Another Paul Newman story from Author Ben Bryant

A while back I posted my first

Paul Newman

story. As a 1st Assistant Director I got to work with him three summers in a row. He was doing spots for Nissan Japan – produced here by PMC, my employer – and giving his substantial fee to his kids’ charities. This story illuminates Paul’s down-to-earth personality and complete lack of a bullshit movie star attitude. Here’s an excerpt from Circumstances Beyond My Control chapter 20.

“… we did the third (and last) Nissan shoot with Paul [Newman] at the famous Daytona NASCAR track in Florida. This time the car was a really souped-up sporty model that was advertised as though it was a race car. Paul loved driving the thing. Speaking of things he loved: the only perks he tolerated were that his Winnebago be stocked with Budweiser, popcorn and Haagen-Dazs rum raisin ice cream.

“PMC housed the crew in a nice hotel right on the beach and had put Paul in a different, much more upscale, place a couple of miles away. After the first day’s shoot we Americans and the Japanese were in our hotel dining room sitting at a large round table having just ordered dinner when Paul walked in. He came over to me and asked if there was room for one more. We grabbed a chair, scooted everyone over and the waitress brought another place setting. When she saw Paul she nearly fainted but regained her professionalism and gave him a menu.

He asked me why the hell he had been isolated and said he’d rather be with the crew. By now he was used to the Japanese kissing his ass but he wasn’t fond of being given star treatment. I told George and he immediately dispatched a PA to move Paul to our hotel.

“So Newman-san joined in the conversation telling jokes and swapping stories about weird things that had happened on other shoots. Had you not recognized him you would have thought he was just one of the crew, albeit the handsomest.

Paul&Me cropped

Hanging out with Paul Newman in his room

The rest of the evening and the next two days he behaved as one of us and we all had a great time with him. A couple of times he shocked the Japanese by brandishing a Budweiser bottle (with a boyish grin) as he roared around the track. A big boy with a cool toy.” Here’s a LINK to one of the commercials.

I worked with a lot of big stars during my careers as an actor and then as a producer/AD. None were bigger than Paul Newman as stars or as human beings.

Buy Circumstances Beyond My Control

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