Last of the Great Stars

Paul Newman died. He was 83.

And I am really, really bummed. He may be the last of the great stars of the late studio system, early New Hollywood era, as he was closer to the likes of Brando, Dean, even Jimmy Stewart than DeNiro, Pacino, Redford.

And when you say those names, it just makes you sad for what Hollywood has lost, and may never be replaced. There was a time when our stars were icons because they were great actors, but they were also just stars. They had something almost mythical about them, and they didn't have the feel of having been constructed or manipulated, to a certain degree (even though they were, of course). Who do we have now? Fading, embarrassing stars like Harrison Ford, sellouts like DeNiro and Pacino, good but not epic 40-somethings like Denzel Washington, Cruise, sometimes Crowe, maybe even Will Smith... and then pretty much no one after that.

Who is the modern day equivalent of Cool Hand Luke? Or Hud? Fast Eddie Felson? Nobody. DiCaprio and Damon probably summarize all of the under-40 male talent that really means anything, and that's just pathetic. And it makes you appreciate Newman all the more.

He was a manly without being macho, who women could adore, but who men didn't necessarily feel threatened by. You wished you could be Newman, and were jealous that you weren't. But there was something so unassuming and un-arrogant about his style that you couldn't hate him for it. And, jesus, yes, it's generic to say it, but those baby blue eyes. Holy shit. That's the definition of magnetism. I think he may have been the most attractive male star in Hollywood history. He may have gotten a long overdue Oscar for the wrong role, in "The Color of Money", but as a Scorsese fan, I'm an absolute sucker for that movie - it's alive with energy, sexy, dangerous, and Newman helps Cruise give one of his best performances. By that point, the Oscar didn't appear to mean much to him, saying "it's like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. She finaly relents and you say, 'I'm terribly sorry, I'm tired'".

Beyond his career, the man was all class. A social activist while never making a show of it. Still, he was the kind of person who stood up for what he believed in. After learning that he was on Richard Nixon's shit-list, he commented that "a person without character has no enemies". What a line - and it didn't take a screenwriter to come up with it for him.

The last star whose death affected me like this was Jimmy Stewart. Another one of the irreplaceable. Even though it's been clear that Newman wasn't going to appear in any more movies, and that his fading health took a toll, the projector bulb just got a little bit dimmer for the rest of us in darkened theaters.