Paul Newman

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Paul Newman

Paul Newman AKA Paul Leonard Newman

Born: 26-Jan-1925
Birthplace: Shaker Heights, OH

Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish [1]
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Philanthropist, Film Director
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Salad dressing magnate

Military service: US Navy Air Corps (1943-46)

Paul Newman's father owned a sporting goods store, and young Newman was always interested in performing. He served in the South Pacific during WWII as a radioman for the U.S. Navy Air Corps, and took over the family business after his father's death. The business bored him, though, and Newman local stage roles. He soon sold his interest in the family business to his brother, went to college and majored in drama. With his handsome looks and easy, everyman delivery, Newman was soon able to earn a living on stage.

Newman's first television role was on the long-running sitcom The Aldrich Family, a show that started on radio, then ran on CBS-TV for several years. Newman joined the cast in 1952, in a small, recurring role. When the show was canceled, he made his Broadway debut in the original cast of Picnic, with Eileen Heckart and Ruth McDevitt. He also starred in Broadway's Desperate Hours with Karl Malden, but when Hollywood made the play into a movie, Newman and Malden were replaced by Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March.

Newman made his motion picture debut in The Silver Chalice, opposite Virginia Mayo. The film flopped, but two years later, Newman made the most of his second chance, playing Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me to rave reviews. He starred in The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, both with Robert Redford, and was the rebel prisoner in Cool Hand Luke, the pool shark in The Hustler with Jackie Gleason and its sequel 25 years later, The Color of Money with Tom Cruise. He played "the man with the barbed-wire soul" in Hud with Melvyn Douglas and Patricia Neal, battled Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and mentored Tom Hanks in the ways of crime in Road to Perdition. He played an evil corporate schemer in The Hudsucker Proxy, a drunken lawyer in The Verdict, and a tough private investigator in Harper.

He has pursued auto racing as an off-screen hobby since the mid-1960s, and has driven in Le Mans and at Daytona. He rarely drives now, but remains involved with Newman/Haas Racing, the racing team he founded in 1983 with Carl Haas. In 1982, he founded Newman's Own, a food company that donates all its profits to charity. Newman's Own has since become famous for its salsa, salad dressings, popcorn, and myriad other products, all with Newman's face on the label. The company's sales have generated more than $150,000,000 for worthy causes.

Newman was also the unknowing model for DC Comics' "Green Lantern" superhero. In the comic book legend, test pilot Hal Jordan meets a dying space alien, who gives Jordan a green ring that grants him superpowers. Green Lantern's creator, Gil Kane, envisioned Jordan as a dashing, handsome, high society playboy -- much like the characters Newman was playing in the movies -- and as a result, he drew his hero as if he were drawing Paul Newman. Especially in Green Lantern's earliest adventures, the resemblance is unmistakable.

He has also directed and produced films, beginning with Rachel, Rachel in 1968, which was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. He directed and starred in Sometimes A Great Notion, based on Ken Kesey's novel and co-starring Henry Fonda. He also produced They Might Be Giants with George C. Scott, and directed an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie, starring Woodward and John Malkovich. In 2007 he announced his retirement from acting.

[1] Newman self-identifies as Jewish, "because it's more of a challenge", per Earl Blackwell (1991). His mother is Roman Catholic, his father Jewish.

Father: Arthur Simon Newman (German-Jewish, sporting goods store owner, b. 1894, d. 1950)
Mother: Theresa Fetzer (Catholic, converted to Christian Scientist, b. 1896, d. 1982)
Brother: Arthur Newman, Jr. (b. 1924)
Wife: Jacqueline Witte (stage actress, m. 1949, div. 1958, one son, two daughters)
Son: Scott Newman (actor, b. 23-Sep-1950, d. 20-Nov-1978, drug overdose)
Daughter: Susan Kendall Newman (stage actress, b. 21-Feb-1953)
Daughter: Stephanie Newman
Wife: Joanne Woodward (m. 29-Jan-1958, three daughters)
Daughter: Claire Newman
Daughter: Elinor Teresa Newman ("Nell", b. 8-Apr-1959, runs Newman's Own Organics)
Daughter: Melissa Newman (b. 17-Sep-1961)

High School: Shaker Heights High School, Cleveland, OH (1943)
University: Kenyon College
University: Ohio University, Athens (expelled)
University: BA Economics, Kenyon College (1949)
University: School of Drama, Yale University (attended postgraduate)

The Weinstein Company Advisor
Al Franken for Senate
Center for Defense Information Board of Advisors
Dean for America
Friends of Hillary
Hillary Clinton for President
Institute for Policy Studies
Jifunze Project Advisory Board
Nader 2000
Obama for America
Oscar (honorary) 1986
Oscar for Best Actor 1987 for The Color of Money
Golden Globe 1957 for Most Promising Newcomer, Male
Golden Globe 1964 for World Film Favorite, Male
Golden Globe 1966 for World Film Favorite, Male
Golden Globe 1969 Best Director for Rachel, Rachel
Four Freedoms Medal
Kennedy Center Honor 1992
Hollywood Walk of Fame 7060 Hollywood Blvd.
Nixon's Enemies List "Radic-lib causes. Heavy McCarthy involvement '68. Used effectively in nationwide T.V. commercials. '72 involvement certain."
Ordained by the Universal Life Church Minister
Jewish Ancestry Paternal
Risk Factors: Color Blindness

FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
The Glass Menagerie (19-Sep-1987)
Harry and Son (2-Mar-1984)
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (20-Dec-1972)
Sometimes a Great Notion (19-Jan-1972)
Rachel, Rachel (26-Aug-1968)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Cars (14-Mar-2006) [VOICE]
Empire Falls (28-May-2005)
Tell Them Who You Are (11-Sep-2004) Himself
Road to Perdition (12-Jul-2002)
Where the Money Is (14-Apr-2000)
Message in a Bottle (12-Feb-1999)
Twilight (6-Mar-1998)
Super Speedway (1997) Narrator [VOICE]
Nobody's Fool (23-Dec-1994)
Baseball (18-Sep-1994) Himself [VOICE]
The Hudsucker Proxy (11-Mar-1994)
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (23-Nov-1990)
Blaze (13-Dec-1989)
Fat Man and Little Boy (20-Oct-1989)
The Color of Money (17-Oct-1986)
Harry and Son (2-Mar-1984)
The Verdict (8-Dec-1982)
Absence of Malice (19-Nov-1981)
Fort Apache the Bronx (6-Feb-1981)
The Day the World Ended (28-Mar-1980)
Quintet (16-Feb-1979)
Slap Shot (25-Feb-1977)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (24-Jun-1976)
Silent Movie (16-Jun-1976) Himself
The Drowning Pool (Jul-1975)
The Towering Inferno (10-Dec-1974)
The Sting (25-Dec-1973)
The Mackintosh Man (25-Jul-1973)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (18-Dec-1972)
Pocket Money (1-Feb-1972)
Sometimes a Great Notion (19-Jan-1972)
WUSA (19-Aug-1970)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (23-Sep-1969)
Winning (22-May-1969)
The Secret War of Harry Frigg (29-Feb-1968)
Cool Hand Luke (1-Nov-1967)
Hombre (21-Mar-1967)
Torn Curtain (14-Jul-1966)
Harper (23-Feb-1966)
Lady L (17-Dec-1965)
The Outrage (7-Oct-1964)
What a Way to Go! (12-May-1964)
The Prize (25-Dec-1963)
A New Kind of Love (30-Oct-1963)
Hud (28-May-1963)
Adventures of a Young Man (18-Jul-1962)
Sweet Bird of Youth (21-Mar-1962)
Paris Blues (27-Sep-1961)
The Hustler (25-Sep-1961)
From the Terrace (15-Jul-1960)
Exodus (27-Mar-1960)
The Young Philadelphians (21-May-1959)
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (23-Dec-1958)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (18-Sep-1958)
The Left Handed Gun (07-May-1958)
The Long, Hot Summer (3-Apr-1958)
Until They Sail (8-Oct-1957)
The Helen Morgan Story (2-Oct-1957)
The Rack (2-Nov-1956)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (3-Jul-1956)
The Silver Chalice (20-Dec-1954)

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