Paul Newman, the famous American actor, film director and humanitarian died at the age of 83 of lung cancer on Friday, September 26. The former smoker received treatment at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York City where he became very thin and weak. In August the actor finished chemotherapy and wished to die at home in Westport, Connecticut where he was surrounded by his family and friends.

Now his friend and co-star, Robert Redford paid Newman a tribute, saying that "this was a man who lived a life that really meant something and will for some time to come." The two became close friends during the shootings for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Robert Redford added that "it was just that connection of playing those characters and the fun of it that really began the relationship. And then once the film started, once we went forward, we then discovered other similarities that just multiplied over time, a common ground that we both had between us, interests and so forth, and differences."

The actor remembers how Newman asked director George Roy Hill to accept him in the movie. "He said, 'I want to work with an actor,'" Redford added. As the years passed by, their friendship became tighter. They worked together in movies like “Butch Cassidy” and “The Sting” and they lived in Connecticut for a while, being separated by only a mile road.

Paul Newman won numerous awards, among which an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, A Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival award and an Emmy Award. He made his debut on Broadway Theater in “Picnic,” a production of William Inge.