Paul Newman dies. A statement released by his philanthropic company says it best:
“Paul Newman’s craft was acting. His passion was racing. His love was his family and friends. And his heart and soul were dedicated to helping make the world a better place for all.
“Paul had an abiding belief in the role that luck plays in one’s life, and its randomness. He was quick to acknowledge the good fortune he had in his own life, beginning with being born in America, and was acutely aware of how unlucky so many others were. True to his character, he quietly devoted himself to helping offset this imbalance….”
In a country mired in self-absorbed politicians and greedy wall street investors…how ironic that an actor’s life would be the reminder that good people still make the true difference in the US.
It’s ironic, because I was hoping to watch Cool Hand Luke this weekend because I haven’t watched it in a while — definitely one of my favorite films. Newman’s performance was incredible.
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p>RIP, Paul Newman.
My personal favorites:
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p>HUD – Newman’s character in HUD was one of the most despicable movie characters ever, but magnificently portrayed.
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p>The Hustler – especially in the later scenes of the film when Fast Eddie Felson really shows how much more character he has than Minnesota Fats and especially Bert Gordon.
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p>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – You can’t top the moment when he and Big Daddy finally make peace with each other down in the basement. Elizabeth Taylor, as Maggie, is fabulous in this role.
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p>Cool Hand Luke – Both Paul Newman and George Kennedy were at the top of their game. Nothing like a little world-shaking.
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p>The Hudsucker Proxy – One of his later films, but he really showed just how good he could be in a comic farce in his role as Sidney Mussburger.
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p>Even if he had never made a single film, Paul Newman still would have been a hell of a great character.
watch “Nobody’s Fool”, where Paul Newman transitions from heartthrob to curmudgeon.
old ones. I really liked him in Long Hot Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Hustler. Hud was tough to watch– I would probably appreciate it more if I watched it now. Looking up his film bio—I forgot that he starred in Somebody Up there Likes Me. I really like that one as kid. If I have to pick one favorite I would go for Cat.
And I do mean lucky — because that’s what it was. Spending offline time with Mr. Newman was as big a gift as it was a treat.
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p>So, this evening I’m raising a glass in memory of this old geezer who made spaghetti sauce and salad dressing in his later years. Anyone else care to join me?
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“You can’t be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning: ‘Holy Christ, whaddya know – I’m still around!’ It’s absolutely amazing that I survived all the booze and smoking and the cars and the career.”
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p>– Paul Newman
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p>I had the luxury & good fortune — and it was definitely both of those things — of getting to know Mr. and Mrs. Newman during the ’80’s and ’90’s.
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p>He was, of course, an avid though deliberately low-key race-car driver for much of his last few decades; she was always a devoted supporter of his interests, which included his SCCA race car driving; and I worked on the Crash & Burn crew at Road Atlanta during the time period when it was one of their favorite tracks to come go racing at way back when.
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p>He spent a lot of time at Road Atlanta, though he & she always did their best to keep his presence there quiet and out of the public eye. One of the biggest reasons he liked it there so much, he told me once, is that we always treated him like he was just another race car driver instead of somebody famous for something else.
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p>Both of the Newmans were terrific cooks, and they were very gracious hosts at the many cookouts they held where their motorhome was parked at Road Atlanta on the weekends, for other drivers and — most especially — for their racing crews and the volunteer workers who made the races possible there.
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p>When his (and our) good friend Jim Fitzgerald was killed in a tragic racing crash back in 1987, Mr. Newman quietly but firmly arranged to have built a non-public memorial space dedicated to him at Road Atlanta, a special grove back in the trees above the Quack Shack where the volunteer track workers could hold their post-race barbecues and beer blasts when the racing was done for the weekend. Nothing public, no news releases — just a shared space to make things easier at the end of the day for those who gave up their weekends working for free so that he could go racing when nobody was watching. That’s just the kind of guy he was.
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p>Mr. Newman made a point of keeping his profile low there and he was never anything less than accessible and polite. I remember him apologizing to me for cussing a serious blue streak at one point when I had to go out and flat-tow his dead car back to pit row because he had missed a critical shift and ended up totally lunching his 300ZX’s tranny going into Turn 11.
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p>Although I did work in the film business for a couple of decades — a whole other story, and one we won’t get into here — I never knew or thought of Mr. or Mrs. Newman as being “movie people.” He was just a guy who really, really liked to race sports cars on challenging tracks. She was just a gal who really, really loved her husband and who liked hanging out with people like us who helped make it possible for her husband to do what he loved to do.
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p>And, yeah, trust me on this one, having sat around their campfire being well & truly fed on a few occasions way back when — while I have no idea which one of them it was that put the finishing touches on those big pots of marinara sauce, in fact I’m pretty sure it was a joint deal all the way — that always was, for any number of reasons, the best spaghetti sauce I was ever lucky enough to share.
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p>So… requiescat en pace, Paul. And now that you guys are lined up back on that same front straight again, waiting for that flag to wave you the green — you be sure to tell Fitzy that we all said howdy from out behind Turn 13, okay?
Cool Hand Luke and Nobody’s Fool. Opposite ends of a great career. Great actor and a good progressive.
is one of my all time favorites. and he was one of the all time greats. he will live on forever.