Paul Newman, RIP

2 comments September 27th, 2008

One of the all-time greats — and maybe the last great movie star — died Friday at the age of 83 after a battle with lung cancer.

Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Paul Newman had a string of classics on his resume that few actors can come close to: THE HUSTLER, COOL HAND LUKE, HUD, THE VERDICT, THE STING, BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID and several others.

My favorite Newman movies might not hit the critically sanctioned “classic” level of the above films, but they’re both on my all-time top 10 list. In 1994’s THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, Newman is wonderfully evil as scheming executive Sidney J. Mussberger, and in 1977’s SLAP SHOT, Newman shows an amazing talent for broady, bawdy comedy as hockey coach “Reg” Dunlop. I could watch either movie at any time, and a lot of that is because of Newman.

Newman played plenty of troubled characters, but he always had a twinkle in his eye, a way of letting the viewer know that no matter how bad things looked, he was trying to figure out a solution to the problem, and he figured he’d find it, too. He had as much pure charisma as any actor who ever stepped in front of a camera, and he put his talents to good use, starring in good films, avoiding the bad ones and speaking out on issues he believed in.

My daughter is 3, and one of her favorite movies is Pixar’s CARS. She only knows Paul Newman as the voice of Doc Hudson (a character that celebrated Newman’s love of auto racing — and looks to be his last screen credit.) I look forward to the years of movie watching ahead, when I can show her all the other great movies Doc Hudson’s voice has starred in.