Paul Newman: Awesome for 83 consecutive years

[K-Box]

Not only was this a guy who never stopped being a great actor, he never stopped being a great human being. While other celebrities like to talk mad shit about doing things for the world, this bad-ass motherfucker gave $240 MILLION to charity in his lifetime, and was so politically active that he made Richard Nixon's enemies list, both of which are about as ringing endorsements for his essential decency as anyone could hope for. Other dudes try to be cool, but Paul Newman showed, time and again, that the definition of cool is that you don't have to try, because you just are.

And now, he's gone.

[paulpogue]

Paul Newman was one of those guys who gave me great hope in the possibilities for older actors. Some guys turned batshit insane (Brando) and others just embarrassed themselves, but Newman was always the epitome of dignity. (It used to be that I figured it was a good thing that James Dean died young, because I fear he would have turned into another Brando, but then again, if he'd been another Newman, he would have turned out fine.)