Generous Paul Walker had no time for trappings of fame

Hollywood has been reeling this week, thanks to the tragic death of one if its stars.

Paul Walker, the star of blockbuster franchise The Fast And Furious, was last week involved in a road accident which claimed his life. It’s terrible news. The rolling, 24-hour coverage of the sad events has been almost non-stop.

But there’s one person who would be baffled by the insatiable, wall-to-wall reporting that has dominated the news networks over the past week.

Paul Walker himself would have looked at it and quietly said: “really?”

There’s a temptation to put this down as another “Hollywood” death, similar to, say, James Dean and his early demise. After all, Paul was a young man known for starring in films about fast cars. What could be more ironic?

But Paul was about as un-Hollywood as you could get.

I met him three or four times and he was a relaxed and charming guy. Just about every single woman I spoke to who met him in the flesh will tell you how handsome he was.

Despite his good looks, he gave the impression of not bothering about fame.

There’s a temptation to roll your eyes when the usual tributes are paid to someone who has just died. He was kind, charming, friendly and down to earth.

But it’s true of Paul. He was never pictured out at the top LA clubs or courting attention. I think he liked to do the work, but would just as soon be on his way from the limelight as soon as possible.

Don’t get me wrong. When I spoke to him he was nothing but charming and friendly. But he seemed to prefer to concentrate on his charity work.

In the days following his death, it emerged he gave something like £2million to charity.

A wonderful story about his generosity also emerged.

He was in a Los Angeles jewellery shop and got talking to a young couple. The chap was a war veteran and looking at engagement rings for his fiance. He overheard the guy say to his bride-to-be that he couldn’t afford the $10,000 ring she wanted.

Paul took the jeweller aside and told her he’d be paying their bill as long as he remained anonymous.

The clerk told that story last week following Paul’s death. It was a fantastic gesture from him.

He was of course famous for being a part of the Fast and Furious movies. He was one of the lead stars and was in the middle of filming the seventh instalment in the franchise, alongside hardman actor Vin Diesel.

There was a lot of speculation here in Hollywood about what would happen to the production of the movie.

It seemed inconceivable that Fast 7 would be cancelled. But that’s what they did. It’s likely the shoot will be restarted, however. The films just make too much money, and fans of the series, and of Paul Walker himself, will insist on another sequel.

His co-stars in the movie are obviously reeling from his death.

Paul would have left filming for a weekend off and told them he’d be back soon, and that would have been the last they saw of him.

It made me think of another tragedy.

The Glasgow helicopter crash made the news here in Los Angeles. I spotted it on the local channels here, but it got rolling coverage across the national networks, like CNN.

Seeing the footage here was just incredibly surreal.

I’ve been here in LA for a few years, but Glasgow is my hometown. It was horrible to watch and my heart goes out to everyone affected by the crash.

To think people went out to a pub to enjoy themselves and didn’t come home is just awful especially just before Christmas.

But my heart swells when I think of my fellow Glaswegians and the way they reacted.

As someone who watched the coverage on a foreign news channel, you can trust me when I say Glasgow can be proud.