Obituary: Paul Newman

Sep 29 2008 by Gail Campbell-Thomson

IN these days of instant celebrity the term 'Legend' is an overused one. But once in a while one comes across a true icon who eclipses the flashy celebrities du jour the way a flawless diamond outshines a glass bead. Paul Newman was such a star.

Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1925, Paul Leonard Newman was the son of a successful sporting goods store owner. After serving several years in the Navy as a radio operator during World War II, he was discharged in 1946 and re-enrolled in college. Deciding to pursue an acting career, Newman spent a year at the Yale Drama School before heading for New York to attend the renowned New York Actors Studio.

Newman was blessed with killer movie idol looks and the most amazing pair of sparkling blue eyes in Hollywood. He was also blessed with a rare talent; although his first big film role got off to a shaky start. So embarrassed was he by his bad performance in The Silver Chalice (1954) that he took out a full-page advert in a trade paper apologising for it. This self-effacing sense of humour would become well-known throughout his career.

Happily his later efforts fared better. In Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Newman received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for his portrayal of boxer Rocky Graziano, and he never looked back. Over the next 50 years he produced some of the most enduring onscreen performances in Hollywood history, as he became one of the most popular actors of his generation.

Receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1959 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opposite Elizabeth Taylor more praise followed with quality performances of charming anti-heroes in The Hustler (1961), The Prize (1963), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and one of the most popular onscreen partnerships alongside Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

This continued with films like The Sting (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974), the now cult classic Slap Shot (1977), The Verdict (1982), Nobody's Fool (1994), and the mesmerising portal of a Chicago mob boss in Road to Perdition (2002).

After six nominations for Best Actor over the years in 1987 he finally received the Best Actor Oscar for his role as a savvy aging pool shark in The Colour of Money (1986).

Newman also Produced and Directed, winning a Golden Globe Award for Rachel, Rachel (1968) in which he directed his future wife Joanne Woodward (who also won the Best Actress Golden Globe for her role).

A very generous man with both his time and his money, Newman had other interests away from acting, setting up "Newman's Own" - a prosperous line of food products that gives its million dollar profits to charity.

He also founded The Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, an organisation that gives terminally ill children a chance to enjoy childhood holidays with staff specially trained to care for them.

Paul Leonard Newman, Actor and true Hollywood Legend; born January 26, 1925, died September 26, 2008.