Paul Newman

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[[Image:Annex.jpg|thumb|250px|Paul Newman in the 1950's [[Image:Newmanl.jpg|thumb|250px|Newman in Cool Hand Luke, 1967]] Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) 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.

Biography

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.

Early career

While he was attending graduate school at Yale, he became a successful stage actor in New York City. He made his Broadway 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 (1954) 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 (1956) 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.

Film career

Newman has appeared in such classics as The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and The Verdict (1982). He appeared most notably with Robert Redford in the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).

Films with Joanne Woodward

He also appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984) and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). 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 (which he was only the director) that starred Woodward. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box (1980) and a screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1987).

Career achievements and influence

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.

Recently, he appeared in a Broadway 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

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File:PaulNewmanTheSting.jpg
Newman as Henry Gondorff in The Sting

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." 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.

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 [2] , 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 directed his daughter Eliner Teresa Newman (stage name Nell Potts) in the central role alongside her mom 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.

Scott Newman appeared in such films as The Towering Inferno as a firefighter, and in the 1977 film Fraternity Row.

Newman started the Scott Newman Center for drug prevention in memory of his son. [3]

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 supported Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator Joe Lieberman.

Preceded by Academy Award for Best Actor
1986
for The Color of Money 		Succeeded by

Auto racing

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 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 (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.

Singing career

Newman also released a swing/jazz album in 2005 titled Newman Swings. It was met with poor reviews.

Filmography (as actor)

Paul Newman in an advertisement for the movie Exodus.

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.

Further reading

  • 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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