Robert Reford

Robert Reford

Robert Redford is to be honoured with the Peter J. Owens Award at the upcoming 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival in April (09).

The Owens Award, named for the longtime San Francisco art benefactor, honours actors whose work "exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity".

Redford will also be feted in a public tribute, where he'll be interviewed by Sharon Stone's ex-husband Phil Bronstein, the editor-at-large of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

The film festival will also feature the world premiere screening of the restoration of Redford's Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, in which he starred alongside the late Paul Newman.

And it was this first collaboration with Paul Newman that made him a bankable star back in 1969.

From then on his career flourished and he has gone on to star in Jeremiah Johnson, The Great Gatsby, The Sting and All the President's men.

The actor launched the Sundance Film Festival in 1978 and it has gone on to become the largest independent film festival in America.