I've been making the rounds today during time-outs and at halftime of the Purdue – Notre Dame game. I’ve noticed more than a few of my daily reads have been paying tribute to Paul Newman, who died yesterday at age 83. I’m no different in this respect.
Mr. Newman’s repertoire is chock-full of Good Things, and there may be something else that you think is better than the scene I posted above, Gentle Reader. But “Cool Hand Luke” made an indelible impression on my young mind when it was released and remains a favorite of mine to this very day. Or… to invoke an old cliché… “They don’t make ‘em like this any longer.”
RIP, Mr. Newman. You’ll be sorely missed.
After I heard the news yesterday I pulled out my dad's old video of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It was one of my dad's fave movies, and mine too. It was fun to watch it as I hadn't seen it in a few years, but bittersweet as well.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Buck - they don't make them like Newman. They rarely did back then even. And in today's world of celebrity worship - they never will.
Great talent - while Butch Cassidy is my fave Newman movie, my fave role of his was as Henry Gondorff in The Sting. Just perfection!
Shocked to hear he lost that battle. He'll be sorely missed. So will his capability as an actor.
ReplyDeleteMy vote's with Kris. The Sting is great Newman.
Oh man, I loved Paul Newman. He was a big liberal -- but in the very best sense of the word ... he really did walk the walk and he gave to people who needed help without screaming for government intervention (that I know of)...
ReplyDeleteI loved so many of his movies and the characters he brought to life, but I have to name "Exodus" as my favorite, because it was the first movie I saw him in .. and I was in love with him forever after that movie. (And ... from that point on, I developed a life-long love for the state of Israel. I often thought of Benjamin Natanyahu as very much like Paul Newman's character, Ari Ben Canaan.)
I'm a Newman fan I posted something about him on my blog too. The first movie I saw him in was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He was one of the best actors in movie history. (one of the most attractive too!)
ReplyDeletehe was a brilliant actor.
ReplyDelete“They don’t make ‘em like this any longer.”
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again.
He could do it all - and with style. He will be missed.
ReplyDelete"The Hustler" was, easily, my Dad's favorite movie. One of mine, too.
ReplyDeleteTowanda: "Exodus" as my favorite, because it was the first movie I saw him in .. and I was in love with him forever after that movie.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I adored the character and how Newman played it. I remember quite clearly saying if I ever had a son, he'd be named Ari. Never had kids, but I would have done it.
I live in CT, though not anywhere near the Newman's. But I do know people who have met them - and they say that he is every bit the gentleman he appears. Soft-spoken but with a mischievous twinkle just under the surface.
Thanks, all y'all. I really should have added something about Mr. Newman's love of auto racing, as well as talking about Newman the actor. ESPN has a real good article/tribute about Newman's racing career, if you missed it. A quote:
ReplyDeleteNewman's enthusiasm for racing and for his team was so great that he attended most CART or Champ Car races until the past year or so, when his battle with cancer reached the critical stage.
"I think if you have a passion for one thing, it bleeds back into a lot of other things," he said in 2004. "In my younger and medium years I was passionate about acting, and as that kind of became tiresome, it was replaced by racing. Then some of that bled back into my acting and my family."
Indeed Buck, he was actively racing himself until he was 80.
ReplyDeleteAnd winning, too!
ReplyDelete