Contributor John Skow, who wrote this week's cover story, regards popcorn and Paul Newman as inseparable, twin treasures of the moviehouse. Skow was nonetheless surprised to find himself sitting in an office of Newman's Salad King Inc. as the actor blithely demonstrated his definitive technique for buttering popcorn. Recalls Skow: "He wielded his knife at a precisely calculated angle, wriggled it meticulously while splashing droplets of butter on everything in sight, and then invited me to try it." Sampling two brands of popcorn that Newman hoped to market, Skow and his host rejected both. "One option produced huge kernels that looked marvelous but tasted like Styrofoam," says Skow. "The other tasted wonderful, but the kernels were small and ugly."

Race Car Driver Newman, at the wheel of a Volkswagen Rabbit, also chauffeured Skow around the actor's Westport, Conn., neighborhood at what Skow nervously refers to as "a rather brisk pace." A few days before, Newman had repaired to the back of a limousine to travel around California campaigning for a nuclear freeze. In between some backseat driving, he talked to Los Angeles Correspondent Denise Worrell. During the week that she spent with Newman, Worrell also watched him spellbind waiters at a San Francisco restaurant as he concocted his own salad dressing, rescue a stricken bee that had fallen on a patio table and, inevitably, jump up to prepare a bowl of popcorn. Says Worrell: "He is hyper and whimsical. But he wears his humor like armor; underneath, he is serious about his activism and his acting."

Reporter-Researcher Elaine Dutka spent several days interviewing, among others, Newman's daughter Susan, the Datsun dealer for whom Newman races and the Newmans. Dutka found Joanne Woodward, who shares her husband's predilection for privacy, unexpectedly forthcoming; Newman seemed happiest talking about racing and Reaganomics.

A seasoned TIME interviewer of celebrities as diverse as Meryl Streep, Bette Midler and Robert Redford, Dutka remarked on the visible solidity of the Newmans' relationship. Says she: "Humor is evidently its mainstay. Her dry, self-deprecating wit complements his broader, almost raunchy jokes. There's an obvious bond of respect and affection between them."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.