Sad news today folks. As mentioned already, one of the greatest actors in American Cinema, Paul Newman, passed away the last day or so.
To me, Newman was one of the greats. His roles in movies such as Hud, The Hustler, The Color of Money, Cool Hand Luke, Nobody's Fool (my personal favorite), and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid will always be remembered. And, his philanthropic activities with his food company Newman's Own, have helped millions of children. Condolences to his family, especially his incredible wife, Ms. Joanne Woodward.
And, a personal story....In the fall of 1973, I attended American University on a special program they had called the "Washington Semester". It was a VERY exciting time to be in Washington: During this period the Watergate scandal was opening up and the VPres. of the US, Spiro Agnew, abruptly resigned.
When the semester started a bunch of students and myself attended a conference at one of the local hotels on American Foreign Policy. The first night there was a debate between then Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissenger, and one of the top opponents of the Vietnam War, Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. Two rows in front of our group I noticed someone was signing autographs. I didn't recognize who it was at first...well, it was Paul Newman! When Dr. Kissenger started to speak (And remember that Newman was against the war in Vietnam AND was on Richard Nixon's Enemies List) some protesters started yelling, "STOP THE WAR, STOP THE WAR" among other things. Paul Newman stood up and shouted to them to "SIT THE FUCK DOWN!!!" The audience cheered him wildly. Even though Newman was against the war he felt STRONGLY that Dr. Kissinger should have his say. It was a memorable moment.
He will be greatly missed....