Paul Newman

Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008)[1][2] was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an Emmy award, along with many honorary awards. He won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing and his race teams won several championships in open wheel Indy Car racing. He was also the founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all profits and royalties to charity.[3] As of May 2007, these donations have exceeded US$220 million.[3] On September 26th, 2008, Newman died at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut after a battle with lung cancer.

Early life

Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), the son of Theresa (née Fetzer or Fetsko)[4][5] and Arthur S. Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store.[6][7] His father was Jewish and his mother was born to a Slovak Catholic family at Ptičie (formerly Peticse) in the former Kingdom of Hungary, now in Slovakia,[8][9] and converted to Christian Science when Paul was five.[5] Newman had described himself as Jewish, stating that, "it's more of a challenge."[10] Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his brother Arthur (who later became a producer and production manager).[11]

Newman showed an early interest in the theater, which his mother encouraged. At the age of seven, he made his acting debut, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. Graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.[11]

Military service

Newman served in the Navy in World War II in the Pacific theater.[11] Newman was sent to the Navy V-12 program at Ohio University, with hope of being accepted for pilot training, but this plan was foiled when a flight physical revealed him to be colorblind.[11][12] He was sent instead to boot camp and then on to further training as a radioman and gunner. Qualifying as a rear-seat radioman and gunner in torpedo bombers, in 1944, Aviation Radioman Third Class Newman was sent to Barber's Point, Hawaii, and subsequently assigned to Pacific-based replacement torpedo squadrons (VT-98, VT-99, and VT-100). These torpedo squadrons were responsible primarily for training replacement pilots and combat air crewmen, placing particular importance on carrier landings.[12] He later flew from aircraft carriers as a tail gunner in the Avenger. As a radioman/gunner, he served aboard the USS Bunker Hill during the battle for Okinawa in the spring of 1945. He was ordered to the ship as radioman/gunner in an Avenger with a draft of replacements shortly before the attack, but by a fluke of war was held back because his pilot had an ear infection. The rest of his detail died.[13]

After the war, he completed his degree at Kenyon College, graduating in 1949.[11] Newman later studied acting at Yale University and under Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio in New York City.[11]

Oscar Levant wrote that Newman was initially hesitant to leave New York for Hollywood: "Too close to the cake," he reported him saying, "Also, no place to study."[14]

Last works

In 2003, he appeared in a Broadway theatre revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. He received his first Tony Award nomination for his performance. PBS and the cable network Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Newman was nominated for an Emmy Award, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.

His last screen appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, although he continued to provide voice work for films. In keeping with his strong interest in car racing, he provided the voice of Doc Hudson, a retired race car in Disney/Pixar's Cars. Similarly, he served as narrator for the 2007 film Dale, about the life of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

Resources & Latest News-

1. Wiki- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Newman

2. Paul Newman & Michel Nischan Open Organic Restaurant

treehugger.com — Celebrity chef Michel Nischan is opening an organic restaurant with Paul Newman. It's called The Dressing Room and features locally-grown organic food. More… (Celebrity)-

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/paul_newman_mic.php

3- BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Obituary: Paul Newman - Screen legend Paul Newman has died from cancer, aged 83. With his piercing blue eyes and laid back style, Paul Newman became one of the most recognised leading men in Hollywood. But he... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3283327.stm

4. BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Movie legend Paul Newman dies, 83 –

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7639614.stm

5 - Acting legend Paul Newman dies - Celebrities-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26913988/

6- I don’t think Mr. Newman was ever as beautiful as he is in “Hud.” His lean, hard-muscled body seems to slash against the widescreen landscape, evoking the oil derricks to come, and the black-and-white cinematography turns his famous baby blues an eerie shade of gray. The character would be a heartbreaker if he were interested in breaking hearts instead of making time with the bodies that come with them. That’s supposed to make Hud a mean man, but mostly he seems self-interested. No one is tearing him apart and Mr. Newman doesn’t try to plumb the depths with the role, which makes the character and the performance feel more contemporary than many of the head cases of the previous decade. He finds depths in these shallows. –

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28paul.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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