Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning superstar who personified cool as the anti-hero of such films as “Hud,” “Cool Hand Luke” and “The Color of Money” — spent time in Huntington back in September of 1966 preparing for his role in the film, “Cool Hand Luke.”
 

A Cleveland, Ohio, native who went to college just a few hours away at Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, spent a weekend in Huntington with Huntington businessman Andy Houvouras.
 

Houvouras drove Newman around to Cabell, Wayne, and Lincoln counties where Newman talked to folks  and taped them to try and get down the accent he needed to play a Florida chain gang worker who was supposed to be originally from Appalachia.
 

Newman told The Herald-Dispatch reporter Rosemary Flaherty in 1966 that of the approximately 20 people with whom he talked, most were friendly, cooperative and provided him with much valuable information.
 

 Jack Houvouras, who was only two years old at the time of Newman’s visit, interviewed Newman as well as his family members, for a special 1996 cover story in Houvouras’ magazine, Huntington Quarterly.
 

 Houvouras  said that Newman was a gracious, funny and caring man who sent him an autographed photo when Newman found out about a fire that destroyed Huntington Quarterly’s office.
 

“You could tell what a down to Earth good guy he was,” Houvouras said. “I greatly admired him and it is sad to see him gone. He was someone who was successful in every realm of his life, and married to the same woman forever.”

 

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