Robert Redford — Sundance Mountain Resort

Redford bought 5,000 acres in Utah's Wasatch Mountains in the 1960s and built Sundance — a ski resort, arts colony, and the birthplace of the Sundance Film Festival. The resort has 95 rooms ($300-800/night), a working art studio, a glassblowing workshop, and a general store that sells locally made goods. It's intentionally uncommercial — no chain stores, no neon, no crowds. The film festival (launched 1978) turned Park City into America's indie film capital and generates $180 million in annual economic impact for Utah — 60% more than the runner-up film festival in the state. Redford turned a mountain hideaway into a cultural institution that shaped American cinema.