His performance in the biblical costume epic proved to be such an embarrassment to him that he placed a full-page ad in Variety , apologizing for his appearance in the film.
His career improved immeasurably after his impressive performance in Somebody Up There Likes Me In Newman was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and in he was given an Honorary Academy Award "in recognition of his many and memorable and compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft. In he founded Newman's Own, a successful line of food products salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, microwave popcorn, etc.
Jezierski, , Newman's Own Cookbook with A. Hotchner, Newman was married to Jackie Witte from to and had a son, Scott, who died in November from a drug overdose, and two daughters, Susan Kendall and Stephanie. Newman met actress Joanne Woodward on the set of The Long, Hot Summer in and married her after his divorce in Newman and Woodward had three daughters: Elinor "Nell" Teresa b.
Quirk, Paul Newman ; E. Hud is selfish, Luke arrogant, Harper callous and Butch a killer. Other characters were self-obsessed the racing driver or wilful and on the margins of society. To such creations, even mean spirited ones, he brought a strength that made him — alongside Brando — the acceptable anti-hero of the period. By the s Newman had become more overtly political. His support for the King documentary was one aspect of his support for civil rights.
He also campaigned against the war in Vietnam and had supported Eugene McCarthy's bid for the presidency. He was vigorous in his opposition to Richard Nixon and proud of being among the top 20 on Nixon's "most hated" list. Newman never lost his commitment to liberal causes, but like his exact contemporary Charlton Heston, whose raucous support for the gun lobby, and the right, diametrically opposed Newman's philosophy, he found that overt politicising sometimes misfired.
People came to see him, not always to support the cause. He found greater satisfaction as part of the team involved with his charitable foundation. At the height of his fame Newman formed one of several production companies he was to be associated with.
Each agreed to make three movies and Newman — possibly with less ego than most of his partners — fulfilled his promise. In , Pocket Money revived his Luke character in all but name. He then made The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, distractedly directed by his friend Huston during the early throes of one of his many marriages. Finally, in , he revived the Lew Harper detective in a rather sadistic thriller, The Drowning Pool.
Soon after, First Artists was wound up and the actor found himself looking for roles that suited a star now into handsome middle age. His box office credibility had been maintained by two smash hits The Sting , which reunited him with Redford, and The Towering Inferno , where he received top billing.
Of his two films with Robert Altman, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or, Sitting Bull's History Lesson is by far the more successful, but the bizarre futuristic drama Quintet ended the decade disastrously, a flop compounded by the awfulness of When Time Ran Out His fans had not taken to the raucous and foul-mouthed Slap Shot , another work which had indicated Newman's search for more original material.
He had returned to direction in , salvaging the outdoor drama Sometimes a Great Notion. He was to render her better service 15 years later when he directed The Glass Menagerie , "to immortalise Joanne's performance". This movie, which gave him his only writing credit plus star, producer and director , was a highly charged family drama about the difficult relationship between Harry and his teenage son.
The subject was almost too close to Newman, whose first child Scott had died of a drug overdose in During the s Newman settled into character roles and in enjoyed success as a tough street cop in Fort Apache, the Bronx.
But the cop, like his crane driver Harry, asked us to believe in Newman as a working-class hero and lacked the credibility he brought to Absence of Malice and The Verdict Both earned him Oscar nominations. The latter had a screenplay by David Mamet and presented him with a juicy role as a fading, alcoholic lawyer. A part which, as his director Sidney Lumet remarked, required only minimal research.
The star had an acknowledged taste for alcohol and despite giving up spirits in mid-career with a lapse after his son's death , enjoyed his beer and displayed a deep appreciation of vintage wine. I recall having lunch with him one day at his London hotel suite when he particularly liked a white Burgundy. He called the restaurant and ordered the rest of the case to be put in his refrigerator. Bizarrely, his intense performance in The Verdict failed to gain him an Oscar — a fact taken harder by his wife than by the star.
It was suggested that his politics and residence on the east coast since had alienated him from the conservative Hollywood establishment. In compensation — after he had taken a year off to concentrate on his motor racing — he was awarded, aged 60, an honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement, normally reserved for the truly venerable within the profession.
The following year he chose not to attend the awards ceremony — only to win best actor for The Color of Money. Alongside the accolades, there were other less successful movies, such as Blaze and Fat Man and Little Boy both In the former he starred as Earl Long, the philandering s governor of Louisiana. His necessarily strident performance failed to ignite a dull movie. The second work personalised the story of General Groves, the belligerently professional officer who oversaw the Manhattan Project which developed the allied atomic weapons programme.
Newman took a long time out of acting and away from conventional Hollywood. The hit made the actor into an overnight sensation, and Warner Brothers signed Newman to seven-year contract. Newman's next film, The Long Hot Summer, also starred his new wife, Woodward, in the tale of small town Southern politics and a malevolent drifter. The role would come to typify the characterization in which the tougher, now battle-scarred actor would excel and build his career upon.
Other films included Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was also released in and earned him his first Academy Award Oscar nomination, and another biblical drama, Exodus. Still, Newman was unhappy with the Hollywood system and managed to be released from his contract through the help of his savvy agent. Now an independent actor not influenced by studio whims, he was able to take a role that offered a well-written dramatic challenge: the smooth talking pool shark Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler.
The role brought Newman his second Academy Award nomination. Similar roles followed, with similar results. For the drama Hud and the mournful prison picture Cool Hand Luke, one of 's biggest box-office successes, Newman again won nominations, but did not win the Oscar in either instance.
Subsequent roles in period pieces, such as 's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and 's The Sting, again teamed him with Robert Redford and did phenomenally well. Later in the decade, Newman's career took a slight downturn. His only admirable portrayal came as a vicious minor league hockey coach in the cult classic Slap Shot. Personal tragedy also visited Newman. In , his son from his first marriage, Scott, died of a drug and alcohol overdose. Newman would later fund a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles in honor of his son.
The veteran actor also began to take an active role in other issues of personal significance to him, most notably liberal politics. Though he had always been politically active, by marching in civil rights protests and publicly supporting Democratic presidential campaigns, Newman grew more outspoken.
President Jimmy Carter appointed him as his delegate to nuclear disarmament talks at the United Nations, and Newman once took on fellow actor and noted Republican Charlton Heston in a television debate. In , Newman bought a controlling interest in The Nation, a liberal political journal, and even began writing for it occasionally.
One essay spoke out against a prominent United States senator who had supported dictatorial regimes in Latin America, for example. Newman is also on the board of Cease Fire, a gun control group funded by prominent celebrities. He also sponsors an annual free speech award by the writers' organization PEN. Newman continued to command respect with his film roles as well, especially with the drama Absence of Malice, for which he earned his fifth Oscar nomination. The role of a wretched alcoholic lawyer in 's The Verdict landed him his sixth.
His Oscar losing streak became a joke among Newman and his circle of family and friends. This time, he won. Newman remains grounded on the East Coast, far away from the celebrity glamour of Hollywood. I'm uneasy about it now. I'm afraid I will be so critical that I will be immobilized for the next day's shooting. The actor is well-known personality on the automobile racing circuit, and owns an Indy car competitor with a partner. He is also a famed prankster feared by his film set colleagues.
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