Looking at people with low DigBala Robert Redford showed up.
His Mercury is exalted, so he´s skillful and based. But it´s also in the 7th house. In most of his movies (the Sting, Jeramiah Johnson, All the president´s men, Butch Cassidy etc) he plays a loser, being pushed around by people or by life itself and has to use his skills and his fairly good Mars (N dignity in the 6th house in Leo) to save him. He always has to deal with stressful situations and often does not seem to be on top of them. A tragic hero, in a way.
He has Saturn in the Lagna with an even lower DigBala; I´m not sure what to make out of that, do you? Other than the fact that he got wrinkles at a fairly young age, perhaps?
Compare that to Paul Newman, who finds himself in similar situation, but seemingly with no stress affecting him. His has his Mercury in the first house, with Jupiter.
I haven´t seen the movie The horse whisperer, but perhaps that illustrates something good that comes out of having Mercury in the 7th house - understanding the rules of the game the other person (or horse) is playing, and being sensitive to what the other person communicate. It can be codependence or being a pushover, but it can also be empathy, I believe.
Just reflecting...
Staffan
A couple of observations:
In the Sting he´s into the project for to revenge an old friend. When they finally splits the money they made at the end he doesn´t want his part. "I´m gonna blow it anyway." Don´t know how to tend to himself.
In Jeremiah Johnson the army wants him to lead a rescue operation for to save some settlers that are lost in the mountains. For to do that, they have to pass through an Indian graveyard, which is a big nono. He knows it´s gonna get him into trouble, which he tells the officer in charge off, but decided to do it anyway, knowing that he will have to pay a high price. For that his family is killed and he himself has to fend off enemies wanting to kill him for a long time thereafter. I can´t see a Paul Newman-character putting himself in that situation...
Staffan
I have observed there are 3 karakas for actors, the first is Mercury - the one who loves trying on new disguises, this is the actor's actor, Sun - the one that just wants to shine in front of others, the quintessential star, and Jupiter - the one who wants to be in the center of the creative process. Redford has a combination of all three of these.
His early life was not very promising, didn't do well in high school, connected to sports and arts outside the class room, then getting kicked out of college, traveling around Europe, ending up in art school in New York where he tried out acting and got a break. Venus and Moon are highest in DigBala in the 7th and even though Mercury is very low, it conjuncts both. Think we can see low Dig bala throughout his planets here as in he did not have some dream or defined purpose in becoming an actor but fell into it and through supporting karmas in his chart got success.
From all of the directors charts I have looked at, Jupiter seems to be the karaka of the director (seeing in all directions & seeing the big picture) and Redford has Jupiter in the 10th in Sag getting some decent aspect boost from friends Sun, Mars and Moon.
Lowest Dig Bala Saturn in the first I think could help out him becoming a leading man (Sun) and director (Ju) as he is not being guided in life to be the servant.
@quasar259 Thank you for providing those datas, I didn´t know much about his life´s history. Since Saturn in the 7th is good for serious commitment I thought that perhaps his Saturn in the first would work the opposite way, but it does not to have played out that way in his personal life. In his movies his seldom seen in longterm relationships though, or am I wrong?
I also "fell" into my career as a crossword writer. Everything coincided in a way that I believe carries the mark of spiritual help, and that job has allowed me to provide for three kids almost on my own, something that would had been very hard for me to obtain had I had to work in a regular job. With my aspergers... Impossible, I would hardly been able to fend for myself. God´s grace... That Mercury card again, 7 of Diamonds, it´s often being called "the millionaire card", in a somewhat sarcastic way. When all the doors slam in front ot you, sooner or later you will find one that leads to success; that is the logic behind it. Also the card that I manifest, 5 of Clubs, has 5 of Spades on the Jupiter position. If it´s healthy, which mine is, it´s a saving grace: You may get into trouble easily, but in a magical way you get out of it equally easily. That is how my life has been. Right now I have just a very small income from the few crosswords that I still have left, and live mostly at my wife´s expence. But my Rahu return is around the corner and I expect things to change.
Staffan
@staffan yes, Saturn in the 7th is good for keeping people at a distance so one can have solitude to accomplish things.
Saturn in the first gives one less rigid boundaries but this can be turned into an asset in a career where merging with a character or situation is incentivized. Also his first directorial project was "Ordinary People", what a Saturnian title! And in this movie he was praised for his "emotional intelligence" and how he was able to bring out such evocative performances from the actors, which not having strong boundaries and being able to identify with the characters could help.
I don't know much about his relationships but I think anyone with Saturn in the first is going to run into problems there, even if it helps in other situations.
@quasar259 Interesting what you say about Saturn in the 1st. It also resonates with his famous character as a horse whisper in The man that could speak with horses, or whatever the title of it was. I already said that I believe that Mercury in the 7th can make a person more attentive to another person´s emotions and feeling, kind of telepathic or at least empathic, but if you are right Saturn in the 1st would make it even stronger. Of course you have to integrity both as a director and as a horsewhisper though, so I guess he has worked on it, or it´s his after all strong Mercury that helps him to keep everything in order.
Staffan