My tribute is now up at House Next Door.
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- “I don’t want to show things, but to give people the desire to see.” — Agnès Varda
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- Reviews: Currents (2026)
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- An Acting Lesson: John Wayne and the “Reality of the Doing”
- “I don’t call myself a poet, because I don’t like the word. I’m a trapeze artist.” – Bob Dylan
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this is fantastic. you got me again. crying at work.
I love making my siblings cry!!
No, just teasing.
I’m glad you like. I worked hard on it. Also, you have a cameo part in it!!
I am so choked up right now. That was beautiful Sheila.
He always said that Frank Galvin was as close to who he was as any character he ever played. That Lumet piece blew my mind. His beauty, like most beautiful people, which is why they make great movie stars, allows us to project all kinds of things on them. His success allowed me to project on him the misnomer that it came easy. To know that this role required a director to push him past his comfort level, blows my mind.
Brilliant!
that was brilliant, sheila, thank you so much for doing it.
David – I know!!! I love that Lumet was courageous enough to say, “I don’t think it’s the lines …” It shows that Newman, like all of us, was looking for the easy excuse – “When I get the lines down, it’ll all come …” How many times have we all said that?? And to know that he went home and just percolated with Lumet’s words and then finally decided: Okay. Time to go there … is incredibly moving to me.
THAT is why he was a great movie star. Because he STILL was up for the challenge.
Is DeNiro?
It is not easy to remain “in process” when you are that big a star – but I really believe that it is that which separates the men from the boys.
I need to see The Verdict again – it’s been years!
Great tribute, Sheila. A lot to chew on.
The Sidney Lumet quote about Newman’s essential shyness is revealing. It reminded me of a journalist’s observation that the actor appeared obviously discomfitted during a public relations interview for some movie. It might even have been for The Verdict, but that detail isn’t important. What stayed with me, though, was the observation that Paul Newman, famous actor, still cared enough after all these years to be nervous.
Interesting, I thought. And if you look carefully you see hints of that shyness in his acting, maybe most especially in that throw-away laugh of his where it seems he’s letting you in, but only temporarily, and only so far.
//you see hints of that shyness in his acting, maybe most especially in that throw-away laugh of his where it seems he’s letting you in, but only temporarily, and only so far.//
Goosebumps. Wonderful observation.
Lovely, lovely piece.
You’re one of the best out there at what you do, Sheila. Excellent yet again.
Yes, a great tribute and wonderful perspective for someone like me who tends not to get into that kind of detailed examination when it comes to actors. On my own at least. Very interesting and much appreciated.
it’s hard not to admire Paul Newman for putting his money to work in such productive ways… his Newman’s Own line is high quality stuff and the proceeds go to good causes too, it’s a win-win