The bar for actors aging gracefully in Hollywood is not particularly high. Many legends have tried and failed. Against his better judgment, Cary Grant consented to appear opposite the far-younger Audrey Hepburn in Charade, and against all standards of common decency, Burt Reynolds attempted to prolong his fading stardom by donning a toupee. By contrast, Paul Newman gave every impression of being utterly indifferent to his gray, later white, hair, the lines that came to mark his face, and the gravitas that accompanied middle and old age in an industry forever dominated by whippersnappers. Newman, who would have turned 100 on Jan. 26, won an Oscar, was nominated for a Tony, was half of one of the most well-built marriages in Hollywood, and induced millions of people to buy movie tickets. But his greatest accomplishment is how willingly and agreeably he aged on camera.

This is partly down to how ageless he had been for decades. In 1969, when he made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Newman was 44 years old. But, next to his tow-headed co-star, Robert Redford, he carried himself with the authority of someone at least in his early 50s. In a famous scene in which the outlaws contemplate leaping from a cliff to preserve their hides, Newman erupts with laughter at Redford’s reluctant revelation that he can’t swim with the seen-it-all sangfroid of an older man: “Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill ya!” Throughout the film, Redford comes across as mindful of how he looks and prideful of his period-inauthentic hair, while Newman appears flippantly grizzled. Memo to guys everywhere: This is the way to be.