He’s Still A Class Act…
The press is full of stories about Paul Newman’s battle with cancer—and how the intensly private actor is going about dealing with his illness…
He is keeping his own counsel regarding his health—just like he has for years regarding other aspects of his personal life..
Some people don’t understand why he shuns publicity. But, Paul Newman does things his way.
I was a witness to Newman doing things his way— nearly two decades ago.
Here’s the account of that which was first posted on this blog back in September of 2007.
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ORIGINALLY POSTED SEPTEMBER 29, 2007
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Seems a day doesn’t go by when there’s not a news story about the mis-deeds, bad actions, or just plain horrendous attitude of some Hollywood star.
You’d think they all were a degenerate bunch of self-serving pleasure seekers.
But, back in 1982, an incident occurred that put Paul Newman on the top of my permanent list of all-time class acts, while he was in Boston shooting a movie titled, The Verdict.
They were shooting on “G” street in South Boston—an area of tightly packed, turn of the century homes much like this…
Because of the way the houses are constructed—when they catch fire, it’s hard to stop the blaze before it destroys the whole building.
As it turned out—just such a fire broke out in “Southie” several doors down from where Newman and his crew were shooting interior scenes in a home on “G” street.
Upon arriving at the scene—I soon found a woman who lived in the burning home. She’d lost everything—managing to escape with the clothes she was wearing and her beloved dog—nothing more.
As I stood there interviewing her in the drizzle—the trauma of her heart-wrenching ordeal was obvious to all.
The noise and commotion caused by the fire stopped the filming near-by. Among those who came out to see what was going on was Paul Newman.
Word of what happened to the woman reached him.
He COULD have ignored what was occurring.
He COULD have called for his limo, and left.
He COULD have done a lot of things.
But, minutes after I interviewed the woman who was wandering aimlessly in distress—Newman quietly made his way over to her, and began to comfort her. A few minutes later, as a crowd began to gather around them—he sent her his trailer—and told the crew to take care of her there.
I recall reporting on his actions in one of my subsequent radio reports from the scene.
The name of the woman, and what happened to her in the months that followed are impossible to recall. All I have for reference these days are my hand scrawled notes on the back of the fading photograph taken by a local newspaper photographer.
But, although the photograph is fading—the memory of a legend’s kindness to someone he’d never see again
remains as bright as his star in Hollywood’s history.
—Steve
Link to the video and story Steve covered today on NBC-17
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