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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. When
he returned to America he attended Ohio University, in Athens, OH.,
Kenyon College and Yale University. He was expelled from Ohio University
after one year of attendance. 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. 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 the 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.
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).
****
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