Paul Newman died Sept. 26 of cancer, but he left behind a legacy of great films and charitable work. He epitomized humility, generosity, vitality and charm. His death marks the end of an era.
These days supermarket checkout newsstands are plagued by pictures of naughty celebrities who seem to truly believe there is no such thing as bad publicity, but Newman was never part of this debased Hollywood culture.
“His death was as private and discreet as the way he had lived his life, a humble artist who never thought of himself as ‘big,’’’ his obituary written by his public relations company said.
Newman is known to our generation mostly for his all-natural salad dressings and spaghetti sauces. Over a period of 25 years, Newman’s Own, the company he founded with friend and author A.E. Hotchner, donated over $250 million to charity.
Newman came up with the company’s motto – "Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the Common Good" – and used his name to help the world become a better place. The company promises to honor Newman’s intention of donating all profits to charity.
But before he was the face on your bottle of “Light Italian con Limone,” he lived a long, full, adventurous life.
Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1925, and showed an interest in acting from a young age. He was always physically active (which is apparent in any movies in which he takes off his shirt), and on his 18th birthday he enlisted in the Navy.
He served during WWII in the Pacific theater as a radioman and gunner in torpedo bombers. He wanted to be a pilot, but ironically, his brilliant blues eyes were color blind.
In 1946 Newman returned home to Ohio where he played football and studied economics at Kenyon College while acting in plays.
His first business venture was a student laundromat where he lured customers with the promise of free beer for every load. He also studied at Yale Drama School and the Actors Studio before finally moving to Hollywood.
Acting in Hollywood for over 50 years, Newman starred in over 50 films. His first movie was “The Silver Chalice,” and for years afterwards, whenever it played on TV Newman would take out an ad apologizing for it.
Some of his most famous movies are “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Hustler” and “The Sting.”
Before Jack Nicholson flew over the cuckoo’s nest, Newman was the dynamic “Cool Hand Luke.” Not many old movies translate into a language that we can understand and appreciate today, but these do.
"Paul Newman was the ultimate cool guy who men wanted to be like and women adored,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
The roles an actor picks says something about him, and it has been easy to fall in love with Newman over the years based on the disarming characters he plays.
A favorite is “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Newman is the easy-going, hopelessly optimistic, train-robbing Butch to Robert Redford’s gun-slinging Sundance Kid. In the movie Butch said, “Boy I’ve got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals.” This was also true of Newman.
In “Hud” Newman showed his versatility as an actor by playing the detestable jerk. It’s forgivable, though, because of his wicked charm and the message he delivers.
In “Absence of Malice” Newman teaches the importance of ethics in journalism, and even though he was 56, he was still hot. He was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and finally won the Best Actor Oscar in 1987 for his role in “The Color of Money.”
Newman met his second wife, Joanne Woodward, while working on Broadway. "I love this woman forever. I think she puts something in my food," he said.
She must be one of the luckiest women alive, for being a part of his life and basking in the radiance of his heart-stopping smile. One can only imagine the intensity of their relationship.
According to his official obituary, a week before his death while sitting in the garden with his daughter, Newman quietly said, "It's been a privilege to be here."
It’s obvious that he lived his life everyday like it was a privilege. But the true privilege is for us, to get to be a part of his life through his movies.
