Remembering Paul Newman

Sad news from Hollywood today as it is revealed that legendary actor, Paul Newman, has passed away at the age of 83. A screen legend for over 50 years, Newman starred in iconic films such as Cool Hand Luke, The Color of Money, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. Even for a film buff such as myself, an actor who is 60 years older than me hardly ever evokes the kind of emotion in a 25 year-old, that I felt this morning. Hit after the jump to find out why Paul Newman will always be more than a legendary actor to me.



In 1963, Newman starred in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, with Elizabeth Taylor and Burl Ives, scoring his first of 10 Oscar nominations in doing so. I studied the play in grade 11, when I was seventeen, which was also coincidentally the year when I realized, secretly, after years of being attracted to my own gender, "oh sh!t, I'm gay".

COAHTR is famous for, among many things, its obvious homosexual undertones, centralized around Newman's character, Brick, and his love for his recently-deceased friend Skipper. Even in the film, where the gay theme was toned down significantly, it's still plainly obvious what they were trying to convey with Brick's lack of interest in Maggie the Cat.

Two things happened when I saw COAHTR in drama class that year. The first, was that my feeble 17-year-old brain realized for the first time that yes, even people in 1963 were sexy (and damn, was Paul Newman sexy). The second was that this was a film made in a time when making films about gay characters was forbidden under the Hays Code, much less frowned upon. Yet here was a confirmed straight man (his marriage of over 50 years to Joanne Woodward is the stuff of Hollywood legend), who was willing to portray a gay character. I was terrified of coming out at the time, but what this showed me was that if a straight guy was willing to play gay back in the 1960's, then surely someday I would be able to muster up the courage to truly be myself. I didn't do so until after high school, but it was Paul Newman in COAHTR that first gave me the inspiration, and courage, to do so.

Paul Newman never made his support of the gay community a secret, once stating:
“I'm a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being... by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.”

When many others in his generation had no qualms about speaking about their hate for gay characters in films (shame on you, Tony Curtis!! And you were in Spartacus!!), it was always refreshing to see an octogenarian who openly supported the gay community. So while many will remember him for his many legendary roles (my personal fave? His Oscar-nominated turn as the stone-cold mob boss in Road to Perdition), I'll remember him for the legendary things he stood for in his own life as well, and what they did for me. And for his awesome salad dressing.

Thanks Paul Newman. May Butch Cassidy ride off into the sunset in peace.