Note: I wrote the article below before I realized that MSat had already covered Paul Newman’s death. He was an incredible actor and someone who touched so many people’s lives and we are posting this in his honor.
The Color of Money under director Martin Scorsese.
A war veteran, philanthropist, devoted family man, and car racing enthusiast, Newman lived life to the fullest and will long be remembered for his impact in Hollywood and on humanitarian causes. He founded the food company Newman’s Own in 1982, which has gone on to become a multi-million dollar empire with a spinoff, Newman’s Own Organics, run by his daughter, Nell Newman. All the profits from both companies are donated to charitable and educational causes. Newmans Own has contributed over $250 million to charity to date.
Newman leaves behind a wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward, five daughters and eight grandchildren:
Paul Newman, a screen hero for more than half a century and the head of a philanthropic food empire for the past 25 years, has died, it was announced Saturday. He was 83.
Surrounded by his family and close friends at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn., Newman succumbed Friday after a long battle with cancer, according to a statement from publicist Jeff Sanderson.
Famed for his intense blue eyes, his love of car racing and one of the coolest demeanors ever to heat up the silver screen, Newman was nominated for Oscars ten times.
But perhaps his proudest accomplishment, besides his 50-year marriage to actress Joanne Woodward, was starting Newman’s Own, which since 1982 has made popcorn, spaghetti sauce, lemonade and salad dressing and has donated more than $250 million to charities selected by Newman himself.
Career Highs
With more than 80 films and TV productions to his credit, Newman’s career spanned generations. His first Oscar nomination was in 1959 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and his most recent was in 2003 for Road to Perdition.The son of a sporting goods storeowner, the Ohio native enrolled in Ohio’s Kenyon College after his 1946 discharge from the Navy. He married for the first time in 1949, then moved wife Jackie and their young son Scott east, where Newman attended the Yale Drama School and, later, the New York Actors Studio.
Dramatic TV roles came his way, but it was his Broadway debut in 1953, as the sexy stranger in Picnic, that led to a Warner Bros. Hollywood contract and his first movie – the 1954 toga epic The Silver Chalice, which even he considered one of the worst movies ever made.
Still, the looker more than redeemed himself in two screen adaptations of Tennessee Williams dramas, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof costarring Elizabeth Taylor, and Sweet Bird of Youth, with a highly charged Geraldine Page.
In 1957, Newman and Jackie, with whom he also had two daughters, divorced. The next year, he married Woodward, with whom he eventually had another three daughters.
By the ’60s Newman had hit his stride with such career-defining roles as the leads in The Hustler, Hud and Cool Hand Luke. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, followed by The Sting, made him and screen partner Robert Redford the hottest male stars of the ’70s.
Newman won an Oscar for The Color of Money, in 1987. Exactly 20 years later, he announced his retirement from acting, saying, “I’m not able to work anymore … at the level that I would want to. You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention.”
Among his final roles was the voice of Doc Hudson in the 2006 animated movie Cars.
[From People.com]
Paul Newman founded the “Hole In The Wall Gang” summer camps in 1988 for seriously ill children. The camps are now running in over 12 locations worldwide. He loved to visit the children, according to his daughter, Nell, who said that he hoped they would become his legacy.
I used to live near Westport and had the pleasure of seeing Joanne Woodward speak at an event I attended there several years ago. She came across as very down to earth and earnest, and you can just imagine how much Paul meant to her. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was an incredible man who left a vast legacy on the screen and, more importantly, in life.
Paul Newman discusses his retirement and “Hole In The Wall” camps:
Paul Newman talks to David Letterman in January, 2007, about going out to race. (This is just a segment, here’s a link to the full interview)
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward talk about their Las Vegas wedding:
James Dean and Paul Newman screentest for East of Eden, which was out in 1955. How cute are these guys?
[Some details from Telegraph.co.uk and Money.cnn.com.]
Photos below thanks to WENN, PRPhotos, Fame Pictures, and AllMoviePhoto.
