Paul Newman

Paul Newman by Andy Gotts

I think I'll watch Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tonight, or maybe Cool Hand Luke. Or The Color of Money or Nobody's Fool or The Hustler or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

My son, who's 15, says he's never heard of Paul Newman.

__________________

Mike

Featured Comment by Greg Smith: "What a talent Newman was...aside from his always great movies, what cemented him in my mind as someone above the herd were his multiple national championships driving fast sports cars. SCCA racing at that level is a howling pack of snapping, biting, thrusting dogs all chasing the rabbit where the tiniest mistake and you are at the back of the pack if you're still running at all. Newman ran at the front and usually won. In racing circles it's acknowledged that he was good enough to have been pro and make his living at it...if he hadn't had Hollywood. A very cool customer...in a lot of different respects."

Featured Comment by Jack M.: "I knew Paul for the last 30 years. I never met a kinder man. Nice of you to run this piece, and he would have appreciated that the photo you ran was B&W, as he got very tired of people trying to take photos of his blue eyes."

Comments

[Lock]

It's by Andy Gotts, he was featured in the March '08 issue of Black & White Photography Magazine.

[Carsten]

He truly was one of the very best, I liked him a lot. If you want to watch an early Newman with some pretty good b&w cinematography, I would recommend "Hud" (it wasn't on your list) - it may not be as great a movie as "Cool Hand Luke" (but then again, very few movies are) but I quite like it.

[Miserere]

Please disown your son right now. I know you love him, but it's for his own good.

I'm in my early 30s, but I loved Paul Newman. Him and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is a film I loved as a child, even though it was made some years before I was born.

"Cool Hand Luke" is a masterpiece too.

Rest in peace ol' blue eyes...

[Mike J.]

"It's by Andy Gotts, he was featured in the March '08 issue of Black & White Photography Magazine."

Geez, I should have recognized him by his style alone. Thanks Lock.

Mike J.

[Jose-Miguel]

Picture taken by Andy Gotts.

Found through an indirect search via Google pictures and some guesswork.

You can see the picture at their portfolio, together with other most known excellent pics.

Jose-Miguel

[Mike J.]

Thank Jose-Miguel. I've added the credit and a link to the post now.

Mike J.

[Stephen Gillette]

The day Paul Newman turned fifty, he was shooting a cameo for Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie". They were filming at my alma mater, the University of California, Irvine. I was in the crowd of onlookers as the crew brought out a huge birthday cake for Newman.

We all sang "Happy Birthday", and he proceeded to peel off the top of his costume, revealing a sleeveless tee underneath.

Gawd. What a physique! The gals swooned. We guys just had to nod our heads: you know when you're outclassed.

[Eric Ford]

Sometimes I wonder how many people in my generation even know who he is. Some might recognize him from "Road to Perdition," which was not bad at all. "Cool Hand Luke" was my favorite movie for a long time, and may still be.

[Bryce Lee]

Do not disown your son!
His world is so very different from yours.
Be thankful he is yours and give him
a hug for us.

Suggest though he watch something with action
starring Newman, ditto for the late Steve McQueen.

My age is showing too, the modern screen actors of today are unknown to me, as to who they are or what they are portrayed to represent. No television here, either.

[robert]

i heard it here first. what sad news. thanks mike for putting that out there. x

[Chuck Albertson]

Second for "Hud." And "Harper" --- the opening scene where he's making coffee (no dialogue) is worth the price of the DVD.

[Ken Tanaka]

Paul Newman was truly a top-grade person who had a wonderful, rich life that he was able to live his own way. Who of us could ask for more? I, too, am very sad that he's no longer with us. But I celebrate his terrific life and, as a serious movie buff, am grateful for the legacy of stories he left behind.

My wife and I watched The Color of Money tonight. One of my top 20 favorites (and the only movie I've ever been involved with).

[Andreas Suchert]

So long Paul and thanks for all the good work
you did for the people!

Boy, the great puppet master up there is going to have a hard game at pool!

RIP.

Andreas.

[Neil Swanson]

I once had the pleasure of spending an afternoon in the early? '80's at Lime Rock Park with the Bob Sharp race team. Newman was testing the then new V8 powered 280ZX race car. It was pouring rain. I literally took my M's and F's as far apart as I could to let them dry out when I got home. Newman was beaming, just loved driving, driving in the rain, testing and tweeking the car. You could see it in his blue eyes. His eyes really are that blue. Years later I saw him pumping gas into one of his hot rod Volvos. I congradulated him on winning the CART series with D'Amata (sp). He beamed again. The man loved his racing.

[Michael]

Your son may not know Newman by name, but if you mention Doc Hudson, aka 'the Fabulous Hudson Hornet', I have little doubt his eyes will light up and he'll start quoting chapter and verse at you.

"Hot snot! We are back in business!"

[Javier]

How come nobody mentions Robert Rossen's The Hustler? A masterpiece. Newman was one of a special breed: Actors who can lift a film just by themselves. I admire the way he conducted bussiness: very professional, no gossip, no games, no pretences, no vanity. I was around him a couple of times--press conferences, premieres--and he did have a word for everybody, was willing to accommodate all the requests, with humour and always trying to make everybody at ease. He was like that, it seems, even preparing for his death. Really admirable.

I agree that the first scene in Harper, written by the great William Goldman, is fabulous, a couple of minutes of routine acts that sets the mood of the film and defines the character. And I can't imagine any other actor doing it. And he rarely chose a bad project, which is hardly the case with the majority of Hollywood's stars. He even directed some great films (Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion, and specially, Harry and Son).

I already missed him these last years. Now it's just a matter of accommodating the idea that he'll never return.

[Mike Nelson Pedde]

I'd say your son has been sorely lacking in his education! Next you're going to say he's never heard of Errol Flynn, Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby...

Paul was a great actor.

Mike.

[Mike J.]

"How come nobody mentions Robert Rossen's The Hustler?"

But I did....

"And he rarely chose a bad project"

I thought "Road to Perdition" was a poor film. It aimed high but missed. It was just an orgy of fake Hollywood violence that far exceeded anything that the people portrayed by the characters ever would have done in real life. Rarely have I been as disappointed in a film; a real letdown after "American Beauty." Hanks was miscast, and the film was not worthy of Newman's performance, which was the best thing in the movie aside from the costumes and sets.

Mike J.

[Jason]

Make it The Color of Money - one of my favorite movie quotes came from him in that film: "Money won, is twice as sweet as money earned."

My heart goes out to his family, as it's never easy to lose a loved one - even in their waning years. He was (and is) a legend in Hollywood. Not only was he am amazing actor, but he was also a humanitarian, and just a decent human being. People like him are hard to find in the world today - even more rare in Hollywood.

[Ron W]

Let's not forget how good he was in Slapshot, arguably the greatest Hockey movie ever played and he even said he was most like Reggie Dunlop, his character in that movie. He was pretty good in the hockey sequences and the hockey players who were in that movie learned quite a bit from Newman about acting.

[Mike]

He was part of the background noise the entertainment industry keeps putting out and which is a great part of our collective memory. We do show our ages when we reminisce about the man and his movies. Remember them all — McQueen, Stewart, Gable, Monroe, Dean, Mitchum, Wayne, Holden, and the rest. May they rest in peace — we'll all be following them in the not too distant future.

[javier]

My apologies, Mike. I was refering to the comments. You did mention it!
I have yet to decide whether The Road to Perdition was a failed film. I must say that altough I left the theatre unsatisfied it still lingers on and from time to time it comes up in my mind. It had plenty of impressive accomplishments even it wasn't perfect. I felt that Hanks was miscast and somehow so was Paul Newman. But even accepting it was a bad film, just for the sake of the argument, it would be one of a small number of exceptions in an otherwise long career filled with artistical and commercial successes.
As soon as I learned about his death I checked to the Imdb and it made me remember films I had almost forgotten, like Paris Blues or Adventures of Hemingway as a young man.

[jchristian]

I am not surprised to hear that your son doesn't know him as a movie star, but for anyone who doesn't know: you may be more interested after looking at one of the many Newman's Own food products sold in grocery stores.

Besides being usually good and generally healthy, the little line on the label that says something like "Paul Newman has given **over $200 million** to various charities, many involving kids, since the early 80s" might be of interest.

[kickstand]

Your 15-year-old son has never seen "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"? This is an error which must be corrected immediately.

[tbm]

The first time I viewed a Paul Newman movie I was approximately 10 years old. Immediately, his acting ability was mesmerizing and I was astounded by his screen presence. As decades have arrived and disappeared, I still remember and will always remember what a marvelous, compassionate human being/male he was in actual life. A good example of that is the following quotation, the last line of which is so sensible compared to the idiocy of so many humans on this planet:

"I'm a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being... by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant."