Redford’s Brown connection
Robert Redford came to College Hill on May 24-25 to speak to alumni, parents, and students at a Commencement Forum and to collect an honorary doctorate at the 240th Commencement exercises. His personal connection to the University, however, turned out to be deeper than many had expected: Redford’s uncle, David Redford, a tall athlete from Westerly, RI, graduated from Brown with the class of 1940.
“He worked his way into Brown,” Redford recalled, “and became captain of the baseball team. … He was a Phi Beta Kappa. He spoke four languages fluently.”
Redford reminisced about the year when his uncle was stationed at an army base in northern California and served as a second dad while Redford’s father (David’s brother Charles) worked long hours as a milkman. Uncle David taught the young Robert to throw a football in a spiral and drilled the future star of The Natural on how to hit a variety of baseball pitches.
David Redford was later killed in Luxembourg, where he was serving as a linguist with General Patton’s Third Army, when his Jeep came under fire while crossing a bridge.
Read more about the Brown-Redford connection at the Providence Journal’s Web site.