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Thursday, October 2, 2008 9:45 PM CDT
COLUMN: Actor Paul Newman taught us some vital lessons about living
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
Paul Newman was the consummate good guy in Hollywood.
As the tributes rolled in this week after his death to cancer we learned of his many triumphs.
He had the perfect marriage for 50 years. He helped raise millions in charity. And he lived life to its fullest, including racing fast cars while his wife feared she would become a widow too soon.
He did it while not succumbing to the shallowness of celebrity and greed that plagues Hollywood more than ever. This cancer on character seems to raise a moment on the red carpet to the ultimate personal fulfillment. Newman and other true artists realized that true artistry requires humility more than hype by speaking of who you are wearing that night.
There was some irony to that commitment to artistic integrity. Some of the greatest roles Newman played actually taught humility and resilience. Though the lessons have not helped me gain fame, fortune or a fuller life, they have still helped me shun surrender.
I have seen most of his movies over the years. I believe Newman was at his best playing losers or louts, not larger-than-life heroes or villains as some actors reveled in. This is proven through three movies I especially cherish.
In “Cool Hand Luke,” he was a chain-gang prisoner refusing to buckle under to the trustee guards or cynical fellow inmates. He kept fighting the system and never missed a chance to seek freedom. And the guards dragged him back again, beaten and bloodied, before “the rabbit” in him caused him to dash off again.
We all make our own personal prisons or bear invisible chains. The question is whether we lose ourselves in the struggle. I have asked that question many times and still have no definitive answer. It might take all my life to find the answer.
Over the years, I have changed jobs and towns as the rabbit in me seemed to take hold. But I did not just end up in the sweat box like Luke for my troubles.
In some ways, being a journeyman journalist has helped me learn more about people and life. It has forged me in many ways.
One of the most moving moments in movie history, in my opinion, is when Newman delivers his summation in “The Verdict.”
He talks of justice and toppling over a case built on lies that ruined a helpless client’s life.
As a shady two-bit lawyer — more of a funeral and emergency room chaser — Newman’s character in the film sought a civil settlement as an act of personal redemption, not just a big payday in court. He realized he had to win the case or his reason for being was over.
It is wrong to bet everything in life on one roll of the dice. But we must not give up. I have beaten my head against the wall with the powers that be very often. I am still learning there is more satisfaction in knowing you are right than proving it with the best zingers. We must have faith that in the end the right side can win out.
And while we are discussing difficult people, there is that movie Newman starred in called “Hud.”
He was a playboy cowboy with an ego the size of Texas. He was a flirt, cheat, boozer and even attempted to rape the sultry hired help. But Newman almost made you feel sorry for Hud when he talked about how his long-gone mama loved him. Then the movie ended with Hud sitting pretty. Was justice served?
In many ways, Newman showed us our dark side in Hud. Over the years, I have become colder and less willing to confide in others. It sort of scares me how Hud seems to channel through me at times.
And I can’t blame it on a script writer or a director.
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Tom Andres wrote on Oct 3, 2008 12:27 AM:
Seriously though, good column, Herb. Newman was one of the greats, both on the screen and in his personal life(except for his extreme liberal politics). His philanthropy of over $250-million is unmatched by any other Hollywood type, and it will continue after his death. "