Paul Newman died last night from cancer. He was 83 years old. In many respects he was, in my mind, what performers should be, not only decidedly talented but also clearly unaffected by his fame. He was a legend but in interviews and through how he lived his life it was clear he had good sense to live as normal of a life as he could.

He was political but not to the point of obnoxiousness, which is rare these days when the famous are urged to be over-the-top. He followed up on his political and social ideas with effective philanthropy, not bitter speeches and bombastic film projects. In other words, he walked the walk and didn't make his beliefs into a slogan, he turned them into action.

His resume is a path through the important theatrical and cinematic works of the 20th century: The Long Hot Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Exodus, The Young Philadelphians, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Hustler, Hud, Torn Curtain, Harper, Cool Hand Luke, Hombre, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Fort Apache the Bronx, Cars, Slap Shot, The Color of Money, Absence of Malice and The Verdict. While not each of these films are brilliant each are noteworthy and more than a third had a sharp impact on the industry.

I've always had a strong respect for Newman, not only for his talent as an actor but also because it is clear he was given about as many gifts as a man can receive, but never gave the impression he let it get to his head. More importantly he did the one thing we all should strive to do, take the gifts that we are given and use them to make this a better place when we're done. Through his works in the arts and his philanthropic efforts, he clearly did this.

Labels: miscellaneous, Paul Newman