# How long before majority of people forget that Paul Newman was an actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234 "2015-09-22T20:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/61 "2015-09-23T10:36:20Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Cary Grant, yeah, I think I got to see some of his stuff on my own after my father died. _ **Destination: Tokyo** _, _ **Arsenic and Old Lace** _, _ **The Bishop’s Wife** _, _ **North by Northwest** _, _ **Charade** _, and _ **Father Goose** _ are the first ones I think of. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/62 "2015-09-23T10:47:19Z")
More trivia: Jamie Lee Curtis (Curtis and Leigh’s real-life daughter) starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in _ **True Lies** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/63 "2015-09-23T10:57:39Z")
Cary Grant **and** Jimmy Stewart **and** Katharine Hepburn in _ **The Philadelphia Story** _. Clark Gable in _ **It Happened One Night** _, _ **Manhattan Melodrama** _, and _ **Run Silent, Run Deep** _, in addition to _ **GWtW** _. Also opposite Marilyn Monroe in _ **The Misfits** _. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/64 "2015-09-23T11:13:32Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Just to make this a fair question for the older crowd I used the year before I was born as a checkpoint to see IMDb’s list (sorted by their “Starmeter”) of their population who died that year. > > The results are at [Advanced search](http://www.imdb.com/search/name?death_date=1940-01-01,1940-12-31&sort=starmeter) > > Modify the dates in the URL to suit your own time and see how many you recognize. Ooh FUN! I’ll play! Note: there are two points in the URL where the date has to be changed. I was born in 1975. From the Top 50 ranked by popularity (one page of results), people who died that year whose work I am familiar with are: [ul] [li]Susan Hayward[/li][li]Moe Howard[/li][li]Rod Serling[/li][li]Larry Fine[/li][li]Fredric March[/li][li]John McGiver (but only because I saw his photo, I would not have known him by name)[/li][li]Bernard Herrmann[/li][li]Ozzie Nelson[/li][li]Josephine Baker[/li][li]Aristotle Onassis (and I know enough to think it odd to see him on an IMDB list)[/li][li]Moms Mabley[/li][/ul] 11 out of 50. Major downer to see that both Moe Howard and Larry Fine died in the same year, I hadn’t known that. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/65 "2015-09-23T11:40:34Z")
I can tell Brian Ahern from Brian Donlevy, but the Emmys is just a parade of pretty, nameless young things to me. So I suppose it all evens out. (frankly, the OP sounds too much of a variation on the "hey, did you know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings? “joke”) ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/66 "2015-09-23T12:11:06Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > It’s interesting that today, in 2015 when everyone has **easy** access to information, with all the sites on the web, with the availability of nearly every movie, ever made, on Cable, satellite, internet, DVD, etc… that people are less informed. > > Yes, I know, there’s **A LOT** out there, but seriously, how many people do you know will watch the same crap over and over and over and over again, instead of trying something new (to them) or different. > > To answer the question of this thread, How soon will Paul Newman be forgotten? To the ignorant and lazy he’ll be forgotten quickly. Less informed? No. Just informed about different things. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/67 "2015-09-23T12:24:25Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Is Rudolph Valentino forgotten? Francis X. Bushman? Charlie Chaplin? Charles Laughton? Dick Powell? Alan Ladd? Robert Mitchum? Cary Grant? > > There seems to be an equating of “not prominent in pop culture right this moment” with “forgotten.” This ignores the legions of movie buffs out there. Their ranks are replenished, as they age and die, by young people who are sophisticated enough to look beyond what the ad machine tells they should be watching. Not Charlie Chapman, and perhaps not Cary Grant. But the rest are for sure forgotten. Otherwise the expression is meaningless and no one is forgotten. I don’t think I know a single person who would recognize any of those other names. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/68 "2015-09-23T12:51:05Z")
I’m not sure why I also felt like writing Chapman instead of Chaplin. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/69 "2015-09-23T13:07:51Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Not Charlie Chapman, and perhaps not Cary Grant. But the rest are for sure forgotten. Otherwise the expression is meaningless and no one is forgotten. I don’t think I know a single person who would recognize any of those other names. Then you really should cultivate friendships with more sophisticated people, don’t you think? If you know more about Shia LaBeouf than Robert Mitchum, I actually feel rather bad for you. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/70 "2015-09-23T13:14:54Z")
My first instinct was to answer “never”. Well, not literally “never” but I would think he’ll be a pretty permanent fixture in the annals of movie history. But you [del]whippersnappers[/del] younger folk are saying otherwise so I guess I can’t argue in the face of public opinion. I have to say, that makes me sad 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/71 "2015-09-23T13:20:50Z")
I think that is a rather ridiculous suggestion. It’s not very important to me that my friends watch a lot of old movies, and I don’t see why it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/72 "2015-09-23T13:27:28Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I think that is a rather ridiculous suggestion. It’s not very important to me that my friends watch a lot of old movies, and I don’t see why it should be. For starters, you’ll get a lot more of the jokes on Family Guy, American Dad, The Simpsons, and similar shows. Wouldn’t that be nice? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/73 "2015-09-23T13:29:16Z")
Forget [this?](https://mattsko.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/paul-newman-shirtless-502.jpg) Impossible. I will see that gorgeous man in my dreams til the day I die. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/74 "2015-09-23T13:51:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was at a pub trivia game last night. For certain rounds they had bonus questions; one member of each team would take up the answer sheet and gather around the host. He’d ask the question and the first person to write the answer and show it to him would win the prize. It usually involves very fast scribbling. > > Last night one of the questions was whose catch phrase (whether he actually said it or not) was “you dirty rat”? I had time to cross the room, get the answer sheet from my teammate, and write “Cagney”. No one else knew. See, to me this is just odd. His heyday was long before I was even born and I can’t remember I time when I didn’t, if not exactly “know” who he is, at least was aware of “you dirty rat” and its context. Perhaps it’s because he was of my parents’ era and they were pretty big movie fans, as I suspect more people were back then due to the lack of tv and other forms of entertainment we have today. I can recall in 2001, when George Harrison died and a young woman I worked with didn’t recognize his name. This was not a stupid or socially retarded (as far as I could tell) person, nor was she that much younger than I. So just because the Beatles were not of her era I shouldn’t be surprised that she doesn’t know who George freaking Harrison is? Do we limit our awareness of things to those of our own generation? ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/75 "2015-09-23T13:57:02Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > For starters, you’ll get a lot more of the jokes on Family Guy, American Dad, The Simpsons, and similar shows. Wouldn’t that be nice? Can you name one joke on any show within the last 10 years that relies on knowledge of either Rudolph Valentino, Francis X. Bushman, Charles Laughton, Dick Powell or Alan Ladd? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/76 "2015-09-23T13:59:20Z")
I’m early sixties, but my friend’s kid listens to a _lot_ of my generations music. And he’s not alone in that. Me, I wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to the stuff my parents liked, but since I’ve developed a taste for some Sinatra. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/77 "2015-09-23T14:00:32Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Do we limit our awareness of things to those of our own generation? Some do, some don’t. I’ve been interested in the silent movie era since I was a kid in junior high school. Nobody in my family had a similar interest. That interest pre-dated VCR’s and the internet, so my viewing opportunities were limited. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/78 "2015-09-23T14:26:39Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Can you name one joke on any show within the last 10 years that relies on knowledge of either Rudolph Valentino, Francis X. Bushman, Charles Laughton, Dick Powell or Alan Ladd? I don’t have the scripts of TV shows memorized, so I can’t think of any involving those specific stars (you wouldn’t get the jokes if I could, anyway!:D). Consider this, though: The episodes of Family Guy where Stewie and Brian are “On the Road to\_\_\_\_\_\_” are affectionate salutes to a whole series of musical comedy “Road” pictures starring a comedian and a singer who were monstrously popular for many, many years. Imagine getting the jokes that aren’t about dicks from those episodes! How splendid that would be for you! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/79 "2015-09-23T14:32:45Z")
Say what you will about Seth MacFarlane, his appreciation for bygone eras of entertainment does set him apart and gives his humor an occasional — and much-needed — veneer of innocence. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/80 "2015-09-23T14:35:53Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Imagine getting the jokes that aren’t about dicks from those episodes! How splendid that would be for you! If this is the argument, then it’s really more important to be familiar with Shia LaBeouf and such, since there are more references to him and other modern actors, than to any of those in the above list. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234.md?page=5)