Sep 27, 2008, 14:37 GMT
Los Angeles - The irresistible grin is gone - so too that unique blue flash in the eye and the stylishly tousled hair.
A file picture dated 04 Mat 2006 of Hollywood legend Paul Newman (C) arriving at Ferragamo Palace in Florence on Thursday 04 May 2006. Newman has died at the age of 83, his spokeswoman has confirmed on 27 September 2008. Marni Tomljanovic said the Color Of Money star died 26 September 2008 of cancer. EPA/CARLO FERRARO
But as Hollywood mourned Paul Newman on Saturday along with movie fans all over the world, it was clear that this was one star who really lived up to his status as a role model - always gracious, loyal and intelligent rather than spoiled, fickle and dumbed down.
Newman died on Friday, aged 83, after a protracted battle with lung cancer. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward and their three daughters.
Newman for decades lived in the small town of Westport, Connecticut, and his movie career was never blighted by a single scandal. Instead it was his penchant for philanthropy that grabbed the gossip headlines. He donated to charity all the after-tax profits of the food company he founded in 1982. At the last count his contributions from the Newman's Own line of salad dressings, chips and sauces amounted to over 220 million dollars. He donated millions more from his personal fortune.
Born to a prosperous Jewish father and Catholic Hungarian mother on January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Newman was encouraged in his theatrical ambitions as a youngster and made his acting debut aged seven in his school play. He served as a tail-gunner in the Pacific during WWII and later studied acting at Yale University.
He went on to study at the acclaimed Actors Studio in New York, and the magnetism of his personality shone through as soon as he appeared on screen. He was one of the few actors able to make the transition from the naivete of 1950s cinema to the realism of the 1960s and 1970s.
His first major role was as boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) followed by a star turn opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1958, for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
In 1960 he starred as a Zionist pioneer in Exodus, following that with classic roles as a young pool shooter in The Hustler, a heartless cowboy in Hud and a lovable but rebellious prisoner in Cool Hand Luke, three roles which also earned him Oscar nominations.
But his most famous role came when be teamed up with Robert Redford for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in 1969, where the Hollywood icons played a pair of famous outlaws. They reprised their famous partnership in the 1973 movie The Sting.
He was again nominated for an Oscar in 1981 for his role as a mobster's son falsely accused of murder in Absence of Malice, but had to wait until 1986 to collect acting's ultimate accolade when he won an Oscar for reprising his role as Fast Eddie from The Hustler in Martin Scorsese's film The Colour of Money.
But life brought hardships and to his credit Newman sought to make the best of them. When his son Scott died from a drug overdose in 1978 Newman and Woodward founded the Scott Newman Centre, which works to prevent substance abuse through education, and runs a camp for children and families whose lives have been affected by drugs, alcohol abuse, or domestic violence. The couple also toned down their lifestyle, and went public with their grief - wondering aloud whether their earlier lifestyles had deprived Scott of the attention he needed growing up.
Besides movies, philanthropy and family, Newman's other great passions were liberal causes and car-racing - which he called 'the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in.'
His film fans would certainly disagree. But Newman's acting talent was so natural he never fully realized his immense gift. He put his success down to a number of simple rules. 'Study your craft and know who you are and what's special about you,' he once said. 'Find out what everyone does on a film set, ask questions and listen. Make sure you live life, which means don't do things where you court celebrity, and give something positive back to our society.'
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