Encyclopedia
Paul Leonard Newman is an
Academy Award-winning
American actor and
film director who is also known for his food products that are used to fund several charities.
Background
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, 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.
Film Career
While he was attending graduate school at Yale, he became a successful stage actor in
New York City. He made his
Broadway theatre debut in the original production of
William Inge's
Picnic with
Kim Stanley. He later appeared in the original Broadway productions of
The Desperate Hours and Sweet Bird of Youth
with Geraldine Page. He would later star in the film version of Sweet Bird of Youth
, which also starred Page.
His first movie, The Silver Chalice has been described by Newman himself as the "worst movie of the entire 1950s decade," but he rebounded with acclaimed roles such as Somebody Up There Likes Me
as boxer Rocky Graziano and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
opposite Elizabeth Taylor.
Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean for the role of Cal Trask in East of Eden, but Dean won the part. This can be seen in the Special Edition DVD of East of Eden.
Major Films
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. He has been frequently mentioned by younger actors as an influence.
Newman has appeared in such classics as
The Hustler ,
Hud ,
Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 [i] American film starring Paul Newman [i] and directed by Stuart Rosenberg [i] ...
and
The Verdict . He appeared most notably with
Robert Redford in the films
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and
The Sting is an Oscar [i] winning caper film [i] from 1973 [i] set in September of 1936 [i] ...
.
He also appeared with his wife,
Joanne Woodward, in the feature films
The Long, Hot Summer ,
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, ,
From the Terrace ,
Paris Blues ,
A New Kind of Love ,
Winning ,
WUSA ,
The Drowning Pool ,
Harry & Son and
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge is a 1990 [i] is a Merchant Ivory Film [i] ...
. They also both starred in the
HBO miniseries
Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.
In addition to
Harry & Son, which Newman starred and directed, he also directed three feature films that starred Woodward. They were
Rachel, Rachel , based on
Margaret Laurence's
A Jest of God, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds , the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play
The Shadow Box and a screen version of
Tennessee Williams'
The Glass Menagerie .
Recent Work
Recently, he appeared in a
Broadway theatre revival of
Thornton Wilder's
Our Town. He received his first Tony Award nomination for his performance.
PBS and the cable network
Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Newman was nominated for an
Emmy Award, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.
One of his most recent screen appearance is as a conflicted mob boss in
Road To Perdition opposite
Tom Hanks. Now in his early eighties, Newman has almost retired but has continued acting occasionally, such as doing voice work for
Disney/
Pixar's
Cars as the character
Doc Hudson?
Awards
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 was a 1984 [i] novel by American writer Walter Tevis [i], continuing the story of ...
in 1986. That award came a year after he won an honorary Oscar for his "many and memorable and compelling screen performances." In 1994, the Academy awarded him the
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his charity work. In all, he has three Oscar statuettes.
In 2005, he won his first ever
Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a
Golden Globe Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for
Empire Falls, which he also produced. He got another Emmy nomination as producer for the miniseries. He was previously nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for
Our Town, in 2003; and for Outstanding Director of a Miniseries or TV Movie, for
The Shadow Box, in 1980.
In 1969, he won the Golden Globe award for Best Director, for
Rachel, Rachel, but failed to get an Academy Award nomination even though the film was nominated for Best Picture. He won the Golden Globe
Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984.
Life outside the Cinema
Personal life
Detached from Hollywood, Newman makes his home in
Westport, Connecticut with his wife
Joanne Woodward most of the year, where they own the
Westport Country Playhouse. He also lives in the small town of Golden Beach, Florida.
He has married twice. His first marriage was to Jackie Witte, and lasted from 1949 to 1958. Together they had a son, Scott, who died in 1978 from an accidental drug overdose . Scott had appeared in such films as
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 [i] disaster film [i] directed by John Guillermin [i], adapted by Stirling Silliphant [i] ...
as a firefighter, and in the 1977 film
Fraternity Row. Newman started the Scott Newman Center for drug prevention in memory of his son. . They also have two daughters, Susan and Stephanie. Susan is a stage actress and philanthropist. He married Woodward on January 29, 1958. They have three daughters - Melissa Steward, Elinor Teresa, and Claire "Clea" Olivia.
Newman directed his daughter Elinor in the central role alongside her mother in the film
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
His daughter, Susan Kendall Newman, is also in show business and produced his telefilm
The Shadow Box.
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 , Newman was 19th on
Richard Nixon's
enemies list. He has said that this is one of his life's proudest achievements.
Consistent with his work for
liberal causes, Newman publicly supported
Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator
Joe Lieberman.
Auto racing
He first became interested in the
motorsport 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
Champ Car 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.
Philanthropy
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 . Among other awards, Newman co-sponsers the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, a $25,000 reward designed to recognize those who protect the first amendment as it applies to the written word.
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 . 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.
Singing career
Newman also released a swing/jazz album in 2005 titled
Newman Swings. It was met with poor reviews.
Filmography
- The Silver Chalice is a 1952 [i] historical novel [i] by Thomas B. Costain [i]. ...
- Somebody Up There Likes Me
- The Rack
- The Helen Morgan Story
- Until They Sail
- The Long, Hot Summer
- The Left Handed Gun
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
- The Young Philadelphians
- Exodus
- From the Terrace
- The Hustler
- Paris Blues
- Sweet Bird of Youth
- Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
- Hud
- A New Kind of Love
- The Prize
- What a Way to Go!
- The Outrage
- Lady L
- A Year Toward Tomorrow
- Harper
- Torn Curtain
- Luke
- Hombre
- Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 [i] American film starring Paul Newman [i] and directed by Stuart Rosenberg [i] ...
- Once Upon a Wheel
- The Private War of Harry Frigg or "Secret War of ..."
- Winning
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- The Making of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'
-
- WUSA
- Sometimes a Great Notion is a 1964 novel by Ken Kesey [i]. ...
- Pocket Money
- The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
- The Mackintosh Man
- The Sting is an Oscar [i] winning caper film [i] from 1973 [i] set in September of 1936 [i] ...
- The Towering Inferno is a 1974 [i] disaster film [i] directed by John Guillermin [i], adapted by Stirling Silliphant [i] ...
-
- The Drowning Pool
- Silent Movie is a 1976 [i] comedy film [i] directed by and starring Mel Brooks [i]. ...
- Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
- Slap Shot
- Quintet
- When Time Ran Out...
- Fort Apache the Bronx
- Absence of Malice is a 1981 [i] film which tells the story of the son of a dead Mafia [i] boss who d ...
- The Verdict
- Harry and Son
- The Color of Money was a 1984 [i] novel by American writer Walter Tevis [i], continuing the story of ...
-
- Fat Man and Little Boy
- Blaze
- Mr. & Mrs. Bridge is a 1990 [i] is a Merchant Ivory Film [i] ...
- The Hudsucker Proxy
- Nobody's Fool is a 1994 [i] film which tells the story of an aging man whose estranged son comes bac ...
- Super Speedway
- Twilight
- Message in a Bottle
- Where the Money Is
- Road to Perdition
- The Life Between
- Tell Them Who You Are
- Empire Falls
-
- Cars
Trivia
- 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.
- While on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Newman and Leno raced. Newman beat Leno by a considerable time.
Further reading
- Paul Newman ; Elena Oumano ISBN 0-517-05934-7
- The Films of Paul Newman ; Lawrence J. Quirk ISBN 0-8065-0385-8
- The Films of Paul Newman ; Kenneth Thomson ISBN 0-912616-87-3
- Paul Newman: a Biography ; Eric Lax ISBN 1-57036-286-6
External links
- and a from a 1991 graduate
.gif)
