Who is Lola Van Wagenen?

Born in December 1938 in Provo, Utah, USA, Lola Van Wagenen is a historian, but probably best known as the former wife of actor Robert Redford, who is known for his five-decade career in the acting profession. She is the founder of the organizations Clio Visualizing History, Inc. and Consumer Action Now.

The wealth of Lola Van Wagenen

As of early 2020, Lola Van Wagenen’s net worth is estimated to be over $2 million, largely earned through success in her work as a historian.

She also likely benefited from her ex-husband’s wealth during their time together, as Robert reportedly has a net worth of over $170 million; she may also have benefited from their divorce settlement.

Career start

Lola first began to gain attention as Robert Redford’s wife, using the fame she gained to promote numerous advocacy efforts. One of her first projects was in 1970, when she founded the New York City-based educational group Consumer Action Now (CAN), who served as co-chairman of the company for ten years. As part of her job, she often performed in public, went to TV shows and spoke. The group focused on actions and programs that benefited the environment, targeting consumers.

One of her first major projects with the company was the Environmental Action Forum, which brought together numerous environmental organizations and was responsible for lobbying for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. She wrote articles through the organization’s print newsletter and began promoting various energy conservation efforts in the mid-1970s, founding the Women’s Energy Education Project.

Education and history projects

At this point in her life, Van Wagenen wanted to finish her education and enrolled at Vermont College in the late 1970s, just a few years away from her divorce from Robert Redford, and continued her education through a master’s degree, enrolling in New York . University (NYU) and focused on Public History.

She then worked on her doctorate – her thesis was “Sister-Wives and Suffragists: Polygamy and the Politics of Woman Suffrage 1870-1896”, which was published as a book.

With her extensive studies in American history, Lola then co-founded the company Clio visualizes history together with fellow historian Jeanne Houck. The company’s goal was to help a wider audience learn about the country’s history. This led her to documentary work and helped produce “Miss America: A Documentary Film”, which was funded with the help of The National Endowment for the Humanities.

After that effort, she sought more funding and suggested other history films, but most of them were shelved due to the lack of support.

Recent projects

To get the company started, she began doing production and research for other companies, working with The Asia Society, City, Lore and McGraw Hill. In 2003, her partner Houck left the company and turned Clio into a non-profit organization, after which she worked on an online version of “Picturing the Past: Illustrated Histories and the American Imagination”.

She also helped produce Quilts as Visual History and Lowell Thomas and Lawrence of Arabia: Making a Legend, Creating History. She continued to work for Clio, focusing on major events of the past, the feminist movement, and women’s achievements dating back to the 1940s. She has also worked on other film projects such as “The marital status‘ and ‘Lowell Thomas: American Storyteller’.

Former Husband – Robert Redford

Robert Redford began his career in the late 1950s, appearing in television programs. It wasn’t until ten years later that he began to rise to fame, thanks to his performance in “The Voice of Charlie Pont”.

After the success, he had a great run on Broadway playing opposite Elizabeth Ashley in “Barefoot in the Park”. He soon ventured into feature films, which elevated him to stardom. Some of his most notable projects during his career include “Jeremiah Johnson,” “War Hunt,” and “Inside Daisy Clover,” and in particular, he co-starred with Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969.

During the later part of his career, Redford ventured into directing work, debuting in “Ordinary People” which was a huge success, establishing himself as a star director. He continued to work on several films throughout his career, although he did only a few of them.

Despite this, he won many awards including Oscars for his directorial efforts. He is also credited as the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, which was responsible for promoting new films, directors and actors. In 2014, he was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Private life

Lola met Robert Redford in Los Angeles in 1957, and they secretly married the following year. They then had an official public wedding in her hometown of Provo in late 1958. She came from a Mormon family, although she later began to explore other religions. They had four children together and stayed together for nearly three decades.

Their eldest child died after two months of sudden infant death syndrome. After their divorce in 1985, she remained single for a long time and eventually remarried George Burrill in 2002. Robert later married Sibylle Szaggars in 2009.

One of their children is an actress and director Amy Hart Redford. She is known for her appearances in such projects as ‘Maid in Manhattan’, ‘The Understudy’ and ‘This Revolution’. Some of her most popular projects include “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos”. As a director, one of her films “The Guitar” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

, Wikipedia