Newman’s Own

If Paul Newman is an American icon, it is for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and charitable work as much as for his films (“In Search of a State of Grace,” by Paul Lieberman, Aug. 20).

Dr. Howard Pearson, Yale’s chief of pediatrics, could well be talking about my daughter, Anique Kasper: “And the ones who literally are dying, God knows, I’ve seen them pull themselves together just to make another summer of camp.”

Anique went to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Conn., for the last three summers of her brief life. She was one of 114 children given a death sentence through HIV-infected transfusions at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the early 1980s. In January 1992, her physician gave her only weeks to live. But there was camp that summer, and the thought of going one last time kept Anique going for six months, precious time when you are an 11-year-old.

She made the first 10-day session June 20 that year thanks, in part, to the love that Paul gave her when he came to visit the morning of the Academy Awards in March--and to the love of those who provided the motor home and two drivers who drove cross-country nonstop because she was too ill to fly.

Anique had a marvelous time at camp. Most of all, she loved having the male counselor “hunks” serenade her onstage to “My Girl” during the last night’s stage show. On her way back home the day after she left Ashford, outside Dallas, Anique died in her mother’s arms.

I can never thank you enough, Paul, for fulfilling Anique’s dream and giving my little girl some of the best times of her life.

BRUCE KASPER

Playa del Rey

*

What a wonderful article; what an incredible man. Honest, straightforward--and yet a man of remarkable grace.

If he is looking for one “last great film,” he’s already lived it: “The Paul Newman Story.”

STANLEY KAMEL

Los Angeles

*

Paul Newman has already had his great “swan song” in “Nobody’s Fool” in 1994. With his eighth Academy Award nomination, he was the perfect ne’er-do-well character. If he never had another knockout movie, this would suffice as the greatest revelation of his special charm and ability into his 70s.

R.A. LEE

Los Angeles

*

Just as I was opening Calendar to read about Paul Newman, there he was on the TV screen in “The Drowning Pool.” I thought to myself, “They just don’t make handsome like that anymore.”

A fine actor, a charitable human being, and a Democrat to boot. What’s better than that!

YOLANDA KRELL

Los Angeles

*

As a young actor, I had the privilege of working with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (and the magnificently talented cast and crew that they attract). It will always be a high point in my very fortunate life.

ROBBY BENSON

Toluca Lake