The Grim Reaper doesn’t play favorites

Paul Newman has managed to emerge from Hollywood as one of the good guys.  Ridiculously handsome in his youth, he aged into an equally good looking old man.  In a milieu characterized by disposable weddings, he’s had one wife.  He’s raised millions for charity, without making a big political statement about that fact.  He started out as a pretty good actor almost hampered by a pretty face, and emerged as a genuinely good actor when that pretty face faded.  And now he has lung cancer.  As a heavy-smoking 83 year old, the diagnosis isn’t entirely surprising, but it’s still sad.