Paul Newman

Some words of advice about "Message in a Bottle": If this movie crosses your path, grab it, cork it up and throw it right back into the drink.An adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel that wants to follow in the tear-soaked footsteps of "The Bridges of Madison County" and "The Horse Whisperer," "Message in a Bottle" will no doubt induce tears -- of boredom. And, with its morbid ending, it joins "City of Angels," "Meet Joe Black" and "What Dreams May Come" in Hollywood's Maudlin Squad, movies that star Death as the hypotenuse of their romantic triangles.

In the wake of protests at a public meeting Monday, a majority of Anne Arundel County councilmen said yesterday they oppose a zoning law change sought by developers of an auto racetrack proposed for the western end of the county.The lack of political support is expected to slow plans by the Middle River Racing Association of Timonium to build a 54,800-seat track on 380 acres north of Russett.But the developers -- who recently backed away from a Baltimore County site after a political battle that lasted more than a year -- are refusing to shut off their engines.

Editor's note: Columnist Dan Rodricks is taking some time off to undergo tests. This Just In, which normally appears in this space, will resume when he returns... Just foolin'! April Fool's! (Had ya, though, didn't I?)Dru Hill R&B updateCatching up with Dru Hill, one of the country's top R&B quartets, is not easy, considering how much the Baltimore-born group travels. They just finished a 20-city tour with Puff Daddy and soon will embark on a 55-city run with Boyz II Men. Too bad the Orioles didn't book them for a hometown gig yesterday.

His movie might have been spurned by Tangier's born-again Christian elected leaders, but that didn't keep Paul Newman away from the Chesapeake Bay island. The famous leading man had been booked for a private tour of Tangier on Thursday, apparently in anticipation of the filming of a PG-13 movie called "Message in a Bottle." Despite the Town Council's March 9 rejection of Warner Bros.' proposal to film some scenes on the island, Newman kept the date.Charter boat captains in Crisfield, Keith Ward and Curtis Johns, gave the actor a ride to the island and escorted him to the hardware store.

Paul Newman the writer is about to become famous. After more than 50 years of obscurity, Newman has made a name for himself."Finally at this stage of my life," Newman says, "I'm getting recognition."The 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, just out, showcases the work of Paul Sylvan Newman of Columbia. Call it a lifetime achievement award for the 73-year-old man whose characters and stories are known by generations of readers.But until now, Paul S. Newman has been the man behind the mask.

Washington -- Richard Russo has long enjoyed the perks of the respected literary writer -- good reviews, generous blurbs from better-known writers, the occasional book tour.But it's hard to beat the marketing campaign for the paperback edition of Mr. Russo's third novel, "Nobody's Fool." The concept? Paul Newman's face on the cover. Mr. Newman plays Sully, the fool who belongs to no one, in the movie version of Mr. Russo's book. The film was No. 4 at the box office last weekend, and there is talk that Mr. Newman's performance may mean another Oscar nomination for the actor, who turns 70 today.

The warden of Alabama's dreary Limestone Prison couldn't come to the phone. His secretary said he was too busy telling the world about the many advantages of old-fashioned chain gangs."

"Nobody's Fool" plays everybody for a sucker. Conceived as a starring vehicle for Paul Newman, it's more like a float in a parade that allows him to wave magnificently at us from above as he is pulled along in stately splendor. He's not really acting, other than acting just like Paul Newman.Newman plays Donald "Sully" Sullivan, a ne'er-do-well who's eked out a subsistence level living in Bath, N.Y., as a sometimes construction worker, sometimes con man, sometimes petty thief. He's very much the town character, flitting in and out of the lives of Bath's prominent and not so prominent citizens, always leaving behind the pixie dust of charm and the bitter dirt of disappointment.

Like many of you, I turned on the Oscars for only two reasons. First, I had the faint hope that "Forrest Gump" would take a fall and that "Pulp Fiction," that subversive dream of a movie, would win for Best Picture.But, mostly, I turned it on for Dave.I was disappointed, and I wasn't.Yes, Dave was funny. But I wonder how well he worked as Oscar host.We turn on the Oscars for the movies. We watch them to see Paul Newman look, at age 70, like most of us wish we'd looked at age 30. We turn them on to see women dressed in credit-card dresses, which pass for wit in Hollywood.

In some editions yesterday, two Oscar winners were incorrectly identified in photographs accompanying coverage of the Academy Awards ceremony. The photographs were of Anna Paquin, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Piano," and Paul Newman, who was honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.The Sun regrets the error.

Music awards squeezed in between performances With performances by some of music's hottest acts - Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, the Jonas Brothers and 15 others - who needs awards? The American Music Awards, presented yesterday during a live broadcast on ABC, kept with its long-held tradition of wedging prizes in between action-packed performances. "This year more than ever," said Orly Adelson, president of dick clark productions, which puts on the show, said last week. "We have 19 performances, which we've never done before ... Every big artist this year said yes, and we wanted them all."

Somebody Up There Likes Me 8 p.m. [Turner Classic Movies] TCM is running several Paul Newman movies, including this biopic of boxer Rocky Graziano. The Time magazine review in 1956 said: "Paul Newman brings to awesome life the jungle qualities implicit in a slum childhood." From Variety: "Paul Newman's talent is large and flexible." And from The New York Times: "He plays the role of Graziano well, making the pug and Marlon Brando almost indistinguishable. He is funny, tough and pathetic in that slouching, rolling, smirking Brando style, but with a quite apparent simulation of the mannerisms of the former middleweight champ."

Paul Newman the actor, director, race car driver, political activist and philanthropist has died - and a buoyant strain of the American spirit has gone with him. He was 83 when he succumbed to cancer at his home near Westport, Conn., on Friday. For all his adult years, he imbued each of his arenas with unique, muscular vivacity. Mr. Newman wore the mantle of his superstardom lightly. Honored as an actor and a humanitarian, respected for putting forth liberal views without condescending to opponents, he was a Renaissance man and a stand-up guy. With Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting , Mr. Newman became part of our national pop fantasy life.

I HONOR `real journalism,' which doesn't get clouded by false stories whether they're about me or anybody else," said Angelina Jolie at the Courage in Journalism Awards in Beverly Hills. So, you see, occasionally something does happen on the West Coast that isn't about Britney, Nicole, Lindsay or Paris. A saucy film Meryl Streep as Julia Childs? Nora Ephron is adapting the Julie Powell book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. The saucy Ms. Ephron will also direct and - hooray - the movie will be made in New York City in March.

Talk to Me never was sent to me as a director," says Kasi Lemmons, the 46-year-old black woman who ended up directing it superbly. "I lobbied for it," she says over the phone from Los Angeles. "I don't think they were looking for a woman director, [certainly not] based on my movies, which were ... more lyrical." Then she catches herself: Talk to Me, a live-wire portrait of Washington broadcast personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr. (Don Cheadle), is lyrical, "but with a different beat.

NEW YORK -- "Nobody very remarkable ever come out of it, s'far as we know," says the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder's Our Town, speaking of Grover's Corners. No matter how shruggingly off-the-cuff the actor delivers it, the line sounds like a lie. This is, after all, Paul Newman up there, whose remarkableness -- easygoing star charisma incarnate, here sporting a cardigan and specs -- makes the fictional Protestant Republican burg a mighty glamorous place indeed. The last time Newman played Broadway was in a 1964 romantic comedy called Baby Want a Kiss.

The bet-rigging scandal roiling thoroughbred racing is the latest scam to afflict a sport once known as much for its scoundrels as its stars. There are famous cases of jockeys on the take, of fast horses being disguised as slow ones, and even highly pedigreed horses being killed for insurance money. But the most infamous flimflam in racing -- at least in recent times -- may be one that didn't happen at all. It was the fictional con that formed the heart of the 1973 movie, The Sting. The hit movie won seven Academy Awards, including best picture.

CHICAGO -- The air conditioning blasts out the muggy Midwest afternoon, but perspiration still beads on Tom Hanks' face as he settles in for an interview at a downtown hotel. "I'm Michael Corleone back from Havana," he jokes. Hanks, the first actor to win back-to-back Academy Awards since Spencer Tracy, has not had a reason to sweat at the box office in a long time. Every one of his movies since 1992's A League of Their Own has come up dollar signs. His last 10 films have averaged more than $179 million.

She has his famous cool blue eyes. His love of fly-fishing. His passion for race cars. His business savvy. And his generous spirit. Nell Newman, daughter of Paul -- as in Butch Cassidy, as in Cool Hand Luke, as in heart-throb actor-director -- is very much her father's daughter. Yet very much her own person. The 42-year-old may have shrugged off acting, but she followed in Dad's footsteps in another way -- by establishing and running Newman's Own Organics, The Second Generation, a division of his Newman's Own specialty food products company.

There's a story that's been circulated for years, probably apocryphal, about a woman who was ordering an ice cream cone in an upscale shop one day when Paul Newman walked in. Briefly flustered, she didn't fawn over him or make a big deal out of it; she just got her change and left. A few minutes later she returned, explaining to the counterman that she had forgotten her cone. "Lady," Newman cracked, "it's in your purse." That story gains resonance while you're watching "Where the Money Is."