Paul Newman

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Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke

Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) is an Oscar winning American actor and film director.

Family Background

Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, near Cleveland, to Theresa Fetzko (a Hungarian-born Catholic, who became a Christian Scientist) and Arthur S. Newman, a successful sporting goods store owner, who was born in the U.S. to a Hungarian Jewish father, Simon Newman, and a Polish Jewish mother, Hannah Cohn. Paul has a brother, Arthur Newman.

Marriages

He has married twice:

1) Jackie Witte (1949-1958) by whom he had a son, Scott Newman, who died in 1978, and two daughters, Susan Kendall Newman and Stephanie Newman. Susan is a stage actress and philanthropist.

2) Joanne Woodward on 29 January 1958. They have three daughters: Melissa Newman, Nell Potts and Clea Newman.

Career

Newman served in the Navy in World War II, in the Pacific theater. Prior to entering the service, he attended Ohio University in Athens, OH. He completed his degree at Kenyon College after the war and later studied acting at Yale University. 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.

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 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.

Academy 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 in 1986. That award came a year after he won an honorary Oscar for his "many and memorable and compelling screen performances."

Paul 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.

Auto racing

He first became interested in the sport ("the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in") while filming Winning, a 1968 film, despite the fact that he is 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 thanks to the driving skills of German team mate Rolf Stommelen.

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".

Also, Newman co-founded Newman/Haas Racing with Carl Haas, a CART Championship auto racing team, in 1983.

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 2005, the franchise has resulted in $175 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.

Miscellaneous

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 recent years, students at Bates College and Princeton University have marked a day (called "Newman Day" at Bates, "Newman's Day" at Princeton) during which students try to drink 24 beers in 24 hours while continuing with their regular activities. The newfound tradition has been held in January at Bates since the early 1990s, and on April 24 at Princeton since the late 1990s. The event is named after Newman for unknown reasons, though most often cited are a comment attributed to him ("24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.") and a well-known egg-eating contest in Cool Hand Luke (1967). Through his attorney, Newman has asked both universities to end the tradition, a request they have difficulty honouring since the event has no official campus sponsor. Newman personally wrote a letter to his alma mater Kenyon College in 2005 to encourage community service instead of binge drinking.

Newman lives in Connecticut most of the year. He also lives in the small town of Golden Beach, Florida.

Paul was the visual inspiration for Hal Jordan, the second Green Lantern of DC Comics introduced in the 1960s (Silver Age).

Newman's height is 5'9".

Made "Top 10 stars of the year", 14 times between 1963-1986.

Filmography (as actor)

Paul Newman in an advertisement for the movie Exodus.

External links


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