|
Paul Newman never much cared for what he once
called the “rubbish” of Hollywood, choosing to live in a
quiet community on the opposite corner of the US map,
staying with his wife of many years and—long after he
became bored with acting—pursuing his dual passions of
philanthropy and racecars.
And yet,
despite enormous success in both endeavors and a vile
distaste for celebrity, the Oscar-winning actor never
lost the aura of a towering Hollywood movie star,
turning in roles later in life that carried all the
blue-eyed, heartthrob cool of his antihero performances
in Hud, Cool Hand Luke and Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The
10-time Academy Award nominee died on Friday at age 83,
surrounded by family and close friends at his Westport
farmhouse following a long battle with cancer, publicist
Jeff Sanderson said on Saturday.
In May
Newman dropped plans to direct a fall production of
Of Mice and Men at Connecticut’s Westport Country
Playhouse, citing unspecified health issues. The
following month a friend disclosed that he was being
treated for cancer and Martha Stewart, also a friend,
posted photos on her web site of Newman looking gaunt at
a charity luncheon.
But,
true to his fiercely private nature, Newman remained
cagey about his condition, reacting to reports that he
had lung cancer with a statement saying only that he was
“doing nicely.”
As an
actor Newman got his start in theater and on television
during the 1950s, and went on to become a legend held in
awe by his peers. He won one Oscar and took home two
honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50
motion pictures, including Exodus, Butch Cassidy, The
Verdict, The Sting and Absence of Malice.
Newman
worked with some of the greatest directors of the past
half-century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to
Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers.
His costars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall,
Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert
Redford, his sidekick in Butch Cassidy and The
Sting.
“There
is a point where feelings go beyond words,” Redford said
on Saturday. “I have lost a real friend. My life—and
this country—is better for his being in it.”
Newman
sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner
Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood’s
rare long-term marriages. “I have steak at home, why go
out for hamburger?” Newman told Playboy magazine when
asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958,
around the same time they both appeared in The Long
Hot Summer. Newman also directed her in several
films, including Rachel, Rachel and The Glass
Menagerie.
“Our
father was a rare symbol of selfless humility, the last
to acknowledge what he was doing was special,” his
daughters said in a written statement. “Intensely
private, he quietly succeeded beyond measure in
impacting the lives of so many with his generosity.”
With his
strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue
eyes, Newman was just as likely to play against his
looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his
convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers.
New York Times critic Caryn James wrote after his turn
as the town curmudgeon in 1995’s Nobody’s Fool
that “you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking
as Paul Newman ended up this way.”
But
neither his heartthrob looks nor his talent could
convince Newman to embrace the Hollywood lifestyle. He
was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to
sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act
offensive.
“Sometimes God makes perfect people,” fellow Absence
of Malice star Sally Field said, “and Paul Newman
was one of them.”
Newman
had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens
of millions to charities through his food company and
setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately
opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil
rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on
President Nixon’s “enemies list,” one of the actor’s
proudest achievements, he liked to say.
A screen
legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his
first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for The
Color of Money, a reprise of the role of pool shark
“Fast Eddie” Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961
film The Hustler.
He won
an honorary Oscar in 1986 “in recognition of his many
and memorable compelling screen performances and for his
personal integrity and dedication to his craft.” In 1994
he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian
Award, for his charitable work.
His most
recent Academy nod was a supporting-actor nomination for
the 2002 film Road to Perdition. One of Newman’s
nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in
acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record
among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress
Meryl Streep has had 14.)
As he
passed his 80th birthday he remained in demand, winning
an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama
Empire Falls and providing the voice of a crusty
1951 Hudson Hornet in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit Cars.
But in
May 2007 he told ABC’s Good Morning America he
had given up acting, though he intended to remain active
in charity projects. “I’m not able to work anymore as an
actor at the level I would want to,” he said. “You start
to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So
that’s pretty much a closed book for me.”
Off the
screen, Newman was beloved in Westport, the upscale
community about an hour north of New York. One of his
favorite haunts was Mario’s Place, an eatery that Newman
frequented with pals actor James Naughton or writer A.E.
Hotchner. He preferred medium-rare hamburgers, with an
occasional Heineken.
“He’s
such a great human being,” owner Frank DeMace said. “I
can’t say enough about him.”
In 1982
Newman and Hotchner started a company to market Newman’s
original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman’s Own, which
began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar
business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti
sauce and other foods. All of the company’s profits are
donated to charities. The company had donated more than
$250 million, according to its web site.
“We will
miss our friend Paul Newman, but are lucky ourselves to
have known such a remarkable person,” Robert Forrester,
vice chairman of Newman’s Own Foundation, said in a
statement.
Hotchner
said Newman should have “everybody’s admiration.”
“For me
it’s the loss of an adventurous friendship over the past
50 years and it’s the loss of a great American citizen,”
Hotchner said.
In 1988
Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for
children with cancer and other life-threatening
diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in
several other states and in Europe.
He and
Woodward bought an 18th-century farmhouse in Westport,
where they raised their three daughters Elinor “Nell,”
Melissa and Clea.
Newman
had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son,
Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.
Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol
and Valium. After his only son’s death, Newman
established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the
production of antidrug films for children. In December
1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told
Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.
“I’m not
mellower, I’m not less angry, I’m not less
self-critical, I’m not less tenacious,” he said. “Maybe
the best part is that your liver can’t handle those
beers at noon anymore,” he said.
Newman
is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons
and his older brother Arthur. |
