The good ones always leave us too soon. I liked Paul Walker as an actor. I can't say I knew him as a person because I didn't. But I got great vibes based on what I saw of him on screen. Apparently I was right. In his IMDB biography here is what I discovered.
March of 2010 he went to Chile and helped the victims of the earthquake.
He wanted to enlist in the army when the first Gulf War broke out.
His organization Charity Reach Out Worldwide was created to help disaster victims and the night he died, he was coming from a benefit sponsored by his organization.
And one anecdote that I heard about him was that he anonymously paid for an engagement ring for a military couple who could not afford it.
These are the things I would like to remember him for and not the fact that he died in a fiery car crash. But I have many more points to make about this guy.
Paul Walker was primarily an actor who played in action movies. In most of those movies you got just enough back story about his character to justify his credentials for what he needed to do to overcome the obstacle before him. I guess the reason I was drawn to his characters and his acting dovetails with my love for true pulp.
In true pulp there is no emphasis on character. Who the heroes and villains are come out in their actions. Off screen, the majority of Mr. Walker's actions defined him as a hero. Again, see the examples above.
I will say this even though I'm out of the loop, but I really didn't hear too much about what he did. As exemplified by his actions at the jewelry store, he acted and conducted himself off screen in a quiet manner. No pun intended, he walked the walk-- and knew how to wield the influence he had for good and obviously had genuine motives.
Again, based on IMDB, often times the Hollywood intelligentsia didn't think much of his acting. According to reports, he was once nominated for a Razzie award. I am not in that camp. I think he always played the parts that he sought to play very well. They were not deep performances, but they were solid and credible; very much the way he was in real life.
