121 Facts About Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, racing car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.

Paul Newman was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Paul Newman received his Bachelor of Arts degree in drama and economics from Kenyon College in 1949.

Paul Newman's first starring Broadway role was in William Inge's Picnic in 1953.

Paul Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Color of Money.

Paul Newman starred in such films as Harper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Towering Inferno, Slap Shot, and Fort Apache, The Bronx.

Paul Newman won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing.

Paul Newman co-founded Newman's Own, a food company that donated all posttax profits and royalties to charity.

Paul Newman continued to found charitable organizations such as the SeriousFun Children's Network in 1988 and the Safe Water Network in 2006.

Paul Newman was the husband of the actress Joanne Woodward.

Paul Newman was born on January 26,1925, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and raised in nearby Shaker Heights, the second son of Theresa Garth and Arthur Sigmund Paul Newman Sr.

Paul Newman's father was Jewish, the son of Simon Newman and Hannah Cohn, Hungarian Jewish and Polish Jewish emigrants, from Hungary and Congress Poland, respectively.

Paul Newman was born to a Roman Catholic family in Peticse, Zemplen county, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Paul Newman showed an early interest in the theater; his first role was at the age of seven, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood.

At age 10, Paul Newman performed at the Cleveland Play House in a production of Saint George and the Dragon, and acted in their Curtain Pullers children's theater program.

Paul Newman served in the United States Navy in World War II, in the Pacific theater.

Paul Newman enrolled in the Navy V-12 pilot training program at Yale University, but was dropped when his colorblindness was discovered.

Paul Newman later recounted that it was "a bit more complicated" than colorblindness.

Paul Newman performed poorly as a gunner, and a friend from the service recounted in Newman's posthumous memoir that his friends lied to Navy trainers so he could pass.

Qualifying in torpedo bombers in 1944, Aviation Radioman Third Class Paul Newman was sent to Barbers Point, Hawaii.

Paul Newman was assigned to Pacific-based replacement torpedo squadrons VT-98, VT-99, and VT-100, responsible primarily for training replacement combat pilots and aircrewmen, with special emphasis on carrier landings.

Paul Newman later flew as a turret gunner in an Avenger torpedo bomber.

Paul Newman said that Newman thought back to an incident in which his best friend was sliced to pieces on an aircraft carrier by a plane's propeller.

Paul Newman toured with them for three months and developed his talents.

Paul Newman later attended the Yale School of Drama for one year, before moving to New York City to study under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

Paul Newman made his Broadway theatre debut in the original production of William Inge's Picnic with Kim Stanley in 1953.

Paul Newman appeared in the original Broadway production of The Desperate Hours in 1955.

Paul Newman's first credited role was in a 1952 episode of Tales of Tomorrow entitled "Ice from Space".

In February 1954, Paul Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean, directed by Gjon Mili, for East of Eden.

Paul Newman was tested for the role of Aron Trask, Dean for the role of Aron's twin brother Cal.

Dean won his part, but Paul Newman lost out to Richard Davalos.

Paul Newman was cast as Billy the Kid in The Left Handed Gun, which was a role originally earmarked for Dean.

Additionally, Dean was originally cast to play the role of Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me; however, with his death, Paul Newman got the role.

In 1956, Paul Newman garnered much attention and acclaim for the role of Rocky Graziano in Robert Wise's biographical film Somebody Up There Likes Me.

In 1957, Paul Newman worked again with director Wise in Until They Sail.

The film was a box-office smash, and Paul Newman garnered his first Academy Award nomination.

Also in 1958, Paul Newman starred in The Long, Hot Summer with his future wife, Joanne Woodward, with whom he reconnected on the set in 1957.

Paul Newman won Best Actor at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival for this film.

In 1959, Paul Newman starred in The Young Philadelphians, a film that co-starred Barbara Rush, Robert Vaughn and Alexis Smith, and was directed by Vincent Sherman.

Paul Newman was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards.

In 1968, Paul Newman directed Rachel, Rachel starring Woodward and based on Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God.

Paul Newman changed his mind when Woodward couldn't find any other director.

In 1969, Paul Newman co-starred with Woodward in James Goldstone's car racing film Winning.

Once a script was completed, actor Steve McQueen who read it called Paul Newman suggesting that they star in it together.

Paul Newman, assuming he would play the character of Sundance, suggested that they jointly buy the intellectual property to which McQueen hesitated.

Paul Newman explained that for the scene where his character performs bicycle tricks a stuntman was hired who left director Hill unsatisfied; Paul Newman had to perform the tricks.

Furthermore, Paul Newman explained that it was him and Goldman who developed the musical interlude.

Finally that year, along with Barbra Streisand and Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman formed First Artists Production Company so actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves.

In 1970, Paul Newman produced and co-starred with Woodward in Stuart Rosenberg's WUSA, based on Robert Stone's novel A Hall of Mirrors.

However, Paul Newman later said that it is "the most significant film I've ever made and the best".

In 1971, Paul Newman directed and starred in Sometimes a Great Notion based on Ken Kesey's novel.

Also that year, Paul Newman hosted David Winters' made-for-TV documentary Once Upon a Wheel.

Winters said that at the time Paul Newman had publicly stated he didn't want to do television and turned it down for this reason until he pitched his vision to him.

In 1972, Paul Newman's vehicles produced by First Artists included Pocket Money and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.

Also that year, Paul Newman directed The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.

In 1973, Paul Newman reunited with director George Roy Hill and fellow actor Robert Redford in The Sting.

In 1974, Paul Newman co-starred with Steve McQueen in John Guillermin's disaster film The Towering Inferno.

Paul Newman was paid $1,000,000 plus a percentage of the gross, and he insisted he do his own stunts.

In 1980, Paul Newman directed the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box.

Paul Newman starred in Sidney Lumet's The Verdict in 1982.

The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, and Paul Newman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 1986, twenty-five years after The Hustler, Paul Newman reprised his role of "Fast Eddie" Felson in the Martin Scorsese-directed film The Color of Money, for which he finally received the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Paul Newman starred alongside Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and John Turturro.

In mid-1987, Paul Newman sued Universal Pictures for allegedly failing to properly account for revenues from video distribution of four of his films made for Universal, and Universal owed him at least $1 million participation for the home video versions of The Sting, Slap Shot, Winning and Sometimes a Great Notion.

Also in 1987, Paul Newman directed a screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie starring his wife, Joanne Woodward, John Malkovich, and Karen Allen.

In 1990, Newman co-starred with Woodward in the James Ivory film adaptation Mr and Mrs Bridge based on the Evan S Connell novel of the same name.

In 1994, Newman played alongside Tim Robbins as the character Sidney J Mussburger in the Coen brothers comedy The Hudsucker Proxy, which received mixed reviews.

In 2003, Paul Newman appeared in a Broadway revival of Wilder's Our Town, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for his performance.

PBS and the cable network Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Paul Newman was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.

Paul Newman started the Scott Paul Newman Center for drug abuse prevention in memory of his son.

Paul Newman received an Emmy nomination as co-producer of his telefilm, The Shadow Box.

Paul Newman met actress Joanne Woodward in 1953, on the production of Picnic on Broadway.

Paul Newman was well known for his devotion to his wife and family.

Paul Newman directed Nell alongside her mother in the films Rachel, Rachel and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

Levy criticised the tabloid newspaper, the New York Post, which had a long-standing feud with Paul Newman, for focusing on and emphasizing this aspect of his biography.

The docuseries was based upon tapes compiled by his friend, Stewart Stern, for a memoir that Paul Newman abandoned but which was published in 2022 as The Extraordinary Life of An Ordinary Man.

Paul Newman recounted in his posthumous memoirs having a "strong sense of otherness" as a youth because he was half-Jewish.

Paul Newman's heritage "got in the way of my sitting at the 'A' table, which was important to me," but he received no instruction on his Jewish heritage.

Paul Newman was scheduled to make his professional stage directing debut with the Westport Country Playhouse's 2008 production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but he stepped down on May 23,2008, citing his health concerns.

Paul Newman's spokesman told the press that the star was "doing nicely", but neither confirmed nor denied that he had lung cancer.

Paul Newman was a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life until he quit in 1986.

Paul Newman died at his home in Westport, Connecticut, on the morning of September 26,2008, at the age of 83.

Hotchner, Paul Newman founded Paul Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982.

Paul Newman established a policy that all proceeds, after taxes, would be donated to charity.

Paul Newman co-wrote a memoir about the subject with Hotchner, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good.

One beneficiary of his philanthropy is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children located in Ashford, Connecticut, which Paul Newman co-founded in 1988.

In 1988, Paul Newman founded the SeriousFun Children's Network, a global family of summer camps and programs for children with serious illnesses.

In 2006, Paul Newman co-founded Safe Water Network with John Whitehead, former chairman of Goldman Sachs, and Josh Weston, former chairman of ADP, to improve access to safe water to underserved communities around the world.

In 1983, Paul Newman became a major donor for The Mirror Theater Ltd, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino, matching a grant from Laurance Rockefeller.

Paul Newman was inspired to invest by his connection with Lee Strasberg, as Lee's then daughter-in-law Sabra Jones was the founder and producing artistic director of The Mirror.

Paul Newman remained a friend of the company until his death and discussed at numerous times possible productions in which he could star with his wife, Joanne Woodward.

In June 1999, Paul Newman donated $250,000 to Catholic Relief Services to aid refugees in Kosovo.

Paul Newman was one of the founders of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.

Paul Newman was named the Most Generous Celebrity of 2008 by Givingback.

Paul Newman contributed $20,857,000 for the year of 2008 to the Newman's Own Foundation, which distributes funds to a variety of charities.

Paul Newman lobbied the state's governor for funds for the 2011 Aspetuck Land Trust in Easton.

Paul Newman was described as a "vocal supporter" of gay rights and same-sex marriage.

Paul Newman linked with the so-called Malibu Mafia to promote progressive issues in politics.

Paul Newman supported their 1980s effort to establish a bilateral Nuclear Freeze to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the US and the Soviet Union.

Paul Newman said he would stand up for Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election as long as there was cold Budweiser and Nuclear Freeze involved.

Paul Newman endorsed Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election.

Consistent with his work for liberal causes, Paul Newman publicly supported Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator Joe Lieberman, and was even rumored as a candidate himself, until Lamont emerged as a credible alternative.

Paul Newman earlier donated money to Bill Richardson's campaign for president in 2008.

Paul Newman attended the March on Washington on August 28,1963, and was present at the first Earth Day event in Manhattan on April 22,1970.

Paul Newman was concerned about global warming and supported nuclear energy development as a solution.

Paul Newman was an auto racing enthusiast and first became interested in motorsports while training at the Watkins Glen Racing School for the filming of Winning, a 1969 film.

Paul Newman was a frequent competitor in Sports Car Club of America events for the rest of the decade, eventually winning four national championships.

Paul Newman reunited with Barbour in 2000 to compete in the Petit Le Mans.

Paul Newman became closely associated with the brand during the 1980s, even appearing in commercials for the brand in Japan and having a special edition of the Nissan Skyline named after him.

At the age of 70 years and eight days, Paul Newman became the oldest driver to date to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race, winning in his class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona.

Paul Newman was associated with Freeman's established Porsche racing team, which enabled both Paul Newman and Freeman to compete in SCCA and IMSA racing events together, including the Sebring 12-hour endurance sports car race.

Paul Newman was a partner in the Atlantic Championship team Newman Wachs Racing.

Paul Newman was posthumously inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame at the national convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 21,2009.

Paul Newman was nominated for an Academy Award in five different decades.

Paul Newman won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for The Long, Hot Summer and the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Nobody's Fool.

In 1968, Paul Newman was named Man of the Year by Harvard University's performance group, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

In 2015, the US Postal Service issued a 'forever stamp' commemorating Paul Newman, which went on sale on September 18,2015.

Since the 1970s, Paul Newman Day is an event celebrated at Kenyon College, Bates College, Princeton University, and some other American colleges.

In 2004, Paul Newman requested that Princeton University disassociate the event from his name, due to the fact that he did not endorse the behavior.

Paul Newman cited his creation in 1980 of the Scott Newman Center, "dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse through education".

Princeton disavowed any responsibility for the event, responding that Paul Newman Day is not sponsored, endorsed, or encouraged by the university itself and is solely an unofficial event among students.