Paul Newman, legendary actor, businessman, and race car driver died at his farmhouse near Westport, Connecticut, after a long battle with cancer.
Even for a movie star he was uncommonly handsome and charismatic. And yet, somehow, Paul Newman defied the odds. He was a good man.
Born in 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Newman was the son of a Catholic mother and Jewish father who ran a successful sporting goods operation. Splitting the difference with dad, Newman always described himself as a Jew but credited the idea of a life in sporting goods for his interest in acting. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, he studied drama at Yale before making his way to the famed Actors’ Studio in New York where he was trained in the vaunted method style of acting by the legendary Lee Strasberg.
But for all his legendary screen performances and awards, nothing was more impressive than Paul Newman the man. Before it became chic, when it could hurt a star’s career, Newman was out there in the early 1960s with Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, and Rev. Martin Luther King marching for civil rights. A lifelong liberal, Newman, unlike too many of today’s stars, didn‘t trash the other side. Instead, he was a proponent, an advocate, and — more importantly — one who put his money where his mouth was.
The most legendary thing about Newman, however, was his marriage of fifty years to Joanne Woodward, an Academy Award winning actress in her own right. Once asked how he managed to stay faithful, Newman replied, “Why go out for hamburger, when you got steak at home.” It says a lot about man who talks about his wife in such ways. It also says a lot that of the five times Newman stepped behind the camera as a feature director, three of them involved plum roles for his wife.
Newman’s legacy will always be there for new generations to discover in revival houses and on DVD. His charitable legacy will also live on. Unfortunately, what is lost forever is the kind of movie star Paul Newman was — the kind who understood that being larger than life meant never crossing the line into the dark heart of celebrity; that it was possible to be politically active without insulting your fans; that living in rural Connecticut as opposed to Beverly Hills was how to keep your perspective.
A loving father, faithful husband, World War II veteran and philanthropist who gave away a vast fortune, being one of the all-time great screen legends was only part of who Paul Newman was. It‘s the rare circumstance where after their passing we mourn the loss of the man more than the star.
Paul Newman was 83.
Even for a movie star he was uncommonly handsome and charismatic. And yet, somehow, Paul Newman defied the odds. He was a good man.
Born in 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Newman was the son of a Catholic mother and Jewish father who ran a successful sporting goods operation. Splitting the difference with dad, Newman always described himself as a Jew but credited the idea of a life in sporting goods for his interest in acting. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, he studied drama at Yale before making his way to the famed Actors’ Studio in New York where he was trained in the vaunted method style of acting by the legendary Lee Strasberg.
But for all his legendary screen performances and awards, nothing was more impressive than Paul Newman the man. Before it became chic, when it could hurt a star’s career, Newman was out there in the early 1960s with Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, and Rev. Martin Luther King marching for civil rights. A lifelong liberal, Newman, unlike too many of today’s stars, didn‘t trash the other side. Instead, he was a proponent, an advocate, and — more importantly — one who put his money where his mouth was.
The most legendary thing about Newman, however, was his marriage of fifty years to Joanne Woodward, an Academy Award winning actress in her own right. Once asked how he managed to stay faithful, Newman replied, “Why go out for hamburger, when you got steak at home.” It says a lot about man who talks about his wife in such ways. It also says a lot that of the five times Newman stepped behind the camera as a feature director, three of them involved plum roles for his wife.
Newman’s legacy will always be there for new generations to discover in revival houses and on DVD. His charitable legacy will also live on. Unfortunately, what is lost forever is the kind of movie star Paul Newman was — the kind who understood that being larger than life meant never crossing the line into the dark heart of celebrity; that it was possible to be politically active without insulting your fans; that living in rural Connecticut as opposed to Beverly Hills was how to keep your perspective.
A loving father, faithful husband, World War II veteran and philanthropist who gave away a vast fortune, being one of the all-time great screen legends was only part of who Paul Newman was. It‘s the rare circumstance where after their passing we mourn the loss of the man more than the star.
Paul Newman was 83.
