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 race cars.
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 anti-hero performances in Hud, Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The 10-time Academy Award nominee died Friday at age 83, surrounded by family and close friends at his Westport farmhouse following a long battle with cancer, publicist Jeff Sanderson said 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 website 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 co-stars 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 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. 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.
In the sequel directed by Scorsese Fast Eddie is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.
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.
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.
In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1969 film, Winning. After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.
Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood, he told People magazine in 1979.
Newman later became a car owner and formed a partnership with Carl Haas, starting Newman/Haas Racing in 1983 and joining the CART series.
Hiring Mario Andretti as its first driver, the team was an instant success, and throughout the last 26 years, the team now known as Newman/Haas/Lanigan and part of the IndyCar Series has won 107 races and eight series championships.
In 1982, Newman and writer A.E. 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.
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 anti-drug films for children.
Newman was born in Cleveland, the second of two boys of Arthur S.
Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman. Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.
He later studied at Yale University s School of Drama, then headed to work in theater and television in New York, where his classmates at the famed Actor s Studio included Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden.
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. -AP
