Paul Newman wants you to know he's still "alive and well."

The Oscar-winning actor escaped serious injury last weekend in Daytona when a car he was testing caught fire.

At nearly 80 (his birthday is Jan. 26), the racing enthusiast looked fit and hearty as he sat before critics yesterday afternoon at the HBO portion of the January press tour at Universal City, Calif.

Newman was there via satellite from his home in Westport, C.T., to promote Empire Falls. Based on Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the star-packed mini-series about a declining New England town premieres in May on The Movie Network and Movie Central.

Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt, Robin Wright Penn, Aidan Quinn and Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward, appear in the film. Russo adapted his own book.

"There was even a nice part for myself in it," said producer Newman, who grows a bad beard to play Max, the town curmudgeon.

It's a role he has perfected at press sessions. He took every softball lobbed at him by critics and smacked them straight down the line.

What does it take to be a good producer, he was asked. "I dunno ... I just keep my mouth shut."

Looking back at his long career, did he have a favourite film? "If I had a favourite piece of work I probably wouldn't tell anybody."

Did he ever look at his old films? "I avoid them like the plague."

Will he retire soon, as he hinted a few press tours back? "I'm prepared to go out almost immediately," he said, offering this second thought: "It's hard to put on your brakes when you're upside down."

He warmed up when he was asked about his experiences in TV's "Golden Age" of the '50s. "Those were wonderful days," he said. "Live television was the beginning of kitchen drama, psychological drama."

He even goofed on the form, calling it "mother-never-kissed-me-and-that's-why-I-turned-out-this-way" drama. Critics chuckled.

"That deserved a better laugh," Newman admonished.