American actor and top star of long duration whose first film, “The Silver Chalice,” was dreadful, but led to career development and a rise into the stratosphere of Hollywood stardom. “Long Hot Summer,” “The Hustler,” and “Hud” were all films which helped him reach the $1 million a picture class in his more than 60 films. In the late 1960s, Newman began to direct films, starting with “Rachel, Rachel,” 1968.
After seven nomination for the Oscar, in 1985 he was awarded an Honorary Oscar by the Academy, but he was not yet ready to hang up his belt and refused to attend the ceremony. He wise-cracked that the honor was a “gift certificate from Forest Lawn.” The following year, he truly did win the Oscar on 30 March 1987 for “The Color Of Money.”
Paul is the second son of Arthur and Theresa Newman. His dad ran a prosperous sporting-good store and raised his family in an affluent suburban community. When he joined the Navy during WW II, he hoped to become a pilot but after doctors found that his baby-blue eyes are actually color-blind, became a radio operator aboard a torpedo bomber. After being discharged in 1946, Newman returned to Ohio and enrolled in Kenyon College, where he played football and got interested in acting. By the time he graduated in 1949 he was totally absorbed in theater. He spend a year in Chicago before his dad died, when he returned home to take over the store.
By then he was married to Jacqueline Witte, who was pregnant with their son, Scott. They later had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie. A year later, the store sold, to Newman’s great relief, and he went back on course to Broadway. His debut was in the 1953 production of “Picnic,” where he met up-and-coming actress Joanne Woodward. It took five years and a wrenching divorce before they married.
His two marriages have produced six children. He and Woodward had three daughters, Nell, Melissa and Clea. As he and they both became adults, he regretted not being a more involved father. In 1978 he suffered the tragedy of having his son Scott died from an accidental drug overdose.
Paul estimates that he and Joanne lived in some 22 houses in California, and in 1971 they bought a 1739 farmhouse in exurban Connecticut as a summer house. They increasingly enjoyed their time there.
Newman founded “The Hole in the Wall Gang,” a camp for terminally ill children which he supports through his contributions from his sales of his two cookbooks and numerous cooking contests. He also sponsors a drug-abuse-prevention center named for his son Scott. As an entrepreneur of spaghetti-sauce, popcorn and salad-dressing, Newman finds that the profits from his food products our grosses that of his films. He contributes all of the profits from these businesses, about $90 million to date, to his philanthropic organizations.
In his 70’s, his voice is raspier, his hair is white and his startlingly blue eyes are somewhat faded but Newman is still a handsome man. He has always championed liberal causes, driven fast cars and guarded his private life.
After 20 years of running his hugely successful company, that manufactures and sells food items like salad dressing, pasta sauce, popcorn and more in eight countries; Newman and long-time pal and business partner, author A.E. Hotchner, have written a book called “Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good,” their company’s story, including management tips. All profits are given to thousands of organizations, and in November 2003, they passed a landmark of having given away $150 million.
At the end of May 2007, the actor announced his retirement from acting, saying “I’m not able to work anymore at the level that I would want to.” He followed that announcement with a $10 million donation to his alma mater, Kenyon College. Newman died of cancer on September 26, 2008 at his home in Westport, CT. He was 83.
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