Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman
Born January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio
Died September 26, 2008 Westport Connecticut
Paul Newman 1925 - 2008
Paul Newman was probably best know for two things; his five-decade long career in roles for Hollywood films (beginning with The Silver Chalice in 1954), and for his 'Newman's Own' food product line which donates all post-tax profits to charities (estimated at approximately $250 million USD by 2008 - the website for the company is here. On the site is the line: "Paul occasionally referred to Newman's Own as the "joke that got out of control" and would express astonishment at its success.")
Having smoked heavily for much of his life, Paul Newman was diagnosed with lung cancer at some point in 2006, and went through chemotherapy (See the John Christoffersen article at CBS online, Associated Press. report from June 11, 2008). Newman finally abandoned the effort and chose to die at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He passed away on September 26, 2008 and his body was cremated at a private ceremony in Connecticut on Monday, Sept 29, 2008. He was 83 years old.
Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83.
The cause was cancer, said Jeff Sanderson of Chasen & Company, Mr. Newman’s publicists.
If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy.
He acted in more than 65 movies over more than 50 years, drawing on a physical grace, unassuming intelligence and good humor that made it all seem effortless.
Yet he was also an ambitious, intellectual actor and a passionate student of his craft, and he achieved what most of his peers find impossible: remaining a major star into a craggy, charismatic old age even as he redefined himself as more than Hollywood star. He raced cars, opened summer camps for ailing children and became a nonprofit entrepreneur with a line of foods that put his picture on supermarket shelves around the world.
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From the October 2, 2008 Time Magazine appreciation on Paul Newman written by Robert Redford:
...We played lots of pranks on each other. I used to race cars, and after he took this rare Porsche I owned for a drive, he began to get into racing. He had incredible reflexes, and he got really good, but he talked so much about it that I got sick of it. So I had a beaten-up Porsche shell delivered to his porch for his 50th birthday. He never said anything, but not long after, I found a crate of molten metal delivered to the living room of my (rented) house. It dented the floor. I then had it turned into a really ugly sculpture and dropped into his garden. To this day, neither one of us has ever mentioned it.
[Below: Screenshot of the Robert Redford appreciation.]
Read the entire article at Time Magazine
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A Famous Man and Respected Celebrity
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See a gallery of Paul Newman Obit/News Announcements from across the mainstream media (BBC, ABC, Fox News, Washington Post, Reuters, CBS, LA Times, ABC, NBC and the New York Times.)
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MEDIA FILES
TRAILER FOR "CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF" 1958
Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in the film version of the Tennessee Williams' play
Click to Play
• October 13, 2008
New Mark A. Vieira Book "Hollywood Dreams Made Real: Irving Thalberg and the Rise of M-G-M" from Abrams Books A new 260 page hardback exploring MGM and Thalberg's role as producer and architect of the MGM production system. more
Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83. 
