Rest in Peace, Paul Newman

He was one of my favorite movie star for a long time. And the only one I've ever met. I wrote about this before, but here goes.

In 1974-5, I lived near the Rose Garden on Lake Harriot in South Minneapolis. One day, possibly in spring, there was a old guy taking a stroll, and there was me checking to see if the roses were flowering. From memory it was a little too early for the roses, but we were walking around the bushes, kind of eying each other, until it became a little uncomfortable not to acknowledge each other.

So I might have said a polite hello, to which he might have said, "Nice day," or similar. And even though he was old, he was kind of good-looking guy, so I, all of 16 or 17, blurted out that he looked a lot like Paul Newman but a lot older. And he smiled and said something like, "Thanks."

Paul Newman was in Minneapolis for a few days that week either immediately before or after a racing weekend in Brainard. I could be the only fan in the world that insulted him to his face, eh!