Paul Newman has long been one of my very favorite actors. While other may say The Sting  or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are their favorite movies, I have always love Absence of Malice which I think is one of the great political movies.  I also like that potboiler Exodus in which he was very miscast even though he was half Jewish.  I’ve even seen what he called “the worst movie ever made,” The Silver Chalice.  It was, as I recall, pretty bad.

Growing up, I loved the fact that my father went to the same college as Paul Newman – Kenyon College in Ohio.  I have memories of trying to convince my father that he should go to a reunion and take my sister and me so we could maybe meet Mr. Newman.  I also remember him in a Nation magazine ad and seeing his name as a supporter.  I think my first hint that we shared a political viewpoint was when I heard that he was a Gene McCarthy delegate to the Democratic Convention in 1968.

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of Paul Newman movies over the next few weeks and months.