RIP Paul Newman

Paul Newman is takin' the dirt nap now and I for one will miss him greatly. He was a damn fine actor, a damn fine sportsman, and a damn fine human being. Unlike a lot of his contemporaries he was faithful to his lovely wife and he remained a complete professional through out his career. You never saw his name among those who threw temper tantrums or caused problems on whatever movie sets he worked on.

One of my favorite films of his was Buffalo Bill and the Indians, which was adapted by Alan Rudolph from the Arthur Kopit play of the same name and was directed by Robert Altman. Newman was brilliant in this deconstructivist mid '70's western. It was misunderstood by the critics who panned it and it was ignored by audiences when it came out but it stands up today as a fine piece of film making and Newman's performance in it is nothing short of great.
My other favorite Newman film is Slapshot.
Newman's performance as the aging hockey has been who tries to rally his soon to be defunct team to victory through any means necessary is by turns funny, poignant, and sad. Watch this film if you get the chance and avoid the sequel like the plague.

Even better than all the films and TV roles that Newman left us with is his line of foods. I love buying Newman's Own products because all the profit they make on the sale of them goes to charity. And most of the charities that benefit from Paul's largess are charities that help out sick kids.
My favorite Newman's Own products are this sauce

and these cookies.

I know Paul wasn't a saint and I'm sure that some asshole will come out of the woodwork and say he was the worst thing ever to walk the planet, but in my book the man stood ten feet tall and he was a hell of a guy. Good night Paul, I'll miss you and you work.