How the Newmans made Westport their own

It was only Paul Newman. So what?

Only later did I realize that not every small town has a bona fide movie star so tightly woven into the fabric of daily life. It's almost impossible to imagine this small Connecticut town on the Long Island Sound now that he is gone.

"He was always at ease in the town, not pretentious," said Westport News columnist and high school soccer coach Dan Woog. "He stayed in the town for 50 years and became part of the community without imposing himself or being overwhelming. When he'd speak to school classes, it was as a father, not as Butch Cassidy."

Newman died at his home Friday surrounded by his family and close friends, his publicist said.

We used to see the actor buying apple cider at the farm stands in the fall. He came to our high school, at the height of the psychedelic era, to lecture us on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, a cause he embraced even before the traumatic loss of his only son to an accidental overdose.

As he aged and stepped back from the demands of making film after film, he and his wife, the actress Joanne Woodward, helped revitalize the endangered Westport Country Playhouse and also aided with the construction of a new library, a treasured town resource.

They loaned their star power to local causes large and small, with Newman often vending popcorn at charity events. In exchange, they received something quite precious--near total privacy, far from the glaring lights of Hollywood and New York.

"People were very proud that he was here, but they really respected his personal life," said Mollie Donovan, a Westport Historical Society leader who worked with Newman and Woodward on a variety of projects. "We never got in his face. Even if they hadn't been stars, you would have been happy to have them as friends--such warm people."

She said Newman and Woodward showed their affection for Westport in a variety of ways, from helping establish a permanent art collection for the town schools to donating land to preserve open spaces here. Newman also acted in and directed local dramas and sometimes read stories to children at the library.