The first Paul Newman movie I saw was "The Towering Inferno".  At the time, I was a lot more into Steve McQueen than Newman - young boy, action hero, etc. - but then, once the memory of that film faded and Betamax invaded Iran, we began to watch the rest of his films.

The blue eyes, and his extraordinary beauty in his youth, were and are of course special.  He was a fantastic actor, despite some uneven films. ("The Silver Chalice", "Judge Roy Bean" ....)  For me, trying to come to terms with the unclicking switches in my brain, confused out of my wits in my teens, Newman's portrayal of Brick was a sort of a saviour, despite the fact that the ending appeared forced and that the main theme of the play was hidden in the subtexts of the movie, I connected with Newman right then and there, and the connection has lasted these twenty five years.  

Why?  I think, more than the actor, and the icon (Cool Hand Luke, Hud, The Hustler), it was Newman the man that impressed me; the fundamental decency, the unassuming life, his enduring love affair with his wife, the tragedy of the suicide of his son - which he never exploited - and of course his charity ... there was a Compleat Man, the very best of UnHollywood Hollywood.

I will miss him, but I won't miss him.  Next regular movie night with friends, I will be screening "Cat" ... "Maggie, jump off the roof, that's what cat's do."  

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid.

Newman made the bad guys good.  He did it from the 12963 March on Washington and it will continue on for years.

My favorite scene.

www.youtube.com/watch

You will be missed.

The first Paul Newman movie I saw that had an impression on me was Cool Hand Luke and I saw that on late night TV as a kid. After that it was Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. I just discovered the rebirth of westerns and the gritty 70's cinematic take on American life. As a kid growing up in the 70s certain movie figures have had a lasting impression on me. Not just the cool factor of particular actors but how they could do any role exceptionally well that I discovered what real movie making could be like. Paul Newman was one of those actors.

Beyond his capacity as an actor, his life outside of Hollywood was not just normal but far more real and grounded than most Americans can achieve. He's one of the few actors I actually would have liked to have met and just chatted with over coffee.

icarusr...I too will miss the guy in an existential sense. The next movie will be Hud to introduce my girlfriend to the early days of Paul.

That doesn't even touch on his accomplishments in the world of auto racing.  Truly a great American and citizen of the world.  We will be able to remember him every time we see one of his movies or his smiling face in our grocery stores.  Still, he will be sorely missed.

I know it's a little on the nose, but "The Sting" is still one of my all-time favorites.

Great actor; classy guy; and the handsomest man I have ever seen.

I always loved Paul Newman. The first PN movie I ever saw - that I can remember - was The Young Philidelphians. (sp?). A pot boiler for sure but PN made an impression.

The back story on PN is even more fascinating. PN tried to get the Cal Trask role in East of Eden, and the Jett Rink role in Giant. He lost out to Jimmy Dean each time. PN's breakout role was in Somebody Up There Likes Me, which was a role that Jimmy was to play, if he had not been killed. Also, the next role, The Left Handed Gun, which starred PN, also was set for Jimmy. So, really, when you think about it, PN's big break was the death of Jimmy Dean. Of course, I think that PN would have become of star even if he hadn't been the next in the queue after Jimmy's death but it is undeniable that Jimmy Dean's death paved the way for Paul Newman.

My favorite PN roles are Somebody Up There Likes Me, Butch Cassidy, The Sting, Harper, The Verdict, and that movie where he played Governor Long, I can't remember the title.

Newman was always a solid liberal and he read good magazines. I don't know if he read tnr but he read the Nation, and was always active in liberal politics.

As a movie lover and someone with an appreciation of acting talent, I will miss Newman but like all my other favorites - Jimmy Dean, Cary Grant, Monty Clift, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Stewart - we have his movies and in those, he will never be old and will always live.

Cookie:

I do believe the title you're searching for is "Blaze", also starring the gorgeous and criminally underused Lolita Davidovitch.

As an attorney, "The Verdict" is sometimes difficult for me to watch, but he gave a magnificent performance -- maybe his best.

For me, Paul Newman's high point as irresistible anti-hero was Butch Cassidy.

HIs greatest rarely seen role was as the hockey coach in the wonderful Slap Shot.  NetFlix it-- you won't be sorry.

His greatest role in his post heart-throb period was The Verdict.

My favorite role of his "character actor" period was Nobody's Fool.  He evidenced a complete lack of vanity and his portrayal of a broken down, irascible, but still irresistible old guy was just amazing.

I spent a period of my career doing movie advertising.  One of the campaigns I worked on was the only movie I can think of that Newman obviously did just for the money.  The terribly junk, star-filled The Towering Inferno.

On the set at 20th Century Fox where he was pretending to run into or out of a flame filmed room, I had the pleasure of watching him perform some totally banal action and then take a perfunctory shake of his hand.  Maybe I was reading something into it, but he seemed vaguely embarrassed to be on that set.

Channy: come on, now.  TI was a classic :-).

As a lawyer, The Verdict speaks to me as well and I agree that it is at times painful to watch.  Butch is just amazing, and of course the Sting was one of my all -time favourites, of this or any other actor.

Slapshot ... my introduction to Ice Hockey.  How disappointing then to see the real thing when I came to Canadia. ...

Why no special tribute to Paul Newman? Few figures in the history of modern cinema match his stature