It's a tragedy when great fame and fortune go to waste. Such stories are the bread and butter of supermarket tabloids. Paul Newman's life was just the opposite. A life as well-lived as Newman's is a thing of great beauty and inspiration. It stands out most of all, for the humility, empathy, grace and gratitude he showed while living it.

From the descriptions of those who knew him well, Newman felt like a man who had won life's lottery, and his job was to share the winnings with those in need and those trying to help them. He wore his fame not like tuxedo but like a flannel shirt and remained someone who wanted to be just one of the guys, despite his enormous celebrity.

Newman's life began in comfort in the upscale Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights and, by his own admission, he partied his way through college, first at Ohio University and later, after a World War II stint as a Navy radioman, at Ohio's Kenyon College, where he found his talent for acting. Later, Newman's serious side and social conscience emerged as his fame grew.

The iconic characters of Newman's 51 films - Fast Eddie Felson, Lucas "Cool Hand" Jackson, Butch Cassidy - were lovable, incorrigible nonconformists who live on. Newman was a seemingly effortless actor who never preened, despite his matinee idol looks. He poked fun at himself on screen and off.

His accomplishments were impossibly all-American. Sure, he was a terrific actor who earned a fortune. But there have been quite a few great actors, and many no-so-great ones, who have accumulated great wealth.

What set Newman apart were the other things he did, things, things not expected of Hollywood stars at the time.

He married early and divorced, but remained friends with his first wife. He played love scenes with many of the world's most beautiful women but remained joyfully married to the same one for a half-century, actress Joanne Woodward. He was a model family man, a celebrity paparazzi couldn't capture in compromising photos.

Newman's athleticism was evident onscreen, but his athletic accomplishments in real life outshone them. In his 40s he took up auto racing, but he was no dilettante. He won several Sports Car of America National Championships and came in second at Le Mans one year. He's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest driver to win a professionally-sanctioned auto race, the 24-hour Daytona at age 70.

Newman was a political activist early on, but not the kind that took to a soapbox. He and Woodward knew and supported Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Gene McCarthy, attended the convention that nominated Jimmy Carter for president and quietly contributed to people and groups fighting for social justice. He was one of the founders of the Committee to Encourage Corporate Responsibility and his firm set the standard.

Newman could have made billions with endorsements, but instead, starting with a salad dressing, he built a food company that donates all its profit, $250 million so far, to charity. Some of the company's earnings support the Hole in the Wall Camp he and his wife started to allow children with cancer and other diseases to be outdoors and act, for a time, like regular kids. The camps have now been duplicated around the world.

We thank Paul Newman for films that will give people pleasure for generations, but we thank him most of all for his lesson in how to live life.