Bob Woodward, 89, Shares How His Dating Life Changed After Sex Symbol Robert Redford Played Him in “All the President’s Men”

Victoria EdelTue, April 7, 2026 at 5:27 PM UTC

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Bob Woodward in the 1970s (left); Robert Redford in 'All the President's Men' (right)Credit: Bettmann Archive (2) -

Bob Woodward opened up about Robert Redford portraying him in All the President's Men

Woodward explained that having a major movie star play him in the film set 'high expectations' when he was trying to date

He also reflected on how he and Carl Bernstein were initially resistant to the movie

Having Robert Redford play you in a movie sounds like a dream come true, but it caused some major dating problems for Bob Woodward.

Woodward, a former investigative journalist for The Washington Post, opened up about the 50th anniversary of All the President's Men in The Guardian on April 5. In the 1976 film, Redford, who died in 2025 at the age of 89, played Woodward as he and Carl Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) investigated the Watergate conspiracy that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Woodward, 83, noted that Redford was Hollywood’s hottest sex symbol, with credits including 1973’s The Way We Were and The Sting. But the reality of having Redford portray him on screen only sunk in after the movie was released.

Robert Redford in 'All the President's Men'Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

He told The Guardian, “When the movie came out, I remember, I was unmarried and I would meet women, or somebody would say you ought to take so and so out, and so I’d call on the phone and identify myself and say, how about a date Friday night? ‘Oh yeah, that’d be great.’ ‘I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock, eight o’ clock.’ ”

But when Woodward arrived, things shifted quickly. “I go there to the house or apartment and I remember this twice at least: I’d knock at the door and the woman would open the door and look at me and you could realize subconscious levers in the subterranean world of expectation that thought it was Robert Redford but it was me,” he remembered. “The door would open with a real smile and then she’d look at me, realize it’s not Redford and it would go from this high expectation to bargain basement low expectation. I’ve seen disappointment a number of times.”

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Woodward and Bernstein, 82, were originally approached by Redford while they were in the middle of covering the story. He insisted he wanted to cover the story of Watergate by portraying their relationship and their search for the truth. “We were busy and Redford kept calling and insisting, ‘This is the way to tell this story,’ Carl and I both thought, yeah, maybe from his end it’s the way to tell the story but we did not see it initially,” Woodward said. Eventually, the pair wrote a 1974 book, All the President’s Men, and Redford bought the rights to it.

Robert Redford (left) and Bob WoodwardCredit: Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Woodward also remembered the great lengths the movie, directed by Alan J. Pakula from a script by William Goldman, went to in order to hew as close to the journalists real lives as possible. Pakula visited Woodward at his house one day. “He said, I want to have somebody come and take pictures of your apartment. We want to know what it’s like for the movie,” he said.

But then Pakula took it even further. “Then I was sitting in a chair and he said, ‘Even better, how about if I buy some of your furniture?’ ” Woodward remembered him buying his chair, table and lamp. “But I remember I thought this was a kind of realism on steroids and it reflected Redford’s, Hoffman’s, Pakula’s quest for realism,” he said.

All the President’s Men was critically acclaimed and nominated for eight Oscars. It won Best Supporting Actor for Jason Robards (who played editor Ben Bradlee), Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Art Direction and Best Sound.

On the romance front, Woodward did eventually end up marrying Elsa Walsh in 1989.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”