Happy Birthday to…

There’s are quite a few famous faces celebrating another candle on the cake today.

There’s Scott Glenn (Backdraft, Silence of the Lambs), occasional actress and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also puts on a birthday hat and plays some party games at today’s birthday party. David Strathairn can currently be seen in TV series Alphas but has dozens of film credits including The River Wild and Goodnight and Good Luck, happy birthday to you as well sir.

Whilst we wish all these good people a very happy birthday indeed, they all share their special day with the most famous pair of blue eyes in movie history, the late great Paul Newman.
Born on this day in 1925, Paul Newman was the son of a sporting goods store owner and after he was discharged from the Navy in 1946 he enrolled in college. His feature film debut The Silver Chalice (1954) nearly stopped his career before it started, as a matter of fact Newman thought he was so awful he took out a full page ad in a trade paper to say sorry to anybody who might of seen it. His next film Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), recieved critical acclaim for his performance as boxer Ricky Graziano and Newman went on to be one of the biggest box office actors of the 60′s.

The 60′s started and ended very well for Newman, with iconic roles in The Hustler, The Price, Hud, Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He even found time to produce and direct Rachel, Rachel which starred his wife Joanne Woodward. Leading roles never dried up for him later in life, he voiced Doc in Disney’s Cars, he appeared in Message in a Bottle and Sam Mendes’ Road To Perdition which marks the last time Newman starred on the big screen. The nine times nominated actor finally took home a golden statue for reprising his role as aging pool shark Fast Eddie Felson,

Paul Newman was a class act in every sense of the word, with his good looks and commanding presence he surprised people by being one of the most generous and kind hearted people you could hope to meet. He was the founder of ‘Newman’s Own’ a very successful range of food products which all the proceeds going to charity. His marriage to Joanne Woodward is a true Hollywood rarity, it lasted over 50 years, they celebrated  their Golden Anniversary in January 2008 and sadly Paul passed away September the same year.

So Happy Birthday to all the January 26th people, but we raise a special glass to the gone but never forgotten legend that is Paul Newman.