I Remember Paul Newman
Years ago, at an elegant home in the hills of Bel Air, I had the supreme honor of meeting Paul Newman at a fund raiser for one of his many charities. His movie, "Butch Cassidy" was playing in the theaters at the time, and so it was quite amazing to be able to meet him in person and shake his hand. As famous and popular as he was, Mr. Newman was far from snobbish (as some celebrities unfortunately tend to be). He was the ultimate class act, chatting with everyone, sparing time for each person who had come to attend the event, shaking hands, offering warm smiles. He was one of those men who rose above his celebrity status and looked you in the eye and let you believe, for just a moment, that you were the only person in the room with him, and that what you had to say was all he cared about.
I suppose it is a cliché to report that Paul Newman was even more handsome in real life, but it is true. And, yes, his eyes were that blue.
Mr. Newman always said he hated his first movie, The Silver Chalice, a Biblical costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety magazine, apologizing for it. He once said he wished he could buy up all the copies of the movie and burn them. By coincidence, I recently purchased a VHS tape of the movie (it's hard to find, I got it on eBay). I am about to begin the research for my next book, The Divining, which is the sequel to Soul Flame (which takes place in ancient Rome, the same years and setting as The Silver Chalice), and I find it helpful to watch movies on the subject I am about to write about to get me into the atmosphere.
I hope Mr. Newman will forgive me.
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Re: I Remember Paul Newman
can't hardly wait to read the sequel to Soulflame. I was always wondering whether you would write one day a sequel to Soulflame since this novel describing Selene's quest for happiness and her ancestry was one of my favorite ones.
I'm sure I'll like this book, too!
Cheers, Sino =)