Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (born
January 26,
1925) is an
Academy Award-winning
American actor and
film director.
Early life
Newman was born in
Shaker Heights, Ohio, near
Cleveland, to Theresa Fetzer and Arthur S. Newman, a retail store owner. Newman's father was
Jewish, the son of European immigrants Simon Newman and Hannah Cohn,[
1] while his mother was Hungarian and practiced
Christian Science.
Newman served in the
Navy in
World War II, in the
Pacific theater. Prior to entering the service, he attended
Ohio University in
Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the
Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He completed his degree at
Kenyon College after the war and later studied acting at
Yale University and the
Actors Studio in
New York City.
Career
While he was attending graduate school at Yale, he became a successful stage actor on
Broadway. His first
movie,
The Silver Chalice (
1954) has been described by Newman as the "worst movie of the entire
1950s decade," but he rebounded with a series of acclaimed roles. In 1954, in a screen test, Newman, competed, to no avail, for the role of Cal Trask in
East of Eden, with
James Dean finally winning the part.
With his piercing blue eyes and handsome chiseled features he could have been just a romantic leading man but he wanted much more than that. Newman fought for important roles in great movies rather than trade on his good looks and take standard pretty boy roles hollywood offered every young handsome actor. Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from
1950s to the
1960s and
1970s cinema. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation.
Some of his more recent appearances include a conflicted mob boss in
Road To Perdition and in the
HBO mini-series,
Empire Falls as a rascally ne'er do well. Now in his early eighties, Newman continues acting including doing voice work for
Disney/
Pixar's
Cars.
Newman has been nominated for an
Academy Award nine times as an actor, in addition to the producer nomination he received for
Rachel, Rachel. Of his acting nominations, he won once, for his leading role on
The Color of Money in
1986. That award came a year after he won an
honorary Oscar for his "many and memorable and compelling screen performances."
Newman has directed his wife,
Joanne Woodward, in several films, such as the
1968 film Rachel, Rachel, a film for which he was
nominated for an Oscar as producer, and the 1987 adaptation of
Tennessee Williams'
The Glass Menagerie. He was also nominated for an
Emmy Award for his lead role in a
2003 production of
Our Town, in 2005 he won the Emmy for best
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Moviefor
Empire Falls.
In
2006, he won a
Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor (Television) for his work in Empire Falls.
Personal life
Detached from Hollywood, Newman makes his home in Westport
Connecticut with his wife
Joanne Woodward most of the year, where they are the own the Westport Country Playhouse. He also lives in the small town of Golden Beach, Florida.
He has married twice. His first marriage to
Jackie Witte which lasted from
1949 to
1958, and together they had a son, Scott, who died in
1978, and two daughters, Susan and Stephanie. Susan is a stage actress and
philanthropist. His second marriage with
Joanne Woodward on
29 January 1958. They have three daughters - Melissa Steward, Elinor Teresa, and Claire "Clea" Olivia.
Newman has been married to Woodward now for almost 50 years and when asked why he never committed adultery by Empire magazine he famously replied "Why fool around with hamburgers when you have steak at home?"
For his strong support of
Eugene McCarthy in
1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California), Newman was 19th on
Richard Nixon's
enemies list. He has said that this is one of his life's proudest achievements.
In tradtion with his work for
liberal causes Newman publically supports
Ned Lamont candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator
Joe Lieberman.
He first became interested in the
motorsport ("the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in") while training for, and filming,
Winning, a
1968 film, despite being
color-blind.
Newman's first professional event was in
1972, in
Thompson, Connecticut. He ran the
24 hours of Le Mans once in
1979 and finished second in a
Porsche 935 of
Dick Barbour, mainly due to the driving skills of German team mate
Rolf Stommelen.
From the mid seventies to the early nineties, he drove for the
Bob Sharp Racing team, racing mainly
Nissans. He became heavily associated with the brand during the eighties, even appearing in commercials for them. Although they named a
Skyline model after him, calling it the "Newman", he was most closely associated with the
Z series, which he used for most of his race victories and championship titles.
At the age of 70, he became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race, the
24 Hours of Daytona in
1995. Newman told an
Associated Press journalist in March 2005 that he'll "probably race for another year".
Newman co-founded
Newman/Haas Racing with
Carl Haas, a
CART Championship
auto racing team, in
1983.
Later in his career, he voiced the Hudson Hornet "Doc Hudson", a former racecar in silent retirement in the little town of Radiator Springs, in the 2006 Disney/Pixar animated release
Cars.
Newman founded
Newman's Own, a line of
food products, in
1982. The brand started with
salad dressing, and has expanded to include
pasta sauce,
lemonade,
popcorn, and
salsa, among other things. Newman donates the proceeds, after taxes, to
charity. As of early 2006, the franchise has resulted in excess of $200 million in donations. He co-wrote a
memoir about the subject,
Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good (ISBN 0385508026).
One beneficiary of his
philanthropy is the
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a
residential summer camp for seriously ill children, which is located between
Ashford and
Eastford in
Connecticut. Newman cofounded the camp in
1986; it was named after the gang in his film
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (
1969). Newman's college fraternity,
Phi Kappa Tau, adopted "Hole in the Wall" as their "national philanthropy" in 1995. One camp has expanded to become several Hole in the Wall Camps in the U.S., Ireland, France and Israel.
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The Silver Chalice (1954)
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Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
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The Rack (1956)
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The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
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Until They Sail (1957)
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The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
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The Left Handed Gun (1958)
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
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Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)
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The Young Philadelphians (1959)
|
Paul Newman in an advertisement for the movie Exodus. |
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Exodus (1960)
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From the Terrace (1960)
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The Hustler (1961)
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Paris Blues (1961)
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Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
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Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
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Hud (1963)
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A New Kind of Love (1963)
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The Prize (1963)
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What a Way to Go! (1964)
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The Outrage (1964)
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Lady L (1965)
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A Year Toward Tomorrow (1966) (short subject)
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Harper (1966)
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Torn Curtain (1966)
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Luke (1967) (short subject)
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Hombre (1967)
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Cool Hand Luke (1967)
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Once Upon a Wheel (1968) (documentary)
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The Private War of Harry Frigg (1968) or "Secret War of ..."
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Winning (1969)
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
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The Making of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (1970) (documentary)
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King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) (documentary)
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WUSA (1970)
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Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
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Pocket Money (1972)
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The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
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The Mackintosh Man (1973)
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The Sting (1973)
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The Towering Inferno (1974)
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McCarthy: Death of a Witch Hunter (1975) (documentary)
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The Drowning Pool (1975)
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Silent Movie (1976) (cameo)
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Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
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Slap Shot (1977)
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Quintet (1979)
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When Time Ran Out... (1980)
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Fort Apache the Bronx (1981)
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Absence of Malice (1981)
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The Verdict (1982)
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Harry and Son (1984)
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The Color of Money (1986)
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John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989) (documentary)
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Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
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Blaze (1989)
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Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
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The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
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Nobody's Fool (1994)
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Super Speedway (1997) (documentary)
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Twilight (1998)
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Message in a Bottle (1999)
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Where the Money Is (2000)
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Road to Perdition (2002)
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The Life Between (2003) (documentary)
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Tell Them Who You Are (2004) (documentary)
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Empire Falls (2005) (HBO television movie)
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Going Through Splat: The Life and Work of Stewart Stern (2005) (documentary)
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Cars (2006) (voice)
*While on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Newman was dared to have a taste of his own brand name label dog food. He tried it and was pleased with its taste.
Paul Newman (1990); Elena Oumano ISBN 0517059347
The Films of Paul Newman (1986); Lawrence J. Quirk ISBN 0806503858
The Films of Paul Newman (1978); Kenneth Thomson ISBN 0912616873
Paul Newman: a Biography (1999); Eric Lax ISBN 1570362866
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Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Paul Newman*
Newman/Haas Racing*
Newman's Own*
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp*
Barretstown Gang Camp, Ireland*
Is Paul Newman ready for his swan song?*
Newman's Day at Princeton*
Traditions at Bates College and a
Memory of Newman Day from a 1991 graduate
