Bidding farewell to Paul Newman, a film icon and a foodie

Paul Newman was a rare breed -- an A-list celebrity who never took himself too seriously. He was a perfectionist about his craft, as well as his food. Times Staff Writer Lynn Smith's story about Newman's life and death tells how his particular taste in salad dressing and his penchant for mixing up batches in the bathtub and giving them away at Christmastime led to a multi-million-dollar empire.

The food world -- like the film world and the rest of the world -- was mourning the loss Saturday of a celebrity whose name was as good as gold to consumers.

Christopher Kimball recalled being skeptical when he first heard about Newman's salad dressing. But Kimball, whose TV show, "America's Test Kitchen," and "Cooks Illustrated" brand of cookbooks and magazines put products and recipes through rigorous testing, said he was immediately won over by the high quality of the dressing's simple ingredients. So was the rest of America. It certainly didn't hurt that proceeds went to charity. But that's not what kept people coming back when the "Newman's Own" brand extended into popcorn, lemonades, salsas and the like, Kimball said.

"People knew: If his name was on it, it was high quality, it was good."

Photo credit: AP file photo

Comments

[salad recipes]

he did so much for movies and for food. he will be missed.

[Aissa Galoso]

Loved his movies. I'm a big fan of his dressings as well.

[Derek Bermingham]

Loved the first movie I saw named Hud

[Joe Hanrhan]

In Newman's Connecticut home, he had a letter framed in his bathroom, from a rancher in a remote Western state. The rancher's letter said his family grew all their own food, but recently had won a jar of Newman's spaghetti sauce at a church raffle. The rancher wrote how much they liked the product, and also wrote that he'd mentioned it to a friend, and the friend told the rancher that Newman was also an actor. The rancher wrote that if his acting was as good as his sauce, they'd be on the lookout for some of his movies.

[a. saccardi]

He was a fine actor who gave the audience their moneys worth. I was never disappointed in whatever he portrayed. Most of all I admired the man for the way he lived his life.As a young girl he was my first teenage crush. As an old lady I realized it was not his good looks but his character that I admired most. A great humanitarian. I am sure heaven is having a great party welcoming him. We on earth have lost a piece of our integrity which in this day and age is a huge loss.Thank you Paul Newman