Rest in Peace to Paul Newman

I adore Paul Newman! Always have. When I saw my first Paul Newman movie on TCM as a kid, I was hooked for life. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is an all time fantastic film. I've seen it so many times at this point I now notice the interesting props in the background used to create their world. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, Hud, The Long Hot Summer, The Hustler, Slap Shot, The Color of Money, The Sting, Nobody's Fool.......... I would be hard pressed to name another actor who has as many films that I actually like.

Not only did I admire him for his incredible acting ability and gorgeous, manly presence. I look up to his charity work! As he said, "A man can only be judged by his actions, and not by his good intentions or his beliefs." Paul Newman put his fame and tons of money to good use for others. I thought you might like to check out the amazing organization, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, he founded to lift the spirits of sick children ~

http://www1.holeinthewallgang.org/

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married for 50 years! How long is that in Hollywood years? That doesn't happen often even outside of celebrity land. He famously said, "Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?"

A typical, self-effacing Paul Newman quote....... "I picture my epitaph: 'Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.'"

Back in June, Shawn Levy (who is writing a biography of Paul Newman) authored an amazing post about the man.

Going, Gently or Otherwise, into That Good Night
by Shawn Levy

So every day, between blogging and seeing movies and writing about movies and doing all the other things I do (and don't), I sit in a rented office in NW Portland and write a few (and sometimes more than a few) pages of a biography of Paul Newman. It's my fifth book, and it's the first that is about someone I can admire unqualifiedly. So even though it's a massive job of work (dude's been famous more than 50 years), it's a pleasure to share my brain space with him. Funny, upright, smart, brave, moral, talented, faithful, honest, manly, wise, humble: he's simply good people. A mensch, in fact and deed.

I have known for a while that Newman was very ill, probably with cancer, and today the internet is flooded with the news that it's lung cancer and that it's not good; there aren't very good sources on any of these stories, and nobody has any shocking exlusives, but given what I know I find every word of them credible (here's an example, for completeness's sake). He's 83, and his next birthday is in January, and we can only hope he'll make it. I suspect I'll be writing an obituary before I hold a copy of my book in my hand.

But, if my publishers can forgive the sentiment, my work seems very unimportant right now, and so, it seems to me, is a repetition of the man's amazing accomplishments on screen, on the race track, in the fields of food sales and philanthropy and as a family man, public citizen and friend. What matters is that a good -- and maybe a great -- man is passing from among us, and our world will be just that much smaller when he has gone.

So just this, then: Godspeed.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/madaboutmovies/2008/06/going_gently_or_otherwise_into.html

Photograph #1 ~ Close up of Paul Newman & those mesmerizing blue eyes

Photograph #2 ~ Beautiful black & white picture of Paul Newman (Brick) and Elizabeth Taylor (Maggie) from the film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Off Topic ~ Australian Actor Heath Ledger has died

Very, very sad news today..... Aussie actor, Heath Ledger, has died. I thought he was very talented. My favorites among his films are Ned Kelly, Monster's Ball, The Patriot & Brokeback Mountain. I'm a huge Batman fan, so I am looking forward to Heath playing the Joker. He has been excellent in all the clips & trailers I've seen for it. I just can not believe this!

At the moment, they believe the medicine found at the scene is over the counter sleeping pills.

Per MSNBC ~

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in a possible drug-related death, police said. He was 28.

According to WNBC, Ledger was found with pills strewn all around him.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper, who went to let Ledger know the masseuse was there, found him unconscious at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET, according to the New York Times. After receiving no response from the actor after shaking him, they called authorities.

The Australian-born actor was nominated for an Oscar for “Brokeback Mountain,” where he met his wife, actress Michelle Williams, in 2005. Ledger and Williams had lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, until they split up last year.

Ledger was to appear as the Joker this year in “The Dark Night,” a sequel to 2005’s “Batman Begins.” He’s had starring roles in “A Knight’s Tale” and “The Patriot,” and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in “Monster’s Ball.”

Ledger grew up in Perth, and began doing amateur theater at age 10. At 16, he moved to Sydney to pursue an acting career, quickly landing TV movie roles and guest spots on Australian television.

His latest role was in “I’m Not There,” in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Rest in peace!