It’s a sad day in Hollywood, where legendary actor and activist Paul Newman died after a long battle with cancer. A little background for the uninitiated:
Newman attained stardom in the 1950s and never lost the movie-star aura, appearing in such classic films as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Exodus,” “The Hustler,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting” and “The Verdict.”
He finally won an Oscar in 1986 — on his eighth try — for “The Color of Money,” a sequel to “The Hustler.” He later received two more Oscar nominations. Among his other awards was the Motion Picture Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
…
He stumped for liberal causes, including Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential candidacy, and earned a spot on Richard Nixon’s enemies list — “the highest single honor I’ve ever received,” he said.In 1982, Newman and his friend A.E. Hotchner founded Newman’s Own, a food company that produced food ranging from pasta sauces to salad dressing to chocolate chip cookies.
“The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is outgrossing my films,” Newman once wryly noted.
To date, the company — which donates all profits to charities such as Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang camps — has given away more than $200 million. Newman established the camp to benefit gravely ill children
Newman was eighty-three.
jack jett
What a real star in every sense of the word.
TG
Rest in everlasting peace Mr. Newman. You did so much good in the world and brought so much joy to so many people. A life well lived, one to be remembered, celebrated and emulated.
Tom
A beautiful soul and a new star in heaven for us to remember him by.
Madam HoVery
They don’t make them like that anymore–and I did not mean the way he looked. His passing made me feel like when Diana moved away–someone that was good for the world is now no more. I thought of these people as guides for the rest of us, showing how we should lead our lives no matter what our station in life was. Paul Newman and Diana were human first and used their privileged lives for the good of mankind. In my opinion, a true star dimmed today from the sky of humanity.
mark
My sympathy to Paul’s family and friends
He was a rare genuinely GOOD MAN
michael
My sympathy to Joanne and his children. And my hats off to a life
well lived. He had one of the most beautiful faces ever produced by the acting world and his unwavering convictions to the causes he
believed important make him one of our greatest Americans.
Alexa
I know it was bound to happen, it had been reported he was ill, but it is still bad news. As others said, Paul Newman was a genuinely good, decent man, and his death is a sad day for the world.
An Other Greek
a TRUE mensch!
an inspiration, a comfort…
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Phoenix (The One Who Resembles A Keebler Elf, Not the Pale one)
I can’t believe he died. My mom is going to wear sack cloth an ashes and cast herself off a bridge!
Charles Merrill
A beautiful person from social justice issues helped with Socko spagetti sauce, to his beautiful face on screen. Would we even appreciate Tennesee Williams without Paul Newman?. No. and I am tearing up right now, missing him.
John
His death is shocking even at his advanced age. I know that my life is better because I shared some time on earth with him. There’s no end of movie roles which he immortalized, and my kitchen is full of his company’s products. There’ll never be another!
Dick
The world was a better place because he was here.
Newman’s own has given over a quarter billion $$ to charity. BTW my fave picture with Paul was HUD. It was always encapsulated as
“Portrait of a first class Texas heel”
seitan-on-a-stick
To the dear lovely Joanne Woodward: Please don’t stop producing “Newman’s Own” as it’s the only good products on the mainstream supermarket shelf! Paul Newman was beyond legend. BEYOND!
David
A leagend is gone.
ggreen
GOD he was beautiful inside and out also a real friend to LGBT folks. Not at all the Gay panic type (like his pretty blond male costar)
GranDiva
Not really “in Hollywood,” per se; he died at home in Westport, Connecticut (in the first paragraph of the linked story).
Nitesurf
Paul Newman, gorgeous, classy, an amazing screen presence and an all round decent man, thank goodness his movies will live forever. RIP.
movie fan
it’s hard not to admire Paul Newman for putting his money to work in such productive ways, such as his Newman’s Own line–high quality stuff and the proceeds go to good causes… very smart.