Let Us Now Praise
Paul Newman was more than a great movie star. He was a sublime actor, an indelible character and a man of immense charity and purpose.
Let us now praise a famous man, Paul Newman, who was more than a movie star in the pantheon of great movie stars. He was a sublime actor, an indelible cinematic character and a man of immense charity and purpose.
He died at the age of 82, leaving behind a legacy rarely rivaled in Hollywood history. Foremost, because he didn't live in Hollywood but in rural Connecticut and kept company with the same wife, the glorious Joanne Woodward, for many, many decades. He always said she was the more talented of the two, an uxurious stance that endeared him to multiple generations of women even more.
Newman treated his surreal good looks -- he was the Brad Pitt
George Clooney of his day -- as something to overcome rather than exploit. He preferred to play the outsider, the ne'er do well, rather than the hero and simple rake, though he had more pluck and charm than any actor in recent memory.
Newman didn't coast on stardom. He used it do support his true interests. He did small films. He directed. He raced cars and refused to play the Hollywood game. He never risked turning into Tony Curtis, who let his game go flat after so much promise.
Newman never seemed to care about the money or the ephemeral, extravagant flippery of fame except in that it allowed him to be more independent and philanthropic. (Like his dear friend and co-star Robert Redford, though the Sundance Kid has always seemed less generous as an actor and a human being skilled at interpersonal relationships.)
How many actors have raised $200 million for charity, children with cancer foremost among his concerns, with less craving for gratitude? Elizabeth Taylor has done wonders for Aids charities, but she expected to be treated as royalty while living like a princess. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are doing their share, but with the cameras always zoning in on the white heat of their fame and, even worse, their children.
Newman did it all with characteristic humilty and humor.
If you're lucky, you get to experience the thrill of such a great star, a great man, and a beautiful human being in every sense of the word every half century or so.