One of the world’s most famous movie stars, Robert Redford, has died aged 89.

He starred alongside other Hollywood legends of his era including Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman and Jane Fonda.

The Oscar winner died in his sleep in the city of Provo, Utah, south of Salt Lake City, management agency Rogers & Cowan PMK confirmed.

He was in “the place he loved surrounded by those he loved,” said the firm’s chief executive Cindi Berger in a statement, according to the New York Times.

In addition to his acting and directing, Redford helped found the Sundance festival helping it become the powerhouse it is today for independent film. He was also a committed campaigner for environmental causes.

Some of Redford’s most famous films included 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1985’s Out of Africa and 1976’s All the President’s Men.

Redford won an Oscar not as an actor but as a director for the 1980 film Ordinary People. His only acting Oscar nomination came from 1973’s The Sting.

Despite that lack of nominations, Redford was a huge Hollywood star who had top billing in his movies and could pivot from thrillers to comedies with ease.

He was born in 1936 in Santa Monica, California, close to Los Angeles. He lost his mother when he was a teenager after a difficult birth of twin girls who also died. He remained an only child. Redford dabbled in theatre – even making it to Broadway – before turning to film.

Redford is survived by his wife Sibylle Szaggars Redford, who he married in 2009 and his children Shauna, James and Amy. He had four children in total, all from his from his first wife Lola Van Wagenen who he married in 1958. Scott, his youngest son, died just two months after his birth.

Redford received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour an American civilian can receive, from then President Barack Obama in 2016.