A great, small-but-satisfying hockey movie beloved by legions of guys for 30 years, but written by a woman. Only Paul Newman could have pulled off the scene in which he realizes that the woman unloading groceries from her car is the owner of his team. Classic, and one of my best memories of this wonderful actor and philanthopist.

My heart is breaking and my eyes are crying. Paul Newman is one of the best there's ever been. The Sting is one of the finest movies we have ever been graced with and I am so sad tonight. From a fellow gearhead, Godspeed my friend.

In "the Life and Times

of Judge Roy Bean"

the most truthful tall tale about a famous Texan

That I've ever seen.

...if I've got my Keats right.

like all good actors, Newman showed truth in his face onscreen, and only more so as he aged. Although I loved his youthful beauty, my favorite performances are from his middle age and beyond, when I think he grew into himself in precisely the ways that Stephanie and some other critics are pointing to. "The Verdict" is a favorite of mine, and he's also terrific in "Slap Shot" and "Nobody's Fool."

But I particularly enjoy him in "Color of Money," in which he gives a master acting class, especially beside a callow (and very young!) Tom Cruise. Cruise is performing; Newman is acting. Actually Newman is acting so well that he seems to not be acting at all, but is just being Eddie Felson, older and wiser, but not too much older and wiser, lest we lose sight of the young rascal he was and still is inside.

I'll miss seeing how he might have opened up old age for us on screen in the same way that he illuminated middle-aged disappointment and triumph.

I had the pleasure of having lunch with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. I was a reporter at the time, covering a lunch where he unveiled his first salad dressing. I still have the autographed salad dressing bottle, though oil seeped through and I'm just about the only one who can make the signature out. The most wonderful aspect of that lunch was noticing that Paul and Joanne were quietly holding hands under the head table, and would lean over to each other making small talk and little jokes, all the while not noticing the entire room was watching two people who simply adored each other.

In the 1980s my daughter Jennifer was a server in the Upper East Side's elegant Table d'hote, where she was always glad to see Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. She could keep her composure as long as she didn't look into his eyes.

I remember a photo of the young Newman with his fingers lightly gripping the neck of a beer bottle, which appeared to be almost an accessory to his persona. At the time, I read (and not in a supermarket checkout line) that he drank a case of Coors (24 bottles) every day.

As a man who can truly appreciate the matchless feeling of cold beer sliding down my throat, I dug that. Was it true? Did he quit?

I was twelve when my folks took us kids to see "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". I'd seen a few promos for it on TV, and was rather mystified that Paul Newman was in it, because the promos gave me the impression (and maybe it was just me and/or the lousy picture we got) that this was some cheesy grade-C western. I knew by then that Paul Newman was a class act, so what was he doing in this thing?

I couldn't say I recognized the film as an enduring classic when I first saw it, but Newman was so plainly enjoying himself I had to go along for the ride. The really fine thing was that he put every bit of that enjoyment into the character of Butch Cassidy, burning himself indelibly into the persona of an historic figure who probably wasn't a tenth as much fun in real life.

In 1967 i was 10 years old , I was the youngest of three boys raised in the capitol of California . On Friday nights my mother would serve dinner early and then my father would pack us up in the car and the five of us would go to the brand new united artist cinema up town to eagerly view the up-coming new releases provided by Hollywood. This was Americas favorite entertainment device of the 60's . It was a way to temporarily take your mind off television and the Viet Nam war and the era of civil unrest and the challenges that faced this growing nation.

Before that day movies went through me like feed through a goose , I never possessed the sharpest abilities to remember actors names nor the lines that made them famous. There was just to much going on around me every day. Like the goose every day was like a whole new life of fascinating and new ideas! So retention was not one of my strongest suits.

That night before leaving I asked my Mother what movie are we going to see? "its a surprise" like she would always say when it was a less than action thriller or something a ten year old would find accommodating for entertainment. So, I grudgingly placed myself in the back seat with my brothers and off to the movies in my dad's 1965 Pontiac g.t.o. .

As we arrived I saw the bill board advertisement of the movie we were here to see and it read Paul Neuman in Cool Hand Luke, "Great" another loser movie I thought, I'll just have to bare through it! I was disappointed but went in with little resistance because i wasn't able to walk ten miles home anyway. In the back of my mind I said to myself "who the hell is this guy Paul Neuman anyway"

When I saw the news today of his death i instantly began revving my memories of a great actor someone I didn't really know I held a personal bond with someone i grew attached to or tried resembling because you know , he was so damn cool at times ! And who could help it , the movie was an eye opener for a little unprocessed brain like mine , I now had a hero or a man I could try to emulate, something in that night was magic ! My mother afterwards told me that I reminded her of Paul because our eyes were so blue, that was a crystal moment in my life something great ! I now had a new friend , Paul Neuman and me together forever!

I just want to say I will miss you , you were responsible for opening my eyes and giving me a role model and a kind of cool personality I just grew into from watching that movie . My family and I talked about the movie afterwards and loved it. To say the least I never thought I'd see the day you would pass! Which makes me ponder my own fate, as well as every person's life is just a short walk in the park ! Even for people bigger than life itself such as you Mr. Neuman! Thanks for taking me and my family along on that walk. Someday I hope to thank you in person , But for now I'll have to wait! God Bless.............