Tributes to Hollywood legend Newman

Sep 27 2008

TV and film stars described Hollywood icon Paul Newman as one of the great actors of all time after he died of cancer aged 83.

The blue-eyed star of films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid died at his farmhouse near Westport, Connecticut, on Friday surrounded by family and close friends, his spokesman Jeff Sanderson said.

Oscar-winning British director Sam Mendes, who worked with Newman on the 2002 film Road to Perdition, said it had been "the highlight of my professional life".

He added: "To say he was an extraordinary man would be an understatement.

"It seems to me to be one of the great 20th century lives: he was famously generous, with his extraordinary and unstinting work for his charities; he was a passionate advocate for the adrenaline and danger of his beloved racing cars; he was a shining example of how to use global fame for the greater good; and most of all he was one of the great movie actors of this or any other age.

"For me personally, working with him was the highlight of my professional life. He saw himself as a working actor, not a movie star, and insisted that everyone else did the same."

Newman was nominated for an Oscar 10 times, winning the best actor trophy in 1987 for The Colour Of Money. In May 2007, he said he was giving up acting because he could no longer perform to the best of his ability.

Earlier this year, he pulled out of directing a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in Connecticut because of unspecified health problems.

Broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson, who interviewed Newman for a documentary, said the star will be remembered as "one of the very finest screen actors of our time".

He said: "He was one of the great actors of that era that spanned the gap between the golden days of Hollywood, the 40s and 50s with actors like Cary Grant and James Stewart and Clark Gable, and the present lot represented by Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and people like that. As such he has his own place in the history of cinema and a considerable place still."