Watch this video to see what you may not have know about Paul Newman.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Actor Paul Newman was a bit of a legend and a man who inspired others with his talent.
00:05He also pursued other endeavors, such as philanthropy and racing cars.
00:08Here are some things you may not have known about the 10-time Oscar nominee
00:11and one-time Best Actor winner.
00:14Paul Newman was raised in what most people would call a privileged upbringing. He was born in
00:18January 1925, and when young Paul was just a baby, his folks moved to a fancy community called
00:23Shaker Heights, Ohio. Many years later, when Newman looked back on his life, he described
00:27his childhood neighborhood as one of the best communities in the country, with an incredible
00:30school system that he wished he had taken more advantage of. His childhood years were stable,
00:34but they weren't without struggles. Later in life, Newman would admit regret that he could
00:38never fully impress his father, Arthur. After high school, he wasn't confident about his next steps.
00:43He wasn't keen on leading his family's business at that point and decided to enlist in the military.
00:47He spent four months attending Ohio University before being called up to the Navy.
00:51Before finishing his studies at Ohio University, the Navy sent Newman to Yale,
00:55where he was going to train as an Air Corps pilot. He then discovered that he was, in fact,
00:59colorblind and ended up working as an aviation radio gunman in several places,
01:03including Guam and Hawaii. Once discharged, he started exploring drama as a hobby at Kenyon
01:08College, simply testing the waters. In just two years, he knew he was good at it and changed his
01:13major to English and speech. Interestingly, he was more inclined towards sports than acting,
01:17but couldn't quite pursue it after being kicked off of the football team after a fight.
01:22Despite being a well-behaved kid, Paul Newman couldn't escape trouble when he joined college.
01:26His early studies at Ohio University were reportedly interrupted not just by the Navy,
01:30but supposedly because he was thrown out after a controversial incident that involved beer in
01:35the rector's car. He was also known for courting trouble later in life after drinking sprees that
01:39landed him in jail a couple of times. Newman was, throughout his life, recognized as a goof who
01:43enjoyed playing practical jokes on others around him even when they put him in serious trouble.
01:47It must be said, though, that Newman never really harmed anyone else when he was goofing around.
01:51Despite his runnings with the law, though, Newman developed sympathy for the police who had to deal
01:55with his rowdy behavior. Basically, the actor felt for cops and could sympathize with them
01:59on account of his conversations with them. He once said,
02:02"'I think what I learned about the police is what a difficult thing it is for them not to
02:05become anesthetized by the suffering, the blood, everything. My own involvement with
02:09the police usually has been on an unfriendly basis.'"
02:12According to Biography, Paul Newman spent time working in theater after he finished
02:16college in 1949. This is how he found his first wife, Jacqueline Witt. They tied the
02:20knot shortly after they met, and Newman focused on his acting career until he experienced a major
02:25blow in 1950 when he lost his father. Newman and Witt then decided to shift base to Ohio and help
02:30out with the family business. However, Newman couldn't keep himself interested for too long.
02:34He remained fascinated by acting and left Ohio for Connecticut with his family,
02:38studying at the Yale School of Drama before experiencing financial difficulties a year
02:42after he first joined Yale. Thankfully, Newman didn't let this shake his motivations,
02:46and he decided to go to New York, where he was mentored by Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio,
02:50along with other big names like James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Geraldine Page.
02:54Despite his later success, Newman never found acting an easy pursuit,
02:57and worked hard to master his craft. He later recalled that it took him, quote,
03:01"'about four years' to really understand acting as a serious pursuit."
03:04"'I don't know the things that I have a gift for except tenaciousness.'"
03:10Paul Newman first entered Hollywood in 1954 when he made his debut with the film The Silver
03:14Chalice. Even after that, it took almost two years to get more notice. It was his portrayal
03:19of the boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me that paved the way for his success.
03:24However, a tragedy led to this role. His fellow actor, James Dean, died in a sudden car crash
03:29before the film's script was finished, leaving the part open for Newman. While it's fair to say
03:33that Newman didn't have to wait too long to become famous, it did take him much longer
03:37to discover where he stood as an actor. It was also important for him to be perceived
03:40seriously in the industry. What worked in his favor was that he didn't hesitate to spend some
03:44time getting to know himself as an artist and truly explore his passion for acting.
03:49Paul Newman's first marriage was not meant to last. According to The Guardian,
03:53Jacqueline Witt and Newman ended up parting ways in 1958 after he fell in love with actress Joanne
03:58Woodward, who he co-starred with in several movies. Even before they became a couple,
04:02Newman and Woodward had powerful chemistry — a chemistry they tried to resist at first
04:06because Newman was already married. Initially, Witt wasn't pleased and didn't cooperate with
04:10her husband, refusing to grant him a divorce. When the divorce did come through, Woodward and
04:14Newman made things official and moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they raised their daughters.
04:18Though they had their troubles, Newman and Woodward would remain married for five decades,
04:22until Newman's death. Woodward once explained how they managed to stay
04:25married despite the grind of Hollywood and other challenges.
04:28What finally is left is, if you can make somebody laugh,
04:32then that's very important. And he sure does keep me laughing."
04:36Paul Newman didn't get where he was without hard work, and sometimes his natural gifts
04:40actually caused problems with his career. Newman often felt that his famous good looks
04:44actually created problems for him as an actor, because they prevented him from being taken
04:48seriously. According to The New York Times, he once said,
04:51"'I picture my epitaph. Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.'"
04:56However, Newman managed to make things work, and as his career stretched to decades of work,
05:00he gained more and more important credits, including the Color of Money, for which he
05:04won the Oscar for Best Actor. He found himself tackling challenging roles, such as that of a
05:08character who was misrepresented by the press in the 1981 film Absence of Malice.
05:12Looking at the evolution of Newman's career, it's clear that he finally did get people to
05:16take him seriously. Consider this. In 1958, he was a charmer trying to tie the knot with
05:21a Southern lady in the long, hot summer. By the time 1982 rolled around, the actor played the
05:25role of an alcoholic lawyer who finds himself taking on a medical malpractice case in The Verdict.
05:31In 1978, Paul Newman had to live through heartbreak when one of his sons from his
05:35first marriage, Alan Scott Newman, died of an accidental overdose while taking
05:38painkillers prescribed after a motorcycle accident. While mourning his son, Newman
05:42started a charity called the Scott Newman Center later in 1978. The organization's aim was to help
05:47prevent drug abuse through awareness campaigns and aid those who need support. Sadly, the
05:52organization was defunded in 2011 and shut down in 2013. Despite the family's best attempts to
05:58keep the charity running, fundraising was a problem that they couldn't resolve.
06:02Paul Newman was more than an actor. He was also a businessman, a philanthropist,
06:06and a race car driver. According to The New York Times, Newman first picked up racing when he
06:10started working on it for one of his films, 1968's Winning. After training for the film,
06:15he became rather fascinated by racing later in life, even participating in the sport professionally.
06:20He was dedicated enough to spend three years after the film ended continuing to hone his
06:24racing skills. Newman would later remark that he found racing helped him indulge his competitive
06:28side in a way that acting simply couldn't. Just like acting, racing required dedication
06:32and motivation, and for Newman, it took time to truly understand and excel at both pursuits.
06:37Interestingly, there were times when the actor focused more on racing than acting,
06:40especially when he wasn't too impressed with the scripts that were being offered to him.
06:44In fact, the actor was so enthralled by the sport that he competed professionally.
06:47According to The Guardian, Newman said that racing was a way for him to get back into the
06:51world of sports that he'd left as a younger man, and added that he felt incredibly happy
06:55whenever he found himself racing.
06:57Paul Newman was multifaceted and very good at multitasking, which meant that even in the
07:01midst of an acting career, he figured out a way to start a food business. His beginnings were simple.
07:06When he was preparing salad dressing for friends one day, he realized that he didn't have to throw
07:09away the leftovers and could market the product and sell it to shops. This led to the start of
07:14Newman's Own, a company that was run by Newman and his friend, writer A.E. Honchner. The duo's
07:18goal was to donate the company's profits to charity and to help fund kids' education.
07:23Since the company was first established, it's estimated that $250 million has been
07:27donated to nonprofit groups around the world. Newman also decided to start something called
07:32the Hole-in-the-Wall Camps to ensure that kids battling life-threatening diseases could take
07:36a much-needed break and go on a free vacation. The first residential summer camp was started
07:40in 1988, and eight camps have been founded since then in the United States, the United Kingdom,
07:45Ireland, and France. Newman's goals were ambitious,
07:47and he made sure to devote his time and energy to fulfilling them.
07:51I was trying to acknowledge, I think, luck. What an important part it has played in my life.
07:59Acting wasn't a constant in Paul Newman's life. He was frustrated by the industry at various points,
08:04and at one point was so worn out by Hollywood that he simply took a break. After four years
08:08away, he returned in 1994 to star in the acclaimed films The Hudsucker Proxy and Nobody's Fool.
08:13But in 1995, he focused harder on racing. He was 70 and determined to chase his dreams,
08:19and was said to be the oldest competitor in the event's history when he attempted the grueling
08:2224 hours of Daytona endurance race and won. The actor got back to films in 1998 with Twilight.
08:28Although it was an interesting role for Newman, who played a private detective in the film,
08:32the movie suffered from post-production troubles and was simply not as appealing as it was expected
08:36to be. He continued acting sporadically after that, appearing in the 2002 film Road to Perdition
08:41and lending his voice to animated films including 2006's Cars.
08:46Despite his Hollywood stardom, Paul Newman was usually a private man who didn't enjoy sharing
08:50details from his personal life. When it was time to let go of Newman's own, for example,
08:54the actor did so discreetly without making a big deal about the transition.
08:57He decided to donate everything from his ownership of the company to charity,
09:01and when Newman battled cancer in 2008, he refused to be open about his struggles and remained,
09:05as always, guarded about his personal life. Even as he approached the end of his life,
09:09Paul Newman refused to dwell too long on his many accomplishments,
09:12including his awards, his racing achievements, and his success as a philanthropist.
09:16When asked about his private life, which included a 50-year marriage to Woodward
09:20and six children from two wives, he simply said, quote,
09:22"'It's nobody's business.'" Newman died of cancer in 2008 at age 83,
09:27leaving behind a legacy of stardom and generosity.