PORT TOWNSEND — Paul Newman might have played a tough guy on screen.
But it was a role that belied the real gentle and sensitive person, say people who knew him who gathered at the Port Townsend Film Festival on Sunday to reminiscence on the life and career of the acting icon who died of cancer Friday at 83.
“He was a huge movie star, but he was more like a kid,” recalled John Considine of Port Townsend, who appeared with Newman in “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (1976).
“He was this guy from Ohio who loves corny jokes and popcorn and made wonderful salad dressing.”
An audience of about 100 festival-goers filled a tent behind The Bishop Hotel to attend the impromptu forum set up by festival organizers.
Sharing their memories of Newman were Piper Laurie, the festival’s special guest celebrity who starred with Newman in “The Hustler” (1961), Robert Osborne, film historian and prime time host of the Turner Classic Movies cable TV channel, and Considine, who also appeared in the Newman films “When Time Ran Out” (1980) and “Fat Man and Little Boy” (1989).
The three told stories of their times with the late actor in both professional and personal roles.
“He just was so sensitive, and yet he tried to cover it up,” Laurie said about Newman.
“He was remarkable, yet unremarkable.
“He was very easygoing — and he was never a smart-ass.”
