Happy Birthday, Bob

If you need a reminder of how time marches on here it is - today is Robert Redford's 75th birthday,

Kind of sobering isn't it?

I was a teen when "The Way We Were" came out, and immediately fell in love with Hubbell Gardner. This scene still brings me to tears every single time. The gentle sweep of his bangs and the, "Your girl is lovely," Hubbell, still gets me.

The story of passionate, outspoken Katie and the all-American Hubbell is a classic love story, and at fifteen-years-old I was primed for the handsome, ungettable Redford.

Those first cinematic crushes are an important right of passage. At around the same time I also had a huge crush on this character as well. I think I saw "Serpico" twice at the movies and still kind of swoon over that black cap and beard. He was the consummate good guy/bad boy. What self-respecting girl wouldn't fall for that?! Al Pacino in that role completely unstitched me,

The non-embarrassing aspect of my Redford crush is that he didn't turn out to be, say, a Mel Gibson. I am proud that at 15 I had the good taste to pick a man to crush on who ended up being a huge environmentalist, started the Sundance Institute that supports independent filmmakers, and has always lived under the radar.

Class acts are hard to come by these days, so it feels very apropos to celebrate someone who has always been one.

So, Happy Birthday, Mr. Redford. Thank you for giving me, and women everywhere something aspirational to think about in our alone moments.

That is of course when we're not thinking about this.