HOLLYWOOD LEGEND is a much-abused epithet that has rarely had occasion for proper use in recent years. But, with the death of Paul Newman, it can be applied to this great screen idol without challenge.
The epitome of Hollywood cool, Newman was an actor originally out of the same mould as those other screen legends — Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Marlon Brando ( before the fire went out of his ability to act and he simply became Brando playing Brando). The enduring quality of the best of Newman's performances as a leading man is undisputed; his name deserves its place on the credits of far more movie classics than might usually be the case in the summation of an acting career.
The list of outstanding Newman films, from his Oscar-nominated performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roofhalf a centurey ago to 2002's Road to Perdition- with standouts such as Hud, Cool Hand Luke, The Colour of Moneyin the intervening decades - shows the range of his powers as a box-office draw. And indeed the cinema-going public loved him, as much for his blue-eyed good looks as for his brooding on-screen presence.
Yet, he was the antithesis of Tinsel-town showmanship and eschewed any aura of celebrity, guarding his private life and long marriage to actress Joanne Woodward with rare discretion. He would be the first to sound a sceptical note of caution about the iconic status being accorded him in the coverage of his death.
Newman's achievements were not confined to the screen: he made his mark in business and on the motor racing track, but he will be especially remembered for the generosity he showed in sharing his own good fortune through his charitable work. His association with this country is of course founded on the setting up of the Barretstown camp for sick children in Co Kildare in 1994. Newman has rightly received due praise for his work as a philanthropist and his own active engagement with those projects.
The establishment of his Hole in the Wall movement, of which Barretstown is a part, was not the first instance of Newman's social responsibility. The comment by Sam Mendes, who directed Road to Perdition, that "he was a shining example of how to use global fame for the greater good" bears no exaggeration. His appearance on Richard Nixon's "Enemies List", due no doubt to his support for liberal causes, is to his credit. It is perhaps no coincidence that the subjects of some of his most memorable portrayals were rebels and anti-heroes.