comment #1

EOTW says ...

Just finish the book, man. Seriously. Newman is incredible. Maybe my fave living movie star (and a hell of an actor to boot). Watched Nobody's Fool (he was robbed!) last Xmas Eve and wished he'd done al ot more after that, but the man is a f'n legend and doesn't need to prove anyhting to anyone. I hope it's as painless as possible. Bless you.

comment #2

Dellos says ...

I have been studying the early films (to 1970) of Mr. Newman find and them to be very entertaining. Mr. and Mrs. were certainly the best husband and wife team to appear on the big screen

comment #3

cbuckie says ...

His charity work and the longevity of his marriage are the measure of the man.

comment #4

btwnproductions says ...

I saw the two of them at an Off Broadway show early last December. Best wishes to them both in this difficult time.

comment #5

Aris P says ...

He and Jack Lemmon were the embodiment of the consummate actor and generous human being, in my opinion. Such a true great. God be with you, Mr. Newman.

comment #6

JoeGreenia says ...

This is where a smart guy would get out of the truck.

comment #7

Arizona Joe says ...

What a great guy.

comment #8

MarkVH says ...

Nope, not acceptable. Not at all. I don't want to live in a world without Paul Newman in it.

comment #9

Joe Leydon says ...

Maybe we are jumping to conclusions...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_en_mo/people_paul_newman_1

comment #10

dixiedugan says ...

I too love Nobody's Fool EOTW - it's one of those great little films.

Is there any actor today that has what Newman has?

comment #11

SimplyTim says ...

The Long Hot Summer!

comment #12

madmaxine says ...

and new yorkers and angelenos think nothing good comes out of the midwest.

god be with you, paul. there has never been a better movie star and there never will be...

comment #13

shawn says ...

To Joe Leydon:

That's a non-denial denial if I've ever read one. "I'm doing nicely" is heartening, but it doesn't rule out the worst.

(Claude Cockburn once declared, in a very different context, 'Never believe a rumor until it is officially denied.')

Other less-commented upon Newman films to see: "The Rack," "Paris Blues," his episode in "What a Way to Go," "Harper," "The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians," "Slap Shot," "The Hudsucker Proxy" (check out his massage scene!), "Empire Falls."

(This list assumes that the likes of "Somebody Up There Likes Me," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "The Hustler," "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke," the Redford films, "Absence of Malice," "The Verdict," "The Color of Money," and "Road to Perdition," plus the fillms mentioned earlier in the thread, are already canonical.)

Guy hasn't gone more than 2 or 3 years without giving a strong performance in a strong film in more than 5 decades.

comment #14

Joe Leydon says ...

More denials:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_en_mo/people_paul_newman_3

comment #15

hcat says ...

Is there any actor today that has what Newman has?

No one is even close, while I find Redford, Costner and Damon to be points on the same curve, its takes at least three different actors to approach Newman. Ed Harris has the intensity of the Verdict, Clooney has the devil may care swagger of Butch Cassidy and Nobody's Fool, and Willis has the towering inferno blockbuster appeal, but no one since has had the entire package.

comment #16

shawn says ...

Joe:

Thx for that link.

And trust me, mate: nobody who doesn't personally know the man wants this not to be true more than I do.

There's this in his favor: he's a tough old bird and he's never had a health episode before. But he's clearly taken a hit in the past 6-8 months: weight and hair loss, cancellations of charity appearances, etc.

An underrated component of this episode is the passing of Warren Cowan last month. Cowan handled Newman's PR for nearly 50 years and would've finessed this whole thing a little better, perhaps, than we're seeing it done now.

Also: every detail currently circulating about Newman's illness came to light in March or so; this all only became viral in the last few days when an English newspaper picked up a several-months-old NY Post item and repeated it verbatim. Fascinating to see how that metamorphosed.

comment #17

George Prager says ...

More proof:

http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/general/view.bg?articleid=1100114

And may I nominate madmaxine's comment as the dumbest of 2008? I do agree that NYers and Angelenos should stop their blind irrational hatred of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama...

comment #18

Joe Leydon says ...

Unfortunately...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_en_mo/people_paul_newman_9

comment #19

dixiedugan says ...

Joe, this one's for you -

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25086145/

Just thought of another one - Mr & Mrs Bridge. Very low key, wonderful performances by both Paul and Joanne.

comment #20

Stephe96 says ...

You know, I'm glad someone mentioned "The Towering Inferno." I think that's really an underrated flick, and Newman's performance is actually very good. He and McQueen are excellent in their scenes together; very serious and understated. I mean, of course Newman is great in "The Verdict," "The Hustler," etc. But I think it takes a true movie star-ACTOR to make an impression in a movie where the real star is a burning building.

comment #21

T. S. Idiot says ...

As an impressionable ten-year-old, I first saw Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me, and he immediately became my favorite actor, a standing only increased shortly thereafter by The Long, Hot Summer, my favorite movie until A Hard Day's Night came along.

He has a punkish arrogance like Brando and Dean combined with great likability. He's the slightly bad role model many in my boomer generation would have loved to have had as a big brother or uncle. (If you can ignore--and it's hard--the trite moralizing, he's one of the greatest uncles ever in Hud.)

Although I consider The Verdict his best performance, as others have noted he's terrific in the underrated Nobody's Foot. My favorite moment occurs when he knocks down that little prick S. P. Hoffman.

comment #22

George Prager says ...

Don't forget how great he is in HARPER and the underrated TWILIGHT>

comment #23

shawn says ...

For shits and giggles, Newman clunkers:

"Until They Sail" and "The Helen Morgan Story," "From the Terrace": strictly contract work

"Rally Round the Flag Boys," "The Prize," "The Secret War of Harry Frigg": took him a long time to find the right comic style; these happened before then

"Exodus": it has its admirers, I know, but I found it excruciating on my most recent viewing

"Message in a Bottle": ahem.

And from the good ideas gone wrong file: "The Outrage," "Torn Curtain," "Pocket Money," "Quintet," "Harry and Son"

comment #24

shawn says ...

Forgot the clunkiest one of all!

"The Silver Chalice": astoundingly wrong.

comment #25

buck says ...

One of my favorite Newman roles that I just saw again on cable: Slap Shot. He skated pretty well, too! When I was a bartender in Petaluma, CA in the late 70's he came in to our bar after he had been racing carrying a can of Budweiser. I had to bust him on it. He looked at me with those baby blues and said: "Oh I got this here." I poured it into a glass for him and informed him that we didn't sell Bud in cans. He just said, "Oh." and went back to his beer.

comment #26

hud says ...

I do not want to live in a world without Paul Newman in it. I have been following his career since Exodus. He is brilliant, a wonderful actor and human being. He should never had to wait unit The Color Of Money to get his first and only Oscar. Hollywood should be ashamed!!!!! I I hope he is without pain and my real hope is that none of this cancer stuff is true. He doesn't even smoke. Only in scenes in the movies. It is so unfair. I LOVE PAUL NEWMAN

comment #27

hud says ...

I do not want to live in a world without Paul Newman in it. I have been following his career since Exodus. He is brilliant, a wonderful actor and human being. He should never had to wait unit The Color Of Money to get his first and only Oscar. Hollywood should be ashamed!!!!! I I hope he is without pain and my real hope is that none of this cancer stuff is true. He doesn't even smoke. Only in scenes in the movies. It is so unfair. I LOVE PAUL NEWMAN

comment #28

hud says ...

I do not want to live in a world without Paul Newman in it. I have been following his career since Exodus. He is brilliant, a wonderful actor and human being. He should never had to wait unit The Color Of Money to get his first and only Oscar. Hollywood should be ashamed!!!!! I I hope he is without pain and my real hope is that none of this cancer stuff is true. He doesn't even smoke. Only in scenes in the movies. It is so unfair. I LOVE PAUL NEWMAN