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Newman: Proud Liberal, Embarrassed Sex Symbol

Maureen Dowd pays affectionate tribute to frequent interviewee

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 1, 2008 9:33 AM CDT

(Newser) – Paul Newman was an unapologetic liberal, Maureen Dowd reminds us in a column on the actor who was also her teenage crush. He made Nixon's enemies list for supporting Eugene McCarthy and opposing the Vietnam War, and had "traits that have been in short supply in the Bush administration," Dowd writes: "shrewdness, humility, decency, generosity, class." He also taught the clueless-in-the-kitchen reporter how to make a good salad.

Newman didn't care to chat about his films in interviews, Dowd recalls, finding acting corrupting because it "places a terrible premium on appearance. He loved to play goofy practical jokes, and was embarrassed by women flirting with him. Dowd suspects his wife, Joanne Woodward, of being wounded by his stardom, but Newman was devoted. “If anyone had ever told me 20 years ago I’d be sitting in a room with peach walls, I would have told them to take a nap in a urinal."

Flowers are placed on Paul Newman's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008.
Flowers are placed on Paul Newman's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008.   (AP Photo)
In this 1968 file photo released by Warner Bros., actor Paul Newman played a prisoner who becomes a legend to his fellow members of a chain gang in the film ''Cool Hand Luke.
In this 1968 file photo released by Warner Bros., actor Paul Newman played a prisoner who becomes a legend to his fellow members of a chain gang in the film ''Cool Hand Luke."   (AP Photo/Warner Bros., File)
In this April 7, 1999 file photo, actor Paul Newman speaks at Newman's Own, Inc. in Westport, Conn.
In this April 7, 1999 file photo, actor Paul Newman speaks at Newman's Own, Inc. in Westport, Conn.   (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File)
In this 1960 file photo, actors Paul Newman, left, and Joanne Woodward appear in character in this scene from the film ''From the Terrace.''
In this 1960 file photo, actors Paul Newman, left, and Joanne Woodward appear in character in this scene from the film ''From the Terrace.''   (AP Photo)
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With a Butch Cassidy grin, he told me that he pictured his epitaph being: 'Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.'

He did not want to talk about his movies; he wanted to talk throw-weights. He liked Bach and Budweiser and playing goofy practical jokes.  
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