Actor Paul Newman was a bit of a legend and a man who inspired others with his talent.
He also pursued other endeavors, such as philanthropy and racing cars. Here are some
things you may not have known about the 10-time Oscar nominee and one-time Best Actor winner.
Paul Newman was raised in what most people would call a privileged upbringing. He was
born in January 1925, and when young Paul was just a baby, his folks moved to a fancy
community called Shaker Heights, Ohio. Many years later, when Newman looked back on his life,
he described his childhood neighborhood as one of the best communities in the country,
with an incredible school system that he wished he'd taken more advantage of.
His childhood years were stable, but they weren't without struggles. Later in life,
Newman would admit regret that he could never fully impress his father, Arthur.
After high school, he wasn't confident about his next steps. He wasn't keen on leading his
family's business at that point and decided to enlist in the military. He spent four months
attending Ohio University before being called up to the Navy. Before finishing
his studies at Ohio University, the Navy sent Newman to Yale, where he was going to train
as an air corps pilot. He then discovered that he was, in fact, color blind and ended
up working as an aviation radio gunman in several places, including Guam and Hawaii.
Once discharged, he started exploring drama as a hobby at Kenyon College,
simply testing the waters. In just two years, he knew he was good at it and changed his major
to English and speech. Interestingly, he was more inclined towards sports than acting but
couldn't quite pursue it after being kicked out of the football team after a fight.
Despite being a well-behaved kid, Paul Newman couldn't escape trouble when he joined college.
His early studies at Ohio University were reportedly interrupted not just by the Navy,
but supposedly because he was thrown out after a controversial
incident that involved beer and the rector's car.
He was also known for courting trouble later in life after drinking sprees
that landed him in jail a couple of times. Newman was, throughout his life,
recognized as a goof who enjoyed playing practical jokes on others around him even
when they put him in serious trouble. It must be said, though, that Newman never really harmed
anyone else when he was goofing around. Despite his run-ins with the law, though,
Newman developed sympathy for the police who had to deal with his rowdy behavior.
Basically, the actor felt for cops and could
sympathize with them on account of his conversations with them. He once said,
"I think what I learned about the police is what a difficult thing it is for them
not to become anesthetized by the suffering, the blood, everything.
My own involvement with the police usually has been on an unfriendly basis."
According to Biography, Paul Newman spent time working in theater after he finished college
in 1949. This is how he found his first wife, Jacqueline Witte. They tied the knot
shortly after they met, and Newman focused on his acting career until
he experienced a major blow in 1950 when he lost his father. Newman and
Witte then decided to shift base to Ohio and help out with the family business.
However, Newman couldn't keep himself interested for too long. He remained fascinated by acting
and left Ohio for Connecticut with his family, studying at the Yale School of
Drama before experiencing financial difficulties a year after he first joined Yale. Thankfully,
Newman didn't let this shake his motivations, and he decided to go to New York where he was mentored
by Lee Strasberg at The Actor's Studio, along with other big names like James Dean, Marlon Brando,
and Geraldine Page. Despite his later success, Newman never found acting an easy pursuit,
and worked hard to master his craft. He later recalled that it took him,
quote, "about four years" to really understand acting as a serious pursuit.
"I don't know the things that I have a gift for except tenaciousness."
Paul Newman first entered Hollywood in 1954 when he made his debut with the film The Silver
Chalice. Even after that, it took almost two years to get more notice. It was his portrayal
of the boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me that paved the way for his success.
However, a tragedy led to this role — his fellow actor, James Dean, died in a
sudden car crash before the film's script was finished, leaving the part open for Newman.
While it's fair to say that Newman didn't have to wait too long to become famous,
it did take him much longer to discover where he stood as an actor. It was also important for him
to be perceived seriously in the industry. What worked in his favor was that he didn't hesitate
to spend some time getting to know himself as an artist and truly explore his passion for acting.
Paul Newman's first marriage was not meant to last. According to The Guardian,
Jacqueline Witte and Newman ended up parting ways in 1958,
after he fell in love with actress Joanne Woodward, who he co-star starred with in
several movies. Even before they became a couple, Newman and Woodward had powerful chemistry,
a chemistry they tried to resist at first because Newman was already married.
Initially, Witte wasn't pleased and didn't cooperate with her husband, refusing to grant
him a divorce. When the divorce did come through, Woodward and Newman made things official and
moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they raised their daughters. Though they had their troubles,
Newman and Woodward would remain married for five decades, until Newman's death.
Woodward once explained how they managed to stay married despite
the grind of Hollywood and other challenges.
"What finally is left is if you can make somebody laugh, and he sure does keep me laughing."
Paul Newman didn't get where he was without hard work,
and sometimes his natural gifts actually caused problems with his career. Newman
often felt that his famous good looks actually created problems for him as an actor, because
they prevented him from being taken seriously. According to The New York Times, he once said,
"I picture my epitaph. Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown."
However, Newman managed to make things work, and as his career stretched to decades of
work he gained more and more important credits, including The Color of Money,
for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. He found himself tackling challenging roles,
such as that of a character who is misrepresented by the press in the 1981 film, Absence of Malice.
Looking at the evolution of Newman's career, it's clear that he finally did get people to take him
seriously. Consider this — in 1958, he was a charmer trying to tie the knot with a southern
lady in The Long, Hot Summer. By the time 1982 rolled around, the actor played the role of an
alcoholic lawyer who finds himself taking on a medical malpractice case in The Verdict.
In 1978, Paul Newman had to live through heartbreak when one of his
sons from his first marriage, Allan Scott Newman, died of an accidental overdose
while taking painkillers prescribed after a motorcycle accident.
While mourning his son, Newman started a charity called the Scott Newman Center later in 1978.
The organization's aim was to help prevent drug abuse through awareness campaigns and
aid those who need support. Sadly, the organization was defunded in 2011 and
shut down in 2013. Despite the family's best attempts to keep the charity running,
fundraising was a problem that they couldn't resolve.
Paul Newman was more than an actor. He was also a businessman, a philanthropist,
and a race car driver. According to The New York Times, Newman first picked up
racing when he started working on it for one of his films,
1968's Winning. After training for the film, he became rather fascinated by racing later in life,
even participating in the sport professionally. He was dedicated enough to spend three years
after the film ended continuing to hone his racing skills. Newman would later remark that he found
racing helped him indulge his competitive side in a way that acting simply couldn't.
Just like acting, racing required dedication and motivation,
and for Newman, it took time to truly understand and excel at both pursuits.
Interestingly, there were times when the actor focused more on racing than acting,
especially when he wasn't too impressed with the scripts that were being offered to him.
In fact, the actor was so enthralled by the sport that he competed professionally. According to The
Guardian, Newman said that racing was a way for him to get back into the world of sports that
he'd left as a younger man, and added that he felt incredibly happy whenever he found himself racing.
Paul Newman was multifaceted, and very good at multitasking, which meant that even in the
midst of an acting career he figured out a way to start a food business. His beginnings were
simple — when he was preparing salad dressing for friends one day, he realized that he didn't
have to throw away the leftovers and could market the product and sell it to shops. This led to the
start of Newman's Own, a company that was run by Newman and his friend, writer A.E. Hotchner.
The duo's goal was to donate the company's profits to charity and to help fund kids' education.
Since the company was first established, it's estimated that over two hundred fifty million
dollars has been donated to nonprofit groups around the world. Newman also decided to start
something called the Hole in the Wall Camps to ensure that kids battling life-threatening
diseases could take a much-needed break and go on a free vacation. The first residential summer
camp was started in 1988, and eight camps have been founded since then in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Newman's goals were ambitious,
and he made sure to devote his time and energy to fulfilling them.
"I was trying to acknowledge, I think, luck. What an important part it has played in my life."
Acting wasn't a constant in Paul Newman's life. He was frustrated by the industry at various points,
and at one point was so worn out by Hollywood that he simply took a break. After four years away,
he returned in 1994 to star in the acclaimed films The Hudsucker Proxy and Nobody's Fool,
but in 1995 he focused harder on racing. He was 70 and determined to chase his dreams,
and was said to be the oldest competitor in the event's
history when he attempted the grueling 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race and won.
The actor got back to films in 1998 with Twilight. Although it was an interesting role for Newman,
who played a private detective in the film, the movie suffered from
post-production troubles and was simply not as appealing as it was expected to be.
He continued acting sporadically after that, appearing in the 2002
film Road to Perdition and lending his voice to animated films including 2006's Cars.
Despite his Hollywood stardom, Paul Newman was usually a private man who didn't enjoy sharing
details from his personal life. When it was time to let go of Newman's Own, for example, the actor
did so discreetly without making a big deal about the transition. He decided to donate everything
from his ownership in the company to charity. And when Newman battled cancer in 2008, he refused to
be open about his struggles and remained, as always, guarded about his personal life.
Even as he approached the end of his life, Paul Newman refused to dwell too long on his
many accomplishments, including his awards, his racing achievements, and his success as a
philanthropist. When asked about his private life, which included a 50-year marriage to
Woodward and six children from two wives, he simply said quote, "It's nobody's business."
Newman died of cancer in 2008 at age 83, leaving behind a legacy of stardom and generosity.
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