Robert Redford (The Sting) The Sting

Robert Redford was the most bankable star in Hollywood when he signed on to play Johnny Hooker, and his involvement shaped the production more than any other single decision. He insisted on an experienced director -- displacing screenwriter David S. Ward -- and his presence guaranteed the financing. The role earned him his only Academy Award nomination for acting, and his performance carries the film's emotional weight: Hooker's recklessness, grief, and ultimate discipline are what give the elaborate con its human stakes.

Redford insisted on Hill and displaced the first-time director

Ward was originally slated to direct his own screenplay. Redford refused to commit unless a more experienced filmmaker took the chair. George Roy Hill, who had directed Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, saw the script and asked for the job. The decision was pragmatic -- Redford wanted a collaborator he trusted -- but it cost Ward his directorial debut and set the film's visual tone toward Hill's period-pastiche approach rather than whatever Ward might have attempted. (wikipedia)

Hooker was written younger than Redford could play

The original Johnny Hooker was conceived as a callow nineteen-year-old street grifter. Redford, thirty-six when filming began, could not credibly play a teenager. Ward adjusted the character upward in age, and Redford brought a different quality than youth: a restless, self-destructive energy that reads as immaturity without requiring the audience to believe he just graduated high school.

"Redford 'works superbly' and 'really turns to' the role." — A.D. Murphy, Variety (1973)

Newman fought for Redford and Redford knew it

The Newman-Redford partnership began when Newman advocated for Redford's casting in Butch Cassidy. Redford recalled that Newman told him: "I want to work with an actor" -- a compliment Redford valued because "both saw acting as about craft and took it seriously." By The Sting, four years later, their working relationship had deepened into genuine friendship. (cnn)

Newman carried the film's planning and confidence; Redford carried its vulnerability and grief. Newman described the dynamic: "I'd say there's a lot more grit in my part. Redford carries a lot of luggage in the movie." (clickamericana)

Redford played Hooker as melancholy underneath the charm

Hooker's defining gesture is declining his share of the $500,000 at the end -- "Nah. I'd only blow it" -- which circles back to his opening scene at the roulette wheel. Richard Roeper, revisiting the film at fifty, observed "something melancholy and self-destructive" in Redford's Hooker, a quality that separates him from Newman's more controlled Gondorff. (chicago sun-times)

"Redford plays Hooker to perfection -- he is the handsome, charming 'man of the people' with no malice in him, despite spending his life ducking, diving and dodging lead." — Conall McManus, Frame Rated (2023)

The Oscar nomination was his only one for acting

Redford lost Best Actor to Jack Lemmon for Save the Tiger at the 46th Academy Awards. He never received another acting nomination, though he won Best Director for Ordinary People (1980). The irony is that Hooker -- a role Redford almost didn't take because the character was too young -- remains the performance most closely identified with his screen persona: the golden American who turns out to be carrying more weight than he lets on.