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Biography
PAUL LEONARD NEWMAN was born on January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. His parents, Arthur and Theresa Newman, were fairly well-to-do and ran a successful sporting-goods store. Paul was a fan of the theatre as a youngster and his mother encouraged his interest. At the age of seven he made his acting debut as the court jester in the school play, "Robin Hood." It would be several years before he seriously considered acting as a career however.
After graduating from high school in 1943, Paul wandered a bit, even working as a door-to-door salesman for Collier's Encyclopedias before enlisting in the Naval Air Corps. His piloting ambitions were cut short however, because it was discovered that Paul's famous blue eyes were actually color-blind. He joined the regular navy however, and served in the South Pacific during World War II. When he returned he enrolled at Kenyon College in Ohio, studying literature and acting, and playing a little football. It was at Kenyon that Paul rediscovered his interest in acting.
After receiving his BA from Kenyon in 1949, Paul joined a few summer stock companies including the prestigious Woodstock Players, and began to develop his talents. He wanted to be known for more than his famous blue eyes and good looks. In 1949 he met and married Jackie Witte, and when his father died in May 1950, Paul had to decide whether to continue his acting or chose the more stable profession of running the family business. Paul's love for acting won out and he moved his family (son Scott was born in Ohio) to New Haven, CT where he enrolled at Yale University's graduate program in acting. There Newman and his wife had two daughters, but New York called and Paul left Yale for Broadway.
In New York, Paul began his professional career playing small television roles and he was eventually accepted to the Actor's Studio, an acting school famous for "The Method" acting of such new stars as Brando, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. After success in his first big Broadway production, "Picnic," and subsequent roles Paul went to Hollywood and in 1954 signed a contract with Warner Bros., though he would eventually do most of his work for 20th Century-Fox.
Paul's first film THE SILVER CHALICE (1954) was a disaster and a life-long embarrassment, but he was lauded for his portrayal of boxer Rocky Graziano in SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (1956) and his career began to take off. Meanwhile his personal life was going through some changes. He had left his wife and family in New York, and while in Hollywood, began an affair with an up-and-coming young actress named Joanne Woodward. In 1957 they were paired in THE LONG, HOT SUMMER also starring Orson Welles and Angela Lansbury. That same year Paul and his wife were divorced.
On January 29, 1958 Paul married Woodward and he received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF with Burl Ives, Elizabeth Taylor and Judith Anderson. He would go on to be nominated six more times for films such as THE HUSTLER (1961) in which he played pool shark Fast Eddie Felson, HUD (1963), and COOL HAND LUKE (1967) before he finally won in 1987 for his reprisal of Fast Eddie in THE COLOR OF MONEY. Paul, sure that the statuette would once again elude him, didn't attend the ceremony.
Other notable films of Paul's career include Alfred Hitchcock's TORN CURTAIN (1966) and two films co-starring Robert Redford, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) and THE STING (1973). In 1992 he and Woodward were recognized at the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors and in 1994 he received his eighth Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his role as Sully in NOBODY'S FOOL with Jessica Tandy.
Paul continued to make occasional films after the turn of the century, including Sam Mendes' crime drama ROAD TO PERDITION (2002) for which he earned his first Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination (and tenth overall). He also lent his voice to the character of Doc Hudson in Disney/Pixar's popular Oscar-nominated animated feature CARS (2006) and starred as the stage manager in a Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" in 2002-3. But for the last decade of his life, most of Paul's energies were focused on his philanthropic interests. The profits from his "Newman's Own" line of salad dressings and other food items have supported causes ranging from The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for terminally ill children, to the Scott Newman Foundation for drug and alcohol abuse education (named for his son who died of an overdose), to drought relief in Africa. When Newman died of cancer at age 93 on September 26, 2008, he was survived by his wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward, their three daughters, and his two daughters from his first marriage.
Filmography:
*1954 THE SILVER CHALICE
*1956 THE RACK
*1956 SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME
*1957 THE HELEN MORGAN STORY
*1957 UNTIL THEY SAIL
*1958 CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
*1958 THE LEFT-HANDED GUN
*1958 THE LONG, HOT SUMMER
*1958 RALLY 'ROUND THE FLAG, BOYS!
*1959 THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS
*1960 EXODUS
*1960 FROM THE TERRACE
*1961 THE HUSTLER
*1961 PARIS BLUES
*1962 HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN
*1962 SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH
*1963 HUD
*1963 A NEW KIND OF LOVE
*1963 THE PRIZE
*1964 THE OUTRAGE
*1964 WHAT A WAY TO GO!
*1965 LADY L
*1966 HARPER
*1966 TORN CURTAIN
*1967 COOL HAND LUKE
*1967 HOMBRE
*1968 RACHEL, RACHEL (as director, producer)
*1968 THE SECRET WAR OF HARRY FRIGG
*1969 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (also co-executive producer)
*1969 WINNING (also co-executive producer)
*1970 KING: A FILMED RECORD… MONTGOMERY TO MEMPHIS
*1970 THE MAKING OF 'BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID'
*1970 WUSA (also co-producer)
*1971 SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION (also director, co-executive producer)
*1971 THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (as producer)
*1972 THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS (as director, producer)
*1972 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (also co-executive producer)
*1972 POCKET MONEY
*1973 THE MACKINTOSH MAN
*1973 THE STING
*1974 THE TOWERING INFERNO
*1975 MCCARTHY: DEATH OF A WITCH HUNTER
*1976 BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, OR SITTING BULL'S HISTORY LESSON
*1976 THE DROWNING POOL
*1976 SILENT MOVIE
*1977 SLAP SHOT
*1979 QUINTET
*1980 WHEN TIME RAN OUT…
*1981 ABSENCE OF MALICE
*1981 FORT APACHE, THE BRONX
*1982 THE VERDICT
*1984 HARRY AND SON (also director, producer, co-screenwriter)
*1986 THE COLOR OF MONEY
*1987 THE GLASS MENAGERIE (as director)
*1988 JOHN HUSTON
*1989 BLAZE
*1989 FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY
*1990 MR. & MRS. BRIDGE
*1991 WHY HAVEL? (documentary appearance)
*1994 THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
*1994 NOBODY'S FOOL
*1997 SUPER SPEEDWAY
*1998 TWILIGHT
*1999 MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
*2000 WHERE THE MONEY IS
*2001 THE LIFE BETWEEN
*2002 ROAD TO PERDITION
*2005 MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION: WALKING ON THE MOON 3D (voice only)
*2006 CARS (voice only)
*Elizabeth recommends.
Academy Awards:
* 1958 CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Best Actor
Nomination
*1961 THE HUSTLER Best Actor Nomination
*1963 HUD Best Actor Nomination
*1967 COOL HAND LUKE Best Actor Nomination
*1968 RACHEL RACHEL Best Picture Nomination
*1981 ABSENCE OF MALICE Best Actor Nomination
*1982 THE VERDICT Best Actor Nomination
*winner 1985 In recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft Honorary Oscar
*winner 1986 THE COLOR OF MONEY Best Actor Oscar
*winner 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award --
given to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry."
*1994 NOBODY'S FOOL Best Actor Nomination
*2002 ROAD TO PERDITION Best Supporting Actor Nomination
Source: reelclassics.com