Thank You Paul Newman
January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008
Paul Newman was an actor, philanthropist and race car driver. He won dozens of awards for his acting, including an Oscar and three Golden Globes. He also won awards for racing, and for his humanitarian work.
My favorite role that Newman played was in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor. Striking a scarily close image of Marlon Brando, Newman was absolutely heart-rending in the Tennessee Williams play turned movie.
Although I am an actor and I admired and emulated Newman’s work, the thing that I most admire about the man is how he made his marriage work. After his first marriage, he married Joanne Woodward in 1958 and they stayed married for fifty years. Famous for his quip about infidelity, “Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?” Newman was a family man through and through. He lived with his family in Connecticut, far away from the busy life of Hollywood.
If there is a way that I could choose to be remembered it would in part be like this line from his official obituary:
A week ago Paul sat with his daughter in the arbor of the garden, breathed in all the late summer beauty, and said very quietly, “It’s been a privilege to be here.”
Newman’s five children remembered him as being a wonderful father.
The other way that I would want to be remembered is this, also from his obituary:
On hearing of Paul’s death, a friend said, “Now cracks a noble heart,” but knew that Paul would have laughed at that. The same friend wrote: “No one in his audience was ever privy to the tenderness and pride Paul had for Joanne and her talent. Watching him on the set watching her, from his seat by the camera, was to see a man transformed: his brave face taken all unawares, his lips parted in amazement, his eyes brimming with tears that never fell. It was a brief window into a man in perpetual love.”
Truly, Paul Newman was A Good Husband. We’ll miss him.
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Comments
wow!
I didn;t know all of that about him!!!
UrbanVoxs last blog post..Stay At Home Dad…
It has also been a privilege to me that you were here Paul Newman. The world is a lesser place without you!
The best character was Hud in 1963. “How many honest men do you know. After you separate the sinners from the saints you’re lucky to end up with Abraham Lincoln”.
This is truly priceless. I had no idea he was a man of such character. I hope to be able to say when my life is over that it’s been a privilege to be here. Some days I wonder about this crazy world. If it wasn’t for my wife and children, I don’t think I would have much by way of happiness. Thanks for finding this and sharing it with your readers.