That's the hard-boiled Dragline, speaking of Cool Hand Luke.
After she read my obituary of Paul Newman, my wife Chaz asked me, "Why didn't you write more about his acting?" She was right. Why didn't I? I've been asking myself that. Maybe I was trying to tell myself something. I think it was this: I never really thought of him as an actor. I regarded him more as an embodiment, an evocation, of something. And I think that something was himself. He seemed above all a deeply good man, who freed himself to live life fully and joyfully, and used his success as a way to follow his own path, and to help others.
If Newman was that kind of person, so, too, was his wife of more than 50 years, Joanne Woodward. Too little attention was paid to her in the appreciations. They grew old and fine together. None of us can ever know the truth of another life. But to the degree that we can guess it, I believe that Joanne and Paul shone upon each other, agreed on the fundamentals, expressed the same fusion with acting, did good, were happy in a way that brings contentment.
How did he embody and evoke? I learn that several Jesuits use "Cool Hand Luke" in classes about film and theology. In this reading, Luke is Jesus, of course, and Dragline is Peter, who sits down with new prisoners after Luke's death and begins, "Let me tell you about Luke." You can work out his mother, Mary, and Judas Iscariot for yourself. Someone should count the inner circle of prisoners who always seem to gather around him. Although Luke could choose to end his suffering by bowing to the cruel prison wardens, he continues to absorb it without complaining, perhaps using nonviolent resistance as an example to the others. Consider the conversion of Dragline. In my recent re-review of the film, I ask what other actor could have so successfully played Luke.
In the obituary, I wrote that I had interviewed him many times. Not true. It only seemed that way. I met him three times, once as he campaigned for Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 Wisconsin primary, once for a few days in 1969 on the set of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," the third time in New York to discuss "Nobody's Fool" (1995). Maybe his films expanded in my mind to make it seem that I knew him better. I could see no division between the man and the actor. That's not to say he always played himself. He was expert at crafting roles. It's more to say that there was no filter, veneer or visible style to his acting. You saw him as if through a glass, clearly. He was not "naturalistic," but natural. He was at ease within himself. He didn't seem to "create" characters but more to embrace them, love them, speak for them. I am aware I sound almost foolish here. But that's the way I see it.
It was the summer of 1969 when I visited the set of "Butch Cassidy" on the back lot at 20th Century-Fox. I had been a movie critic for two years. I was working on my first assignment from Esquire magazine, which was still celebrating the New Journalism. I was heavy with responsibility to live up to the magazine's requirements, and nervous about applying them to Newman. The Wisconsin piece had been straight journalism. This had to be more. He was a movie star. My definition of a movie star was, and is, someone you regard as a magnificent adult when you are not yet one yourself. "Stars" of your own age and younger never have the same psychic force. In 1969, there were very few stars as "major" as Paul Newman.
I walked into his trailer. He did not regard me as an intruder, a possible source of irritation, someone who was invading his private time. He casually welcomed me to the flow. He looked at me openly and accepted that we were talking with each other, and that such a thing was natural. There was no "getting to know you" process with Newman. He acted as if he already knew you. I am not naive. I don't believe I have ever truly known an actor--or a director either, with a few exceptions. When you approach them as a journalist, they are there and you are here. But sometimes they can act as if the line isn't there. Lee Marvin was that way, too. Scott Wilson. Martin Scorsese. Meryl Streep. Robert Altman. Werner Herzog. Tilda Swinton. Paul Schrader. Joan Allen. Gregory Nava. Mike Leigh. And others, but my list is not long.
Never mind what happened in 1969. I'll dig up the old magazine and put it on the web site. Let's move forward to 1995, and listen very carefully. When I walked into his room, he said, "Aw...it's you again." The point is not that he remembered me. The point is how he said "aw..." Imagine it in Paul Newman's voice. It evoked feelings hard to express in words. The "aw" wasn't "oh, no," as it sometimes can be. To it me it translated as, "Aw, it's that scared kid, grown up." Whatever it meant, it put me right at home.
We linger on such moments because movie stars are important to us. They represent an ideal form we are deluded to think exists inside of us. Paul Newman seemed to represent the best of what we could hope for. He was handsome, yes. He had those blue eyes, yes. Helpful in making him a star, but inconsequential to his ultimate achievement. What he expressed above all was grace, and comfort within his own skin. If he had demons, he had faced them and dealt with them. Is this my fantasy? Of course. That's what movie stars represent, our fantasies. His wife, children and grandchildren knew him, and which of us would not hope to receive such a loving tribute after we're gone? ("Our father was a rare symbol of selfless humility, the last to acknowledge what he was doing was special. Intensely private, he quietly succeeded beyond measure in impacting the lives of so many with his generosity.")
Humility. Yes. I rode around with him for a day during that Wisconsin primary. No movie star attitude. He plunged right into crowds. Played a game at a pool hall. I remember him starting every speech the same way: "I'm Paul Newman, and first off I want to apologize for making 'The Silver Chalice'."
I've read over this piece, I realize it's growing too long, and I still haven't discussed Paul Newman's acting. Or maybe I have.
What a great loss Paul Newman's passing is. Can you imagine of 25 other actors did exactly what he did on screen and off? On screen, he was just a master, pure and simple. Off screen, few were more generous. Hundreds of millions of dollars to charity? Can you imagine if more actors did this for the less fortunate?
Robert Redford felt it the most. The twosome were reportedly planning on making a film adaptation of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," supposedly their last film as a duo, with Redford playing as Bryson, and Newman as the author's hiking companion.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing this beautiful and "spot on" remembrance of a truly fabulous human being. I'm sure your obituary is wonderful too.
I had similar thoughts. Reading over the remembrances, I was constantly reminded of the line in the Redford film, and the novella (one I reread several times a year), A River Runs Through It, where Norman discusses his brother Paul's death with his father, and posits that perhaps all that they really knew about his brother Paul was that he was a fine fisherman. The minister father responds that he knew more than that. "You knew that he was beautiful."
I worry, sometimes, when we are affected so much by the perceived goodness of an actor. Isn't this the opposite side of the same coin that makes us obsess over the faults of actors? That leads us to break into dinner conversations and demand autographs? That makes us buy the magazines that buy photographs from paparazzi hiding in the bushes?
Mr. Ebert, you deal very sensitively with this question in your piece, but I remain worried. Maybe connecting actors to their roles--perhaps even when the actors are good people--is damaging to art, and damaging to souls. I worry about our feeling that we accomplish something meritorious by generously granting Paul Newman our approval in the way he lived his life.
Again, Mr. Ebert, you steer a careful path around this subtle hubris; I just worry about how close it may still be.
Newman was almost always consistently interesting in his choice of roles. Filmdom is lesser now with his passing. He leaves behind a great legacy that will be hard, if not impossible, to follow.
Mr. Ebert,
I don't think you could have written a better tribute either time.
As great of an actor as Paul Newman was, what always made him stand out in my eyes was his devotion to his wife and his charitable work. He stood as a symbol of what Hollywood can be when it's residents care about more than just their "Q" rating or who they're seen with.
He was an inspiration to many and the world is a poorer place for his passing.
I think it's actually more interesting to hear about how he was as a person, offscreen. People can watch his movies and get to know him as a star, but so few actually had the honor of meeting him as a man... so to us that weren't so lucky, we rely on other people's impressions, like yours.
It was a great loss, he will be missed.
I hope it doesn't come across as a putdown that what I remember about Paul Newman are less his full performances than scenes within those performances. Pretending to have been broken (or was he really broken?) before escaping with the truck in Cool Hand Luke. Laughing about Sundance's inability to swim in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Hissing in Sally Field's face in Absence of Malice. Cynically taking photographs of his comatose clients, then having an epiphany in The Verdict. His humble awe at holding the winning ticket in Nobody's Fool. Most actors string their performances together through a series of scenes. Newman had the magical ability to encapsulate an entire character within an individual moment.
I never really thought about how his acting wasn't stylized, but now I see what you mean. Him and Kirk Douglas, to me, had that kind of acting. Their souls just pour out in their performances.
I was dumbstruck when I heard the news on Saturday morning. I heard reports that he was battling cancer, but I didn't want to believe it. Even though I am only 28 years old, Paul Newman was a personal hero of mine. I am still not sure how I found him. Probably a midnight showing of The Long Hot Summer on TCM some summer night after high school. I immediately starting researching the man in the dirty wifebeater with the piercing blue eyes. To me, he epitomizes all that an actor can be. He was a man who possessed a transcendant quality in his work and in his life that is rarely matched. Maybe some of that is due to the fact that he always let us see the complexities of his characters. Maybe because he was able to wear the mantle of movie star and human being simultaneously. Whatever the reason, he will be greatly missed.
'Robert Redford felt it the most. '
I am uncertain as to the extent to which you knew either man, but I digress on this portion of your comment and instead will focus on the unforunate prospect of people allocating and judging levels of pain/grief when someone dies. It's roughly the equivalent of measuring out blame in a situation where there could easily be the fault of numerous parties. Are we competing over bragging rights at funerals now? I suppose that way we can all lose together.
Regardless, Paul Newman, from what I can gather from any reliable source(up to and including Mr. Ebert's wonderful and elegant words about the man), is that he was one of the special class of actors who decided to develop themselves first and foremost as human beings and reacted graciously and impressively to success. I did not know Mr. Newman one bit, but I can safely say that if the old proverb 'It's not what you say, it's what you do' still applies, then his pitch-perfect track record and notable lack of negative exposure combined with what is perhaps the most solid and consistent acting career of his considerable generation reveal a man who seemed at peace with his place in the world - although this may have been softened by how positively vaunted he was, even early on - and was able to inhabit his characters apparently as well he was able to live inside of his own success. That is an achievement by any standard.
I'm somewhat amazed that, despite knowing so much about Mr. Newman's personal life, there seemed so much more to know. These days, Hollywood stars seem eager to shatter what delicate illusion we have of them as people. They don't appear to mind being seen as selfish or cruel or immature or ridiculous. They still want our money, though, to support their personal hijinks. Mr. Newman was none of this. He appeared to be genuine through and through. And he accomplished so much. A sad passing, but not so sad. His was a wonderful life.
Where is the article you did on McCain and him not looking at Obama during the debate?
Ebert: Right on my site. Look for the photo.
To Nate: Paul Newman was not the kind of guy you would find in these magazines, living the bad boy lifestyle, and people like Robert Downey Jr., Martin Scorsese etc. both had some bad falls, but made great work as they helped themselves--they are now the stars that I would look up to--and it seems to have happened for the best (a phrase that overused, sorry.) Isn't that something? Perhaps, they are rooting for the Lindsay Lohans and such, hoping they make it out okay, and perhaps, it inspires them to do the same--well, at least a little bit.
I think when you say that he represented a fantasy you come close to my view: Any work of art reveals things about ourselves that we are unaware of, don't fully recognize, or just lack faith in. I disagree that the ideal form represented by the fantasy actor really does not exist within us. At the least we hope it does.
I don't think an actor's life can be a work of art. But his work can be and what we bring to that effort as the audience is very substantial.
Thank you for the piece.
Great article, but do you think you could do a serious deconstruction of his acting?
Aw. Yeah, Newman's passing hit me pretty hard on Saturday morning. And you're right about not seeing him so much as an actor, rather as an embodiment of something - and that is not any kind of denigration of the man's work, but a clarification of our appreciation of him. There are plenty of actors, even plenty of good ones, but there are very few (fewer and fewer) movie stars. Hopefully, we can recognize that many movie stars are also actors (like Newman), and many actors were also movie stars (like Brando), and that neither designation is any kind of insult. We need both. There can certainly be as much truth disseminated by either kind of player.
But perhaps being a movie star is harder, rarer. Can't really be taught, then, how to hold that screen and that audience in your gaze - those eyes didn't hurt, and Newman had them, and they were his destiny. Nobody that looked like that was gonna end up helping old ladies carrying their groceries out to the car in Wisconsin or Northern California, living above a pumping station and subsisting on the good will of men.
Roger, I know you're not a fan of BUTCH CASSIDY (I'm a huge fan, and don't see why it and THE WILD BUNCH can't live happily together as different sorts of '69 westerns), but Newman and Redford (still with us, thankfully) seem like fifty men or more up there on the screen, beautiful men and rascals, impervious to death... wounded only by the fade-out.
I'd like to recommend one Newman film that is rarely talked about: POCKET MONEY, from the mid-70s. It seems that era was so rich with masterpieces that some only very-good films got whisked into history's dust-bucket. POCKET MONEY (from a script by Terrence Malick, which should tell you something about its worth) has Newman playing a dumb guy, and well, for just about the only time in his career. It's a forgotten film, you can feel it wag its tail when you watch it, so pleased is it to be screening again in this new century. Warner Bros. just put out POCKET MONEY on DVD a few years ago, along with another underrated 70s Newman film, THE DROWNING POOL. Often considered the lesser sequel to the fine HARPER, I find DROWNING POOL to be prime-Newman, and certainly a poignant alternate reality view of the relationship between Newman and his angel, Woodward (who plays a femme fatale in the film) (and those who cherish Strother Martin character work will be in pig heaven, as he plays a villain whose character quirk is making up huge batches of gumbo on his boat and then tossing it out the porthole)
In closing, I'd like to announce that I will only be eating Paul Newman brand food products for the rest of this month, in honor of our fallen movie god. Anybody interested in some popcorn with salad dressing, and a nice tall glass of lemonade on the side, would be wise to appear at my door around 8 tonight.
Also, I feel bad for Robert Redford: Pollack and Newman in one year. Movie stars are people, too, you know?
"None of us can ever know the truth of another life."
Beautiful.
This, perhaps, isn't entirely related to your article. Perhaps it is.
My great love is novels. More accurately, books. I love them. I love the pages, the smell, the idea that anything you want to tell someone else can be written down. I love language. I love the written, typed word.
When I read what you write about movies, actors, directors, and your love affair with them, it is inspiring. You are absorbed in the sphere of film, you breathe it, you live it. Your love for Paul Newman is incredible. You talk about him in the same way I would talk about a Faulkner character.
You are an embodiment of passion for an art form. Every time I find myself wondering "What is the point?" I read another one of your blogs and I remember.
So thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Ebert for this honest remembrance of one of cinema's finest actor. It really brings to me on tears. Paul Newman was a good man. I miss him.
After I learned of his death, I immediately went out and rented all the films for which he recieved an Oscar nomination. I don't know why, but his final line in "Road to Perdition" struck me as so powerfully haunting. The sadness, the ghost of a smile in the face of his doom, the love he has for Hank's character. "I'm glad it's you" - could any other actor have given us so much depth in that simple declaration (Well: Maybe Hanks)? Newman, among his other greatest gifts, was unparelleled at his ability to portray great angst by simply standing still and watching the movie play around him. I'm grateful that his last major film portrayal was also one of his best.
I'm reminded of a line in Altman's "Prairie Home Companion": "The Death of an old man is never a tragedy." No, probably not - but that doesn't mean we don't mourn the loss of one of the very best we had. RIP, Mr. Newman.
It's kind of funny. I always thought of Marlon Brando as the greatest actor after World War 2.
No one can argue that Brando, with films like A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, The Godfather, and Last Tango In Paris, changed film acting in 1950 and beyond.
When Brando passed away, I saw and read tributes to the revolutio he started. I felt respect and admiration for his great accomplishments.
However, when I heard that Paul Newman passed away, I felt great personal sadness. I not only admired and respected his acting, I felt as though I knew him.
I thought about The Hustler and how he talks about his love of the game.
I thought about Hud, Harper, Hombre, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Slap Shot, Absence Of Malice, and The Verdict. I could recite lines from all of these films. I KNEW PAUL NEWMAN! I had grown up and old with him.
Even in this decade I had seen my old friend in Road To Perdtion and Empire Falls, and it was great to see him again.
Why does this make a difference?
It does because he had that unique ability to inhabit his characters so well that he became the character and one of us.
There was no "failure to communicate" with Paul Newman.
A few weeks back, I was channel surfing and I saw Nobody's Fool on HBO and watched it again.
It was like spending time with an old friend.
I am going to pull out some of my DVD's and spend some more time with my old friend.
I suggest we all do this. Paul ages well... no, he will last forever!
One Sunday night in 1986 or 1987, while aimlessly changing channels I came up at a late TV showing of THE HUSTLER. My father simply told me "stay and watch this". I don't know how many times I've been blown away, unexpectedly, by a movie like that particular night but I guess I can count those with the fingers in one hand and still have a few left, remaining.
Great article, I really enjoy your blog. This seems as good a place as any to ask: Google news quotes a snippet of the beginning of an op ed you wrote, which starts "I do not like you, John McCain". But the link (it points to a page at the suntimes) no longer works. Is this really something you wrote? I would enjoy reading it very much if it is available somewhere online.
Thanks for your honesty and for all the years of reviews you've given the world.
Lloyd Houghton
Ebert: It's right there on the home page of my site. Blog isn't home page. www.rogerebert.com
Very few actors, actually none, can put a smile on the face of movie-goers just by being present. A smile from Paul Newman was enough to ignite and erase all the sadness that ever filled your life.. At least I don't remember a time when I felt bad after a Newman movie.. This doesn't mean Paul Newman is the greatest actor (neither does it mean that he isn't!) It is just that I've never seen a more human performance from anyone. If Brando is the eternal 'Superman', for me Newman is 'Batman' - simply human!
An finally, thanks for the post.
The passing of Paul Newman has affected me emotionally in ways that other people in the business haven't in a long time.
I hold his devotion for his wife, Ms. Woodward, as a role model for staying true to one's partner.
I am in awe of his charitable work for children.
I am, of course, amazed at the large number of great roles he gave us over the past few decades.
I remember a scene in "Road To Perdition" that is priceless, for me, anyway; the scene where Newman and his minions are walking towards the car, and Tom Hanks begins shooting them, one at a time, obviously saving Newman for last. Newman just stays still, looking down, with no expression on his face....or is there? Looking at the way he holds that pose, you know that his character knows his life is about to end, and not in a graceful way.
I also remember the scene in "Cool Hand Luke" where, after learning of his mother's passing, he sits on his bunk and accompanies himself on the banjo while singing "Plastic Jesus". What could've been a scene of overwrought emotions is made all the more powerful by his rusty singing, a heartfelt sniffle, and his teary eyes.
God, I'll miss him.
Paul Newman was a method actor, and was the very person on the program "Inside the Actor's Studio", I want to see it, but maybe it's on youtube somewhere.
To alan graves, by deconstruction you mean, as askoxford.com says, to dismantle and expose the workings of--in this case, the acting of Paul Newman. It's right here on youtube, in his own words on "Inside the Actor's Studio". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEMOzlawafA. I know I will soon be watching.
My god, what else can I say besides that I feel like I lost a friend of my own, as cliche and sappy as that may sound. He was and is everything every actor in Hollywood should aspire to be.
It's strange but since he has died, I've heard next to nothing about Paul Newman's acting. How iconic he was, what great roles he had, what a movie star he was, yes. What an actor he was, not so much.
Not that he wasn't a great actor but he was one of the few people about whom you can say "He was a big talent but that was the second, third or fourth most important thing he did. The first was what an amazingly kind person he was and what a great husband and father he must have been."
I don't even mourn his loss as the loss of an actor, I mourn it as the loss of an incredible human being.
While I've enjoyed Newman's classic performances, his role as hockey coach Reg Dunlop has to go down as one of my favorites simply because he was playing out of character. The vocabulary was foul, the hockey was great, the Hansons were awesome, and Newman brought his charm to a character that, if you think about it, should have come across as extremely unlikable. But he wasn't, because of the twinkly in Newman's eye. I loved him in The Hustler, I loved him in Cool Hand Luke, I loved the way he directed his wife, John Malkovic, Karen Allen, and James Naughton in 'The Glass Menagerie', but nothing will ever top the job he did in Slap Shot. You will be missed, Paul
I loved Paul Newman and I love you too, Roger, although in a different way. I was thinking about Paul, just a bit ago, as I heated up some Sockarooni, looking at his splendid countenance on the label. I had a thought similar to yours, that my favorite Paul Newman movie was the "movie" of Paul, in real life, his beauty tempered by humility and a steadfast determination to do the right thing, like in 1969, when he supported the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. Namaste to you both.
Paul Newman was more than just an actor... Appropriately titled: a force of nature; possibly that last real movie star of his generation. Though knowing the way Paul carried himself, on and off screen, far away from the reaches of the Hollywood machine; no doubt he'd wanna slap the hell outta any Tom, Dick or Harry who'd wanna label him as anything other than simply a decent human being.
With a loving family, great outlook on life, perhaps not always perfect, but like many of us who'd aspire to be: headstrong, plainspoken and carrying the seeminglingly boundless integrity of an actor continually searching for truth in the most unique places.
Testing, trying and constantly reiventing himself, until ultimately we'd never even recognize him. What we always recognized though, is his sheer goodness, which for better or worse, came across in every thing he did.
Paul was also a generous actor, never one to chew the scenery, he embodied the moments he was in; transcending them, while beckoning us to follow along and cradle him. He never asked us for pity though, and that to me was his greatest charm. He's a woman's man, a man's man, a cool father figure, the grand-daddy of cynical yet heartfelt advice and ironic humor, yet carrying a burden of self-imposed rage, hate, love and intellectual-transcendence; not of the flasy variety, but of the kind that age old scholars would even envy.
Paul was above all an American-icon, an original, and all around hero to many he came across. A great humanitarian (though an overused word, it applys here). He'll be sorely missed and admired from this world to the next. Hell, one need only witness some of his most cherished performances to clearly see how unique he really was. Of course, his work was varied and abundant. From "Somebody Up There Likes Me" to "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", "Hud", "The Hustler", "The Sting", "The Verdict", "Butch Cassidy", "Slap Shot", "Cool Hand Luke" and "Road To Perdition" simply to name a humble few. I'll let your mind tickle itself over this beautiful exchange at the end of Scorsese's "Color of Money", one of my favs of his, which in my humble opinion, gives you all the info you need as to why Newman was Newman. Well, just read and enjoy, better yet, rent the movie again for yourself and re-live through an American original:
Cruise (Vincent): Eddie, what're ya gonna do when
I kick your ass?
Newman (Eddie): Pick myself up and let you kick me again.
Cruise: Oh yeah?
Newman: Yeah... Just don’t put the money in
the bank kid, cause if I don’t whip ya now, I’m gonna whip you
next month in Dallas.
Mastrantonio (Carmen): You mean Houston. There’s nothing
coming up in Dallas.
Newman: Houston, Dallas, and if not then,
then the month after that in New Orleans.
Cruise: Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?
Newman: I’m back!
My heart goes out to all his family, friends and fans; who so very much adored him. For what he did, what he stood for and above all for simply being himself.
Even if he never knew it or didn't care, one thing is certain. Paul was a good man.
His movies, thankfully, are even better....
Even the internet underworld misses Mr. Newman.
From 'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean' to 'Sometimes a Great Notion', Paul Newman gave us some truly memorable and wonderful films that are embraced and loved wholeheartedly by the same people who cannot even say the word 'Hollywood' without spitting afterward.
The same cynical and jaded users who trade digital copies of 'In a Glass Cage' and 'Tombs of the Blind Dead' have been uncommonly sincere in our mourning of this man's passing, just another mark of how much respect his life and film work has garnered him. Resquiat in pace.
Right, I'm off to watch 'Slap Shot' for the something-teenth time. Funniest film ever made, that one.
Thank you for such a lovely piece. Newman had a connection with the audience that was way above and beyond virtually all other actors. He seemed to so very much be his characters. But at the same time you always had the feeling that bits and pieces of Newman's own soul were shining through. So much pleasure given to us by so many wonderful roles! Truly, he's one for the ages.
Bless you and your girls Joanne,
I know how you feel now, I've been a widow 10 yrs. No words can comfort you now, only Prayer can..
I once raced cars and drove commercial busses for 19 yrs..and at 84 I'm still searching for my own diesel bus conversion..
One time Paul got a little lost looking for the race track and he pulled into my long time friend's Rt.15 Pa. driveway while she was raking leaves to ask her for directions...Gloria was astounded...She still talks about how nice he was...and how she really believed him when he said he would have come in for coffee if he wasn't already late for being at the Track..He truly was a gentleman..and that little episode was spread to many people.. leaving them all with a new fondness for your Paul...
God Bless you Joanne...
Hugs Always Viv...aka JourneyOne on the Net..
In 2004 I produced my first short film, "The Bench", and Mary Jane Langrall was one of the stars. Mary Jane is Joanne Woodward's aunt and close to both Paul Newman and Joanne. Though I never met either of them, Joanne thought my script was sweet. Paul, when he saw the finished film, had the message relayed to me "Tell him to make another one right away!" That was Paul Newman for me. He took time to encourage me, someone he never knew and never would know. I think, Roger, that your piece captured this essential element of him. Thank you.
Three things strike me about Paul Newman:
1. He had the charisma to be a great movie star.
2. He had the talent to be a great actor.
3. He had the compassion to be a great man.
I recall not long before my Grandmother died she said: "He is very good (of some other actor) and everybody likes Paul Newman." She was in pinpoint sympathy with what has been said here.
Watching him in "The Verdict" a second time I noticed he had a sly smile and his own repressed sense of style and flair, the impression that even in his lowest moments it was partly a pose and that he knew how to win and the right moment to make his moves. This is the kind of lawyer I like.
Yet I wont ever be able to forget him as he was in "Cat on a hot tin roof". "You said it yourself Big Daddy, mendacity is a system we live in." The line shouldn't be so effective, nothing in the film is believable or personally relevant (and one doesn't really give a damn for Big Daddy's feelings), it was just good drama in a (now) classical style. I don't think his late acting was better (or worse)than his early acting, it was just that he was older and so hadn't the same advantages, so one is moved to say that it is better (that is we feel sorry for his lost good looks, in a way that we don't permit ourselves to feel about other actors). Modern male leads seem odd and quirky compared to Newman. I think Newman fits our normative standard for how a man should be and so he was able to drift through life unencumbered. We don't resent him for it.
Perhaps the best compliment I can give is that hearing of his death I felt a pang of emotion but it wasn't really sadness. I felt happy at a life well-lived, enough to forgive even the unforgivable, the Paul Newman Salad Dressing.
Excellent writing. The writing is accurate and uncommonly perceptive. It is important affective intelligence information to share with others. Newman was an incredibly great man.
Not to get off topic, but I suspect that you didn't "instruct" Chaz to do much of anything. As a woman, I suggest that you contact your florist or your jeweler immediately.
Ebert: Somebody told Chaz it was a sexist remark, and she replied: "Why? Roger knows who runs the dinner parties in this house."
The one scene that stuck out the most to me in "Cool Hand Luke" was when his mother died and he was crying in front of everybody playing the guitar and singing, [robably of all the scenes I've seen of him.
This post should make-up some on the talk over acting:
I think Paul Newman's acting went overlooked, despite the 9 Oscar nominations, because he made it look easy. He was one of those actors that people might say was "always playing himself" meaning that you couldn't accuse him of doing character roles, or Shakespeare, or old movies where people wore "big hats". Perhaps because I'm an actor myself I always say, "turn a camera on and try to play your self!". It's not an easy task.
I think Paul Newman was sublime and very subtle in some of his character roles, and perhaps my favorite all around film, made even more poignant upon his death, is "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" from 1991, that lost and overlooked Merchant-Ivory classic about America and about a specific suburban family where Newman and Woodward play a conservative husband and wife.
In acting studies, one of the most important things is carving out specific relationships with the characters around you. Actors are pushed to create a very specific ethos of "husband-wife"/"lover-lover"/"parent-sibling"/"sibling-sibling" in all roles, to create dramatic tension, but to make things specific. So even when you see two friends on-screen, or partners (think of the bank thieves in "Dog Day Afternoon") the actors are playing siblings, sometimes negotiating who is older or younger as they go.
Maybe I love Newman so much in "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" because he plays so many relationships within that role: as a husband, a father, and as an uncomfortable lover in some scenes. He even plays a sibling in one scene with colleagues at lunch, where a joke is shared at the table that he finds below his taste. In that scene he plays "younger sibling" by not getting the joke, and then quickly switches to being a father by disapproving it. Great actors play around with relationships from one moment to the next sometimes. It's a great role for Newman and he even tackles some Shakespeare in it, and he's brilliant at it.
The movie's filled with one good scene after another, and spot-on performances. I included the trailer for it. Try to get past that narrator.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=G8wkeDhw_mc
Victor Saville directed "Silver Chalice" and lived another 23 years; Lesser Samuels had two Oscar nominations, and he lived for 24 years after "Silver Chalice". But neither of them wrote or directed another movie.
Was "Silver Chalice" that bad? Should Newman have stood behind his cast and crew?
Ebert: I only have Newman's word to go on. IMDb says 4.4/10
In your obituary of Paul Newman, you write that you failed to discuss and praise his acting sufficiently. Your explanation for the gap: "I never really thought of him as an actor. I regarded him more as an embodiment, an evocation, of something."
This is probably a generational issue. If you remember seeing his early movies when they first came out, you probably do think of him first as an icon, as a larger-than-life symbol of masculine cool. Indeed, many obituaries have focused primarily on his early career, when he stunned the world with his impossible good looks. In the New York Times, for example, Manohla Dargis focuses much space on Newman's performance in "Hud," explaining that he was never as "beautiful" as in that picture, "his lean, hard-muscled body" overpowering both the scenery and the other actors.
Maybe so, but for someone of my generation who missed the sixties, Newman never represented the wild, charismatic bad boy. To me, instead, he was the old master with a gravely voice and a talent for delivering dialogue more naturally than any other star.
Take his performance in "The Verdict." The movie is written by David Mamet, and is filled with typical Mametian dialogue; yet Newman is able to deliver the highly stylized and repetitious lines so compellingly that it never, at any point, sounds like a Mamet film. In fact, it is not a Mamet film. Nor is it a Sidney Lumet film, even though it is directed brilliantly by him. It is, first and foremost, a Newman film. His performance is the soul of that movie; the wonderful dialogue and the flawless direction are in his service, not the other way around.
Very few actors are that powerful. Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Daniel Day-Lewis come to mind. Newman, I believe, deserves to be recognized in the highest artistic company.
Just spent some time rereading your Newman film reviews. The so called "H"(Hustler,Hud,Harper,Hombre,Cool Hand Luke} movies from the 60's remain a high water mark for me to this day. Liked that haven't tweaked the old grammos from Cool Hand. Remember Harper as one of the first of yours I read.
Also thought a guest IMDB reviewer for "The Hustler" made a good point mentioning that if there was ever a special Oscar for ensemble acting one should have gone to the cast of "The Hustler." I concur and would further suggest the same might be said for any of the above mentioned. "The Hustler" was kinda my "La Dolce Vita" from 1961,if you get my drift.
Took a quick poll of the best Newman from a choice of 5 on some site. I picked "The Hustler" which holds up the best for me to this day and was the film from which I first took serious notice of Mr. Newman's incredible talent. Probably a classic, but who am I. It was the least picked of the 5 available choices, even trailing "The Color of Money."
Kinda curious what your all time favorite Paul Newman flick was...sure you've been asked many times, but don't remember seeing it. Take care.
Why do you feel the need to say you sound foolish?
Many years ago, I read an interview with Paul and Joanne. The writer asked them how difficult it was to stay married and they said, Not difficult at all since from the earliest days, we agreed that divorce would never be an option for us. Whatever might happen, we would have to figure another way to manage whatever would come along.
Principled people who in all aspects of their lives would be the best of models and very easy to look up to.
Jo in MN
The only actors I can think of who is around today who could pull off playing Luke (ignoring ages, of course) are Jack Nicholson and Tim Robbins. However it's kind of a chicken and egg thing. I think they could do a good job with the role because of how they played McMurphy and Andy. Those charaters seem to be petty close cousins to Luke. But, maybe Robbins and Nicholson wouldn't have been able to play those as well as they did if Newman hadn't played Luke first. I dunno.
Its interesting that your entire description of Newman as a natural can be applied to Jeff Bridges too, though he does not have the same high profile in the media.
Good article.
Roger, thanks so much for your Paul Newman piece. I first discovered the actor in "Harper", and was doubly pleased that he was driving a funky old Porsche in that early film. It was "The
Verdict", however, that elevated him in mind as a great actor. A great novel transformed into a great movie. True justice, personified.
Back in 1969 I was a bartender at O'Rourkes and you were friends with Karen Yops, the roomie of my future wife, Marilyn Pettit. I have vivid memories of that time and place, listening to the conversations between you and your reporter friends, working with Jay, Lazar, O'Dell, and all the rest. I have followed your career with interest and affection. Thanks for your thoughts and feelings for Mr. Newman, a true American hero.
Tony Berry
Traverse City, Michigan
Roger, I think that some things just go without saying. It seems almost trite, but really, all you need to know about Newman as an actor can be summed up not in words, but in experiences, which don't always translate well. As an aspiring filmmaker, he is an inspiration not merely as an actor, a subject, but also as a true, decent man. He was one of those rareties for whom the cloak of celebrity was not just to be used for personal gain, but to actually benefit those whose voices could not be heard. So many stars of yesterday, today, and likely tomorrow can only make an impact by being irresponsible, avaricious, intoxicated on substances and their own fleeting fame.
I find it quite touching that, for all his accomplishments as an actor, that his career is the last thing that you, or anyone talks or writes about when mentioning his passing. You wrote not of a mere actor, but of a great human being. I fervently believe that he lived the life that Mark Twain wished for, when he said "Endeavor to live your life in such a manner that upon your passing even the Undertaker will cry." I know I did, a little.
My thanks to you, sir.
A man's life is not his career, no matter what the impact of his career is. If at my grandfather's funeral I only spoke of him being a firefighter that would not say much about him at all. Wile his choice of career and how he executed it does speak to his character, that was far from the sum of him. He also was a reformed alcoholic with a hot temper who raised a son with Donws Syndrome. When one has had as strong a presence in acting as Mr. Newman has it speaks more to the man we are eulogizing that we wish to honor the whole of his life and not one segment. How sad if all you had to say was, "he was a great actor in..." and nothing else.
Mr. Ebert, you've written two lovely tributes to Paul Newman, and you still haven't written enough. What a terrific actor. He will be sorely missed.
It's like he's somebody that you know. When Jim Carrey said why he wanted to be a movie star, he said it was because he wanted to pop out of the screen...share your popcorn with you. To me, that is one thing Paul Newman achieved, definitely.
as always your words were right on. paul newman was an extraordinary man who proved that being your own person does work. that you don't have to follow the "road well travelled" to succeed. there are so many tributes to him and rightly so. all of his contemporaries were physically beautiful - brando, welles, etc. and it seems they fought against their beauty paul newman accepted his as a gift from God.his beauty was more than skin deep. he was a very beautiful, sweet faced older man. he knew that those blue eyes were the bluest and he played them. they were always filled with that "smile" - that he played opposite tom "whatisname" was perfect casting. he told him he was back but he hadn't been anywhere. just as he is gone now but he will still be here.
and you are still here, mr. ebert. to me you're THE CRITIC with all thumbs up. I am happy to see your health is better. to me your balcony is never closed. God bless you.
When I was a high school student, I worked as an usher in a movie theatre,one of the last single-room, big sreen theatres. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was the blockbuster film that year. I must have seen the film 100 times and memorised every line. I still love the movie to this day. Its the best buddy film ever made, with great comedy, photography, musical score, and poignant depictions of violence.
When the next movie came out: George Lazenby's 007 Bond move, it was such a let-down I quit my job.
Yes, I have a fantasy that my tribute might say something like "this guy whipped the devil's _ _ _". But, of course, I would rather have the one that Paul Newman received, the one where reality resides. But yes, as we watch movie stars on the screen, I think I agree in that I might say, this is someone who gave the devil a beating. Or as I remember you and Roeper would introduce Christopher Walken as "the Great Christopher Walken", who my friend would refer to as a badass. He was a pool hustler too, who knew that the movie "the Hustler" was re-released a few years later...he didn't have a word for Paul Newman, like "badass", probably because he had too much respect for him. No, I don't really believe there is a devil, but if there were...never mind, I was raised in Houston--sorry--where there probably is an outbreak of psychic satanic forces where Paul Newman's movies need to be re-released, tell everyone that it is coming your way.
Does the re-enactment in 'religulous' remind you of the oblivious tourists in 'The Holy Mountain?' Is it not ironic that we as Americans have become the figures of laughter portrayed in Jodorowsky's cryptic film?
"I'm glad it's you." So help me, I cried at that moment in "Road to Perdition". The only reason I bring it up again here is because of how you said he greeted you during that second interview, Mr. Ebert: "Aw...it's you again."
Having read both this post and the website tribute piece, I can't help but think, were he able, Mr. Newman would have replied: "Aw, I'm glad it's you." And meant it.
The pic above your kind eulogy features a Cool Hand quote beneath it, but the star of David on Paul's neck implies it's a shot from Exodus. Or was Luke Jewish ('cause I never really saw Cool Hand)?
Ebert: Don't know where the photo came from. You may have guessed right.
I'd just say,in case it sounded bad in my last post, that my friend didn't have a word for Paul Newman probably because he felt that he wasn't easy to pin down with words, because he chose more, you Ebert said, anti-heroic type roles whereas Christopher Walken is not in as many leading roles, but lends the same kind of movie star great actors who may not be recognized. Maybe, it's just more macho to say that, but macho doesn't quite fit the mood for a Paul Newman actor, more like human being.
My first glimpse of Paul Newman was in the movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." I was quite taken by Paul Newman's physical looks and completely taken by the scene of him on the bicycle riding around a barn while "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" played. That scene is still one of my all-time favorite scenes ever as I have become quite a movie-lover since, to put it mildly. I was not familiar with Paul Newman's movies prior. Well, it seems to me that his best role was that of a human being, simply. He seemed to realize, unlike many "actors," that his life was bigger than a movie, just like eveyone's. I admire his Newman's Own products giving all proceeds to charity. That is something to admire.
In a job interview after Sept. 11, 2001, the interviewer asked me what I would be doing in five years. I told him I would like to do something like Paul Newman had done with his food company, something good in life. The interviewer paused and shook his head in agreement (I did get the job offer, but turned down the job). I have a feeling that Paul Newman embodied what many of us aspire to in life, something infinitely more important than our personal careers, to do something personally fulfilling without reward, to be able to look up at the stars at night and realize that life is bigger than we could ever imagine, wondering the point of it all as we turn and head back in, and yet over our lifetime, keep going back out to look at the stars nonetheless. Paul Newman seemed to do that.
Paul Newman was so remarkably good looking, I can barely comment on his acting, frankly, only his other work in life, being a humnan being trying to do some good in the world. We are all the better for his existence, truly. I wish people would stop saying "what a loss" - look at all we have gained! Paul Newman - Yes!
Thanks for the fitting tribute. Well said...especially the part about what a movie star means to others. In regard to the contributors who question those who blur the line between an actor and his roles, I would refer them to the lovely line in Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, " ... print the legend."
If this line isn't from a movie, it should be, "Everything I know, I learned at the movies."
Reposted: I need to read this stuff before I type it
I'd just say,in case it sounded bad in my last post, that my friend didn't have a word for Paul Newman probably because he felt that he wasn't easy to pin down with words, because he chose more, as you said, anti-heroic type roles whereas Christopher Walken is not in as many leading roles, but lends the same kind of movie star great acting who may not be as recognized. Maybe, it's just more macho to say that, but macho doesn't quite fit the mood for a Paul Newman actor, more like a human being--a mood Paul Newman never left.
Mr. Ebert, since you're a Chicago native, I was wondering about your opinion concerning the Gold Glass Luxury Movie theater, where the tickets go for $35 and Dom Perignon for $295 a bottle. Any comment?
Ebert: Sorry, haven't been there yet.
RE: The Silveer Chalice.
Writer Harlan Ellison was a friend of Newman. Somewhere in his writings he states that he and Newman had a pact: if Newman didn't bring up Ellison's script for The Oscar, Ellison wouldn't remind him of The Silver Chalice.
Reading your words, I realize just how few of Newman's films I've actually seen, whether as star, co-star, or supporting actor. Now, with his passing, and your essay, I really feel the need to catch up.
Gorgeous guy, great actor, class act. I'm doing my own personal movie-watching tribute to him.
Drifting off to sleep while looking at a black and white poster of Paul Newman hanging above my bed in the late 1960's, I learned to appreciate his beauty. Watching his films over the years, I learned to appreciate the subtle depth and strength he could bring to a role. Reading through the wonderful articles posted by Mr. Ebert and the comments of his readers, I have noticed that one performance has not been mentioned. Mr. Newman's voice work in CARS was an unexpected delight to me. Perhaps not being distracted by his body language and blazing blue eyes, I was able to focus on what he brought to the character of Doc with just his gravelly voice. I could hear pain and disappointment, a fierce protection of those friends he cared about, pride in the accomplishment of others, and the sound of feet (wheels) planted firmly on the ground with no expectations of life being fair yet still expecting honesty from others. The words were in the script, but the emotions were in the voice. These were the same qualities Mr. Newman brought to his most memorable roles that have been discussed so eloquently by others and made him more than an actor. He was an artist.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Paul Newman during the filming of Slap Shot where I was among hundreds working as extras in an arena crowd scene. Heading towards his trailer for a break he stopped and commented on my t-shirt which bore the name of a bar I managed. When I pointed out that it was down the street and that I'd be honored if he would come by, he smiled and said something to the effect of "sounds great - let's go!"
He and an assistant walked over with a friend and I and we unlocked the club (it was closed during the day). I wish I could remember what the conversation was and I can't recall what I served him, but I do know he sat there across from me for fifteen minutes and talked with like I was an old friend. No entourage, no ego, no fear of "destroying the myth"...there *was* no myth. I'm sure I was awestruck and asked him questions he'd heard a million times before, but that's not how he reacted. I felt like a million bucks.
I've met a lot of actors and musicians over the years, but few were as gracious and seemingly comfortable in their own skin as Paul Newman. Might explain how he could so graciously inhabit the skin of others, so well and so often.
Forgot to add an important element about Paul Newman. I think his greatest life's work was not that of an actor, or creator of a food company whose proceeds went to charity, but probably that of a husband and father and someone who created the Hole-In-The-Wall-Gang camps for seriously ill kids. I recently enjoyed an interview from 1994 (?) on the Charlie Rose show with Paul Newman, Ellen Burstyn, the Actor's Studio fellow, and others sitting in a circle discussing acting, playwriting, directing, and The Method. Well, I still don't know what The Method is but it was worth watching this circle of acting enthusiasts and particularly Paul Newman who, slumped down in his chair with his legs extended at times, then attentively sitting up and speaking with that smile about acting, is definitely something all of you may enjoy seeing. Beyond acting, and his family, I really do think the camps for kids were his greatest joy. How fortunate we all are for having a contemporary in our presence, so to speak, who did something beyond himself in life. Peace Paul!
it's hard not to admire Paul Newman for putting his money to work in such productive ways, such as his Newman's Own line--high quality stuff and the proceeds go to good causes... very smart.
actors want to be remembered for more than their acting. they want to be remembered as people.
Mr. Ebert,
Thank you for your beautiful remembrances and tributes to Paul Newman. They are quite extraordinary. They paint for us private pictures of a man--just a man-- but a beautiful one at that. We see "inside" the public exterior of a great actor and philanthropist You make him real for us.
But even as I say this I realize the great loss I felt when he died. It is a personal loss. Something is missing that has been there as long as I can remember. Maybe that is as real as it gets.
Hi Mr. Ebert,
I'm from Egypt and have been following your reviews all my life. This is my first time writing to you. You have inspired me to become a movie critic and you wre the reason I chose Journalism as a major. A real inspiration and idol may I say. I feel the same way about Paul Newman and how good he was as a human being. This article moved me. Do you mind me asking what your favorite Paul Newman movie is and which do you consider his best performance?
P.S. I think you're one of the greatest writers of our time..you described Paul Newman's acting as "natural"..I can honestly say the same about your writing.
Ebert: It may be "Cool Hand Luke." Or "The Verdict." He was a good man. Egypt! (*ding!*) First time caller!
I agree with your admiration to his performances in both movies. What I loved about Newman was that you could depend on him. He delivered great perfrmances till the end. He has a consistency that is very rare. I wish great actors like Robert De Niro ended up like him. Maybe his upcoming "Everybody's Fine" will prove he still has a lot of passion towards acting. I have my fingers crossed and look forward to your review.
Mr Ebert, I was scrolling through your reviews and couldn't find a review for the movie "Hud". Is there a particular reason for that? I would just love to read a review written by for this movie. Also, do you have any recommendation on what is best for me to take my career as a movie critic to the next step? I've been writing reviews for Egypt's leading film magazine for two years now but English written reviews aren't as important here in Egypt as the rest of the world. Are there any steps I should follow like moving to the UK since I was born and travel there a lot. Anyway, I also wanted to tell you that I share your admiration towards "Dark City" and consider it a visionary work of art regardless of the medium.
I may be the first to write to you from Egypt but you're very well known here. I get calls every day telling me to rush to the theater and watch so-and-so movie because Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4. When you were battling cancer, every major newspaper had you on the front page. I'm glad you're feeling better though. When I read that you sometimes imitate HAL 9000's voice from "2001: A Space Odyssey" I smiled both at your sense of humor and for your passion towards cinema as well as your ability to refer to movies no matter what the situation.
Best Regards,
Wael Khairy
Ebert: "Hud" was released before I became a critic, but it's certainly a possibility for a Great Movie.I think I have iton a list of possibles somewhere.
I don't think I'd recommend moving to England just to become a film critic. You'll need an income, too. :) The internet is a way to get yourself on the map.
First, move on over to the current blog entry and join the group!
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/11/id_like_you_to_meet_your_best.html