Kaufman’s shoot resulted in a bonanza of publicity for a movie that was not overly commercial. While LIFE’s gushing cover story hailed the movie as a “triumph,” the magazine’s review of Rachel, Rachel, which ran in an issue two weeks prior, regarded the film as an honorable misfire, and suggested that it only got made because Newman was hot off the success of Cool Hand Luke: “They apparently encountered enormous difficulties in obtaining the relatively modest backing they required, and it was not until Miss Woodward’s husband put his plentiful clout behind it by agreeing to direct it that they could go ahead.”

We know now that Rachel, Rachel, whatever its merits, did not leave a major mark on popular culture. (That is, unless its title decades later somehow inspired Rochelle, Rochelle, the fictional art-house movie that was a running gag in the TV show Seinfeld).

But viewed more than a half-century later, the photos of Mark Kauffman tell a story that has little to do with Rachel, Rachel. The story is actually bigger. It is, in so many words:

This is what a movie star looks like.

Kaufman’s photos show this because Newman was so generous in giving Kauffman time and access, not just on the movie set but as Newman enjoyed such pastimes as fishing, playing pool and visiting the garage that was working on a race car of his. Whether Newman was chatting with mechanics or posing with a trophy fish, he always looked like a movie star—perhaps even more so when he was sharing the frame with everyday humans.

(For another example of star power, check another great LIFE photoshoot, this one of Robert Redford, who would be Newman’s co-star in the 1969 classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.)

In recent years a fair amount of digital ink has been spilled on the topic of “Where have all the movie stars gone” (See articles such as this one and this one and this one). The perception that we don’t have movie stars like we used to is in part the result of the changing nature of media, but the appearance of these stories also has to do with the penchant for click-bait headlines, because of course we still have movie stars. If you don’t believe it, ask Margot Robbie. Or at least her agent.

But maybe the point is this: when Paul Newman was in his prime, and even though his IMDB page has plenty of commercial misfires on it, no one would have considered asking where all the movie stars had gone.

Paul Newman leans against a tree in the Florida Keys during the filming of his directorial debut, the movie ‘Rachel Rachel,’ Florida, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman n the Florida Keys during the filming of his directorial debut, the movie ‘Rachel Rachel,’ Florida, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman, holding monocular on his fishing trip in Florida Keys, Florida, United States, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman in the Florida Keys with guide Jake Muller (left) and friend Mike Hyman, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman on a Key West fishing trip, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman fishing in the Florida Keys, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during his fishing trip in Florida Keys, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during a fishing trip in the Florida Keys, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman at an event, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward during the filming of his movie “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman directing a child actor during the filming of “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during the filming of “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during the filming of his directorial debut “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during the filming of his directorial debut “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during the filming of his directorial debut “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman during the filming of his directorial debut “Rachel, Rachel,” 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman (center) with men working on his racing car, a Volkswagen bug, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman spoke with a mechanic about his racing car, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman talked with a mechanic about his racing car, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Leonard Newman playing pool, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paul Newman playing pool, 1967.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Paul Newman: Now There Was a Star appeared first on LIFE.

Here, a fond look back at some of the 20th century’s biggest, brightest entertainers, in the friendly confines of their own homes.

Marilyn Monroe at her Hollywood home in 1953.

Alfred Elsenstaedt; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Steve McQueen and his first wife, TV actress Neile Adams, dress for a warm day at their Hollywood home in 1963.

John Dominis; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jayne Mansfield combed her hair while bathing in the pink carpeted bathroom of her home, known as “The Pink Palace,” in Los Angeles, 1960.

Allan Grant; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The Jacksons (clockwise left to right: Jackie, Marlon, Tito, Jermaine, and Michael) join parents Joe and Katherine in their backyard in Encino, California in 1970.

John Olson; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vivien Leigh at home with her Oscar for Gone With the Wind, 1940.

Peter Stackpole; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Paul Newman cooked eggs for Anthony Perkins in Newman’s kitchen in 1958 in Hollywood.

Leonard McComb; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, whose marriage would last 50 years (until his death in 2008), shared a laugh as they dressed in their Hollywood home in 1959.

Gordon Parks; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren picked flowers at the Italian villa she shared with producer Carlo Ponti in 1964.

Alfred Elsenstaedt; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Bette Davis and her Pekingese, Popeye the Magnificent, at home in Beverly Hills in 1939.

Alfred Elsenstaedt; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Maureen O’Hara relaxed at home in Los Angeles in 1946.

Peter Stackpole; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Liberace danced on top of the keys of his piano-shaped pool in California in 1954.

Loomis Dean; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Oscar-winning actress Claudette Colbert posed in a two-piece evening dress in front of the fireplace in her home in Los Angeles’ posh Holmby Hills neighborhood in 1939.

Alfred Elsenstaedt; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Ricky Nelson sat on the diving board of his family’s pool in Hollywood in 1958.

Hank Walker; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Greer Garson sits her living room at home in Los Angeles’ exclusive Bel Air neighborhood, picking out records to play in April 1943, a month after her Best Actress Oscar victory for Mrs. Miniver.

Peter Stackpole; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sisters and frequent rivals Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland shared a family moment as they looked out over Beverly Hills from Fontaine’s home in 1942.

Bob Landry; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Carole Lombard drank a cup of coffee and talked on the telephone at her Hollywood home in October 1939.

Alfred Elsenstaedt; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post LIFE at Home With Showbiz Superstars appeared first on LIFE.