Lord Attenborough, film director
“He was a true Hollywood giant like Jimmy Stewart. I’d say he was the last of the real greats. What came across was what a really decent human being he was. And it was terrific that he and Joanne had their wonderful marriage, which helped them both in their careers.”

Sir Michael Parkinson, interviewer
“He was a great star, one of the few remaining guys with that old-fashioned star feeling about him. He spanned that time between the Hollywood stars of the 1940s and 1950s and he inherited that style and had that sense of mystique as well. Butch Cassidy is one of the most joyous films of all time. When he appeared on screen your eyes followed him. That is the definition of a star.”

Barry Norman, film critic
“The odd thing was that he only got the one best actor Oscar and that was for The Color of Money in 1986. But it wasn’t his best performance. I just think by then the Oscar people decided they had better give him the award. Yet he should have got it for three or four previous films like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hud, The Hustler and in particular Cool Hand Luke.

Sam Mendes, film director
“Working with him on Road to Perdition was the highlight of my professional life. To say he was an extraordinary man would be an understatement. It seems to me one of the great 20th-century lives, a shining example of how to use global fame for the greater good.”

Kevin Spacey, actor and director
“An era just ended. Paul Newman was a great humble giant. He said it was all down to luck, but the rest of us know it was his talent, wit and generous heart that made him the star he was. He should be an example to the acting profession because he seemed to have had his ego surgically removed.”

Daniel Craig, actor
“He was one of the greatest screen actors of all time and a beautiful man.”

Oscar chances

Paul Newman won one Oscar for best actor, in the 1986 film The Color of Money, and was nominated for nine others:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958
The Hustler, 1961
Hud, 1963
Cool Hand Luke, 1967
Rachel, Rachel, 1968
Absence of Malice, 1981
The Verdict, 1982
Nobody’s Fool, 1994
Road to Perdition, 2002

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