Paul Newman RIP

[lordtednfs]

It's just been announced on CNN that Paul Newman had died of cancer at the age of 83. God bless you Paul and thanks for the memories.

[EllyMack]

Just read it on the BBC website. RIP Paul.

[Marky B]

This is sad news. An icon of film and a great actor. RIP Paul and thank you for a wealth of films in your long career.

Mark

[Chevyman]

I had read that his condition had become terminal.



What a sparkling career and what charisma he had.......on and off screen.



BBCs Obituary



With his piercing blue eyes and laid back style, Paul Newman became one of the most recognised leading men in Hollywood.



But he always doubted his own acting ability, once claiming that "I only got by on looks and energy."



Paul Leonard Newman was born on 26 Jan 1925 in the Shaker Heights suburb of Cleveland, Ohio,



His father, Arthur, who ran a successful sports goods store, was Jewish while his mother Theresa came from a Slovakian Catholic family.



It was Theresa who encouraged his early interest in things theatrical and he made his stage debut at the age of seven, in a school production of Robin Hood.





After graduating from high school he began an economics degree at Ohio University but the war cut short his studies.



He joined the US Navy, hoping to become a pilot but failed the physical examination when it was discovered he was colour blind.



Instead he trained as a radio operator and rear gunner, spending most of his military service flying in torpedo bombers over the Pacific.





He had one of the most enduring marriages in showbusiness

He completed his economics degree after the war and then went on to study acting, first at Yale and then at the Actors' Studio in New York, where his contemporaries included Marlon Brando and James Dean.



He made his Broadway debut in 1953 in a production of William Inge's play Picnic which ran for nearly 500 performances.



His film debut, a year later, came in The Silver Chalice, a biblical epic,which Newman allegedly described as "the worst motion picture of the 1950s".



When the film was shown on US TV a decade later, he took out an advertisement in Variety, apologising for his performance, thereby ensuring huge ratings for the broadcast.



By the late 1950s Newman had become a top box office draw smouldering alongside Elizabeth Taylor in the 1958 film, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.



In 1961 he won widespread acclaim, and a BAFTA, as "Fast Eddie" Felson in The Hustler, a role he would reprise in the Color of Money 25 years later.



The films came thick and fast throughout the 1960s including Hud, Hombre and a part as the eponymous rebellious prisoner in Cool Hand Luke.





Man against the system in Cool Hand Luke

In 1969 he teamed up with Robert Redford for the western, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, which became one of the biggest grossing films of all time.



He worked with Redford again in 1973 in The Sting, in which a complicated plot was hatched by a pair of hustlers to con a big time gangster, played by Robert Shaw.



He continued to widen his repertoire playing a diverse selection of roles throughout the 1970s and 80s.



They varied from the architect in The Towering Inferno, a hard drinking hockey coach in Slap Shot and the taciturn cop Murphy in Fort Apache, The Bronx.



On the track



After six Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Newman finally got hold of an Oscar for the 1986 film Color of Money where he appeared alongside Tom Cruise.



Much to the chagrin of his appreciative, mostly female, audiences, Newman often liked to work behind the camera.



He produced and directed his wife, Joanne Woodward, in several of his own films, including the Oscar-nominated Rachel, Rachel.





In his later years, Newman turned down many film offers preferring to concentrate on his sports team and business interests.





Audiences loved the twists and turns in The Sting

His passion for motor racing had been kindled following his appearance in the 1969 film, Winning.



His first professional race came in 1972 and he continued to compete throughout the next 20 years including a second place in the 1979 Le Mans 24 hour race.



In 1982, he took co-ownership of the Newman-Haas team, which attracted racing stars Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell.



At the age of 70 he became the oldest driver to compete in a major event when he took part in the 24 hour race at Daytona Beach, Florida.



In 1982, appreciative dinner guests persuaded the actor to bottle his own brand of salad dressing for mass-production.



By 2006, his Newman's Own range of pasta sauces, lemonade and popcorn, had raised more than $200 million for good causes.



These included a residential summer camp for sick children and the Scott Newman drug rehabilitation centre, in memory of the son from his first marriage who died in 1978 after an accidental drug overdose.



Nevertheless, Newman continued to make occasional returns to the big screen, co-starring with his wife in the 1990 film Mr and Mrs Bridgend later appearing in Twilight, Nobody's Fool and Message in a Bottle.





His big off screen love was motor racing

He was again tempted back in front of the camera in 2001 by Sam Mendes to win rave notices for his part in The Road to Perdition.



In 2007 he announced officially that he was retiring from acting, believing that he was no longer able to perform at the level he wanted.



"You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."



Following the end of his first marriage to Jackie Witte, he married the actress Joanne Woodward in 1958.



It was one of the most enduring relationships in Hollywood and the couple jealously guarded their privacy.



Once asked if he was ever attracted by the beautiful women with whom he worked Newman famously replied, "Why go out for a hamburger when you can have steak at home".



He credited a regular beer intake for his good fortune, and a sign on his office door summed up his approach, "If we ever have a plan, we're screwed."



One of a kind.



Thank you and sleep well

[dpgmel]

Sad sad news.



Good night and God bless.

[Dame Starry]

Not unexpected, but sad nevertheless.







Paul.



DS x.

[Gary D.]

I was listening to the radio, just now, when Newman's death was announced. Frankly, I didn't know he was ill, and had forgotten he was 83. For Hollywood, he had a very successful marriage. Somehow, he and his wife managed to be top-flight stars and stay married.



I agree with Mr. Newman about The Silver Chalice. He seemed totally miscast for the role of the young Greek artist, Basil. I think Jeffrey Hunter would have been perfect for the role.



But Newman in The Towering Inferno was very, very good--a memorable performance.

[jazzylady]

We Americans were also very proud of his charitable works. All of the proceeds from his excellent food products go to worthy causes. Not far from my home here in Connecticut is his "Hole In The Wall Gang Camp", which was created to provide fun and support to children with life threatening illnesses.

[GRAEME]

A very sad day. The end of an era. One of the finest movie actors of his generation. How he didn't get an Oscar for The Verdict I will never know, not to mention Hud, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler...

[julian_craster]

THE MACKINTOSH MAN was his only UK film, I think.....I stand to be corrected.....

[James Fox]

"Hud" is one of my favorite films of all time. But I also loved him in "The Hustler," "Cool Hand Luke," "Butch Cassidy," "Slapshot," etc. etc.



He will definitely be missed.

[Windthrop]

If he had only done The Hustler alone he would have been a legend. But he did much more.



RIP

[A Pemberton]

name='GRAEME']A very sad day. The end of an era. One of the finest movie actors of his generation. How he didn't get an Oscar for The Verdict I will never know,

Totally agree, The Verdict was a tour de force by Newman and he was splendidly supported by James Mason



A great loss........

[Steve Crook]

name='GRAEME']A very sad day. The end of an era. One of the finest movie actors of his generation. How he didn't get an Oscar for The Verdict I will never know, not to mention Hud, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler...

It's often luck of the draw and depends what you're up against. For The Verdict he was up against Ben Kingsley for Gandhi.



It also depends a lot on who's "flavour of the month" and who kisses all the right bottoms



In fact the idea that an Oscar is actually for a good performance is a long way down the list of things it represents



Steve

[Chevyman]

name='Steve Crook']It's often luck of the draw and depends what you're up against. For The Verdict he was up against Ben Kingsley for Gandhi.



It also depends a lot on who's "flavour of the month" and who kisses all the right bottoms



In fact the idea that an Oscar is actually for a good performance is a long way down the list of things it represents



Steve

Aye. And he was an outspoken liberal. That would have got up a lot of noses within, and without, Hollywood



Above all, he was his own man.



In one of his interviews, very late in life, he joked that his range of dressings and sauces took more than he currently did at the box office.



He never shouted out loud about his humanitarian work either.



I think he went to sleep happy with the way he'd lived his life. I will be revisiting his work for many years

[batman]

A fine actor, but more importantly a fine man. He will be greatly missed by the whole world, not just by film fans. Thanks, Mr Newman for the entertainment you have provided and for all your tireless efforts on behalf on others. Much respect, RIP.

[Moor Larkin]

Some guys you just want to live forever.

[bhowells]

Sad news, indeed,. Many happy memories of seeing him on the big and small screen.



R.IP. Paul

[christoph404]

Thats sad news, one of the last hollywood icons, and one with principles and a generous spirit to boot. RIP mr Paul Newman and thanks for the great entertainment!

[hankoler]

A true legend on and off the cinema, a very great loss. R I P.