Top 10 Paul Newman Films

1990; directed by James Ivory; screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, from the novel by Evan S. Connell; with Joanne Woodward, Blythe Danner, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Sean Leonard.

Newman, who accused himself of "emotional Republicanism" in his early films, put that starchy reticence to grand use as Walter Bridge. A Kansas City burgher of the 1950s, long wed to the livelier India (Woodward), Walter deals with life's disappointments and compromises with a stiff upper ventricle; but Newman manages to reveal, without placarding them, the nuances of a character so different from his own. Or was it? "Joanne says, 'That's the real you,'" Newman told a 1998 interviewer. In their 50 years of marriage, Newman starred with Woodward in 11 movies, directed her in five, including the Oscar-nominated Rachel, Rachel and the finest version of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie to make it to film. Mr. & Mrs. Bridge might be the most delicate and mature work either of them did.

(See photos of Paul Newman's storied career)