I just got home from a busy Saturday to find out that Paul Newman passed away. He was 83, and he had lived a full life.
Let me be clear, though. He didn’t necessarily live a full live because he lived to be 83. Rather, he lived life to the fullest for 83 years.
Besides being an A-list actor, Paul Newman raced cars and even owned racing teams. When he wasn’t doing that, he came up with bottles of salad dressing and spaghetti sauce, giving 100% of the profits to charity…to the tune of a quarter-billion dollars. After all, his life was abundant and greed didn’t become him. He was too busy out doing other stuff.
His first marriage didn’t work out so well, and he made his share of mistakes in his youth. But he learned from them. His second marriage to actress Joanne Woodward is one of the few “Hollywood” relationships to stand the test of time–fifty years.
He raised five daughters and lost his only son to an untimely death. What…you didn’t know that last part? That’s because he didn’t remind you all the time. His pain was private, not public.
Women loved this guy, even as he aged into his fifties, sixties and beyond. He was noted for good looks, but there was more to it. He was a “big four” guy.
If you have never seen “Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid” or (especially) “Cool Hand Luke”, go rent them. Do yourself a favor and watch very closely.
He just had a way of portraying confident, charismatic masculinity in everything he did…on and off screen. What’s more, he was one of those actors who could make you love the “bad guy” and want him to win. How is that accomplished? Well, in part, it’s done by diffusing the evil and/or the danger associated with the persona. In other words, he made you…and women, of course…feel safe with him.
By the way, keep in mind he was already over forty when those movies were produced.
Of the countless tributes to Paul Newman already proliferating on the Web, one on particular caught my eye and drew me in. In it, the author flatly stated, “I always wanted to be Paul Newman”.
And no doubt, on screen and in real life, living Paul Newman’s life sounded like a solid plan. You were pretty sure he’d be the kind of guy you could have a beer with. And you’d be ready to soak up whatever you could about how to be better with women from him, also.
After all, this was a man who could have had any (and perhaps every) woman on Earth. Yet, he chose fifty years with the greatest woman he ever met from practically infinite options.
He truly was The Leading Man.
When you watch a Newman movie, you leave feeling as if you could do a bit better in the “cool” department. It’s as if you’ve taken mental notes, and walk away ready to make it so in your life.
But that’s what truly cool guys do. They make everyone else around them feel a little cooler when they’re around. The guy who only thinks he’s cool, and would rather belittle others in a weak attempt to increase his “status”? Nobody wants to be that guy. Not really.
If you look closely at the artwork for The Engineer’s Guide To Being Cooler Than The Salesguy, you’ll see Paul Newman on the cover montage. There’s good reason for that. He belonged there. In fact, he was one of the first guys I thought of when researching that program.
Godspeed, Paul Newman. Hopefully they have Porsche 911s in Heaven that finally have perfect handling.
Be Good,
Scot
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as Cool Hand Luke are in my top five of best movies. Paul Newman had such a presence. Not too mention his favorite beer also happens to be mine, Coors Original.