Sometimes it pays to be early. And the payoff for getting to the private hangar in Toronto ahead of Prime Minister Harper on Saturday night was — on the day he died — a Paul Newman story.

Turns out the receptionist had worked at the hangar for many years. And in that time she had taken snaps of herself with some of the celebrities who'd passed through her terminal.

Paul Hunter

Among them: Robin Williams, Jon Bon Jovi, Mel Gibson, Bill Clinton, Harrison Ford, Robert Redford and Denzel Washington. The photos are all up on the wall, including two shots with her favorite, Paul Newman.

One time, she says, Newman had come to Toronto for the Indy. The receptionist happened to see him after he lands and she idly told him the Globe and Mail had recently done a piece about him and his wife of many years, Joanne Woodward - with lots of great pictures. He then told her he didn't see it but that he wished he had.

Later, on a lark, she clips it and mails it to him through his billing address.

And soon enough, a nice handwritten and personally signed thank you card arrives at the office, from the Newmans.

She still swoons.

That said, this being an election campaign, the receptionist was then asked the real question:

"Do you have any pics of you with Prime Ministers?"

"No," she muttered. "They won't let me!"

— Paul Hunter