from Utah, and that his father was a pediatrician in Provo.
I happened to recall this specific bit of trivia because my friend had told me that his father was the pediatrician for Robert Redford’s kids.
So naturally, I reasoned that when I shook my friend’s hand, who had shaken his father’s hand, who had shaken Robert Redford’s hand, it was almost like touching the movie star himself! It was my own version of “Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon,” but of course, that was back before Kevin Bacon was anybody at all.
Back then, dialing 411 for information was free, and you talked to a live person who bent over backwards to help you out. In no time at all, I was connected to the doctor’s office in Provo, and after explaining my mission, the receptionist surprised me by putting the doctor himself on the line. (Like that would ever happen today!)
The kind doctor patiently listened to my rambling, bumbling thought process, then quietly said, “Today is Bob’s birthday, you know.”
Bob’s birthday. OMG. OMG. OMG. No, I hadn’t known, but what a freakin’ coincidence that was, if I happened to believe in coincidences!
I told the kind doctor to please give Bob my regards the next time he saw him, and he assured me he would. Then I got the contact information for his son that I’d requested and got the heck off the phone.
Since 1969, when I first watched “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Robert Redford has been my only continuous heartthrob. I have seen every movie he’s ever made, some of them more times than I care to admit. And whenever I’m asked who my favorite movie star is, I never have to think about my answer.
Today, Robert Redford turns 77. Now isn’t that a bit of a shocker! (I mean, how could he be 77 when I’m still so young?)
In May, another blogger, Anne Helen Petersen, wrote the blog I wished I written about our mutual friend Bob…. http://thehairpin.com/2013/05/scandals-of-classic-hollywood-robert-redford-golden-boy I highly recommend reading it, or at the very least, taking the time to look at all the pretty pictures.
*Sigh* … Happy 77th Birthday to a most fabulous guy, at any age!