The sun may have finally gone down on the big screen’s Sundance Kid, Robert Redford, one of the singularly greatest actors of the modern age, but for many in Greater Lowell, they will fondly remember the night the Hollywood giant came to the Mill City and regaled us with tales from behind the scenes of some his greatest big screen flicks.

Redford died on Tuesday at the age of 89.  In 2014, he was the headliner for the sold-out Middlesex Community College Celebrity Forum event at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Nearly 3,000 people turned out to hear Redford recount some of his filmmaking and fund-raising memories from his prodigious and philanthropic life.

For this writer, it was the thrill of a lifetime, as being the resident movie and tv pop culture geek on campus, then-President Carole Cowan enlisted me to interview the Hollywood legend on stage, playing Butch Cassidy to his Sundance Kid, if you will. Or Henry Gondorff to his Johnny Hooker.  Or Tom Buchanan to his Jay Gatsby.  Heck, the list could go on and on.

President Cowan had been trying for years to woo the Hollywood heartthrob to Lowell, and the stars aligned in this particular year – Cowan’s last as President of MCC, wrapping up a nearly 40-year career with the college.  Redford was actually slated to come in June of 2014, but a filming delay on the set of A Walk in the Woods caused him to have to reschedule, bumping his visit into a steamy early July visit instead.

Robert Redford with then Middlesex Community College President Carole Cowan. (Photo courtesy Kevin Harkins for MCC)

Redford’s visit to Lowell started at the college’s historic Nesmith House on Andover Street, where he enjoyed a quiet meal before taking the big stage at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.  The Jeremiah Johnson actor was fascinated by the history of the building, which then led to him interviewing me about the history of Lowell itself.

The conversation was enthralling, but became problematic, because Celebrity Forum Director Dennis Malvers was at the LMA waiting for Redford to arrive for photos with event sponsors.  Redford, for his part, though, was enjoying hearing all about Lowell and its industrial past.  Never did I foresee a day in my life when I would have told Roy Hobbs enough was enough, we had to end our repast and get on the road.

We got to the auditorium and needless to say, the throngs of people waiting for their pictures to be taken with him was overwhelming.  There were literally dozens and I mean DOZENS of women whose hearts were aflutter as they prepared to meet him.  I don’t have to tell you who you are, you know, and we have the pics to prove the giddiness.

Photo courtesy Kevin Harkins for MCC

From there, Redford moved to a dinner on the floor with donors, and then finally, up onto the stage for the event interview, which followed on the heels of scholarship awards presented to more than a dozen MCC students.

President Cowan introduced me to the stage first, and I entered throwing a pointing finger sideswipe to the nose ala the Sting long con to my fellow compadre in crime, Mary Vergados.

Then Redford came on stage to a much larger ovation and threw me my first curve ball of the night.  He switched seats from where we supposed to sit.  No big deal, right?  Right, except, the countdown clock I was supposed to watching to monitor the interview was now at my back, so for me to see the clock I had to pivot completely to my right to see the clock behind me and keep us on track.  I pretended to be scanning the balcony crowd to allow me to contort in my seat. For his part, Redford could have cared less about the time, he was enjoying himself.

Pat Cook stands with President Cowan and Redford (Photo courtesy Kevin Harkins for MCC)

We rolled through an hour of questions trying as best as I could to cover some of his biggest screen hits, his long-standing friendship with Paul Newman, his charity work, and his work promoting independent films through the Sundance Film Festival.

At the end of the interview, President Cowan returned to the stage and presented Redford with literally a one-of-a-kind Stetson cowboy hat adorned with the Middlesex Community College logo on the front of it.  (We had actually scrambled to find his hat size ahead of the event so make sure it fit!)  Redford, in true class form, donned the hat then tipped it to the standing ovation crowd in front of him and exited stage.

Backstage, he thanked me for the interview and said it was one of the more enjoyable ones he had done, mostly because it rambled all over his not just his career but his charity work as well.  I think he was just being nice to this neophyte celebrity interviewer.

For those who know of my love for comics, one of the proudest moments of the night for me was when I whispered Hail Hydra to him, a nod to the Shield Agent Alexander Pierce character he played in the recently issued just three months earlier Captain America: the Winter Soldier movie.  I have, in my Bedford office, I believe the only full-size poster of Redford in his role from that movie autographed and hanging on my wall, a memento I will always treasure.

So another great Hollywood icon has passed from the silver screen into our memory books, but his work will live on forever in your favorite Redford films.

Hail Hydra, and Hail Robert Redford, one of the purest and most genuine of all the old-time movie blockbusters of our lifetimes.  Rest in Peace, Wonderboy.  You truly were a Natural.

If you were in the audience that night, or happened to have been one of the folks lucky enough to score a pic with Redford, share your recollections of the event or your pictures in the comments field below. (All photos courtesy Kevin Harkins for MCC)