Sam Mendes remembers Paul Newman

"There was this real sense of grace and dignity. He had nothing left to prove. He knew what a fortunate and wonderful life he had led, and he was very willing to admit that.

He was part of the extraordinary rich history of New York and Method acting and the fifties, and yet he somehow made it through to the end of the twentieth century with his reputation miraculously untarnished. We live in an era where, I’m not naming names, but the fall from grace of a movie star is exactly that. They lose their grace, their dignity, and the moment that happens is often very clear. The transition he managed from actor to icon to philanthropist and great man was absolutely extraordinary. This guy was the biggest box-office [actor] in the world for over a decade. To have that, and still maintain people’s respect for them as an actor, is almost unprecedented. There are very few in our lifetime. As George Clooney said, Paul didn’t just set the bar high for actors. He set the bar high for people. He seems to me to be one of the great twentieth-century lives, and the more I hear others talk about that, the truer it seems. He was resolutely unconventional to the end. This is a tiny drop in the ocean of stories. I mean, imagine what Redford must have! You’re used to editing your thoughts about people—even the nicest ones—but there’s no need with Paul." Source: nymag.com