Memorial Page for Paul Newman (née Paul Leonard Newman)

Paul Newman (born 26 January 1925 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio; died 26 September 2008 in Westport, Connecticut) was an American actor, director, race car driver and entrepreneur. With his piercing blue eyes and roles in films such as Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, he became one of the defining film stars of the 20th century – and remained one of the few Hollywood stars whose personal fortune, through a company of his own making, ultimately flowed almost entirely into charitable causes.

Navy, Yale and the Actors Studio

Newman grew up in Shaker Heights, the son of a sporting-goods retailer. In 1943 he volunteered for the US Navy; being colour-blind ruled out pilot training, so he served for three years instead as a radioman and turret gunner aboard torpedo bombers in the Pacific. After the war he studied drama and economics at Kenyon College, went on to the Yale School of Drama, and in 1953 was admitted to Lee Strasberg's renowned Actors Studio. In 1949 he had already married Jacqueline Witte, with whom he had three children, including his son Scott.

Breakthrough and Joanne Woodward

In 1953 Newman met actress Joanne Woodward on the set of the Broadway play Picnic. After divorcing Witte in 1957, the two married on 29 January 1958 in Las Vegas – a marriage that would last fifty years, until his death, and that produced three further daughters. That same year, Newman achieved his international breakthrough and first Oscar nomination in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opposite Elizabeth Taylor.

The great years

Over the following decades Newman defined some of the most important American films of his era: Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) alongside Robert Redford, and The Sting (1973), again with Redford. Despite nine Best Actor nominations in total, the award eluded him for years; in 1986 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his life's work, and the following year he finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Color of Money.

A loss and its consequences

On 20 November 1978, Newman's only son, Scott, from his first marriage, died aged 28 from an accidental overdose of alcohol and medication. Newman went on to found a foundation named for his son, still dedicated today to preventing drug abuse among young people.

Newman's Own and racing

In 1982 Newman co-founded the food company Newman's Own with writer A. E. Hotchner; all after-tax profits went to charity from the outset — a model that has since generated well over $600 million in donations. With his wife, he also founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children. Alongside this, Newman pursued a serious second career as a racing driver: in 1979 he finished second overall and won his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in 1983 he founded the Newman/Haas team, which became the most successful team in Champ Car history after Penske Racing.

Paul Newman died on 26 September 2008, aged 83, of lung cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He remains regarded as one of the last great classic film stars of the 20th century – an actor whose public reputation stayed unusually close to his actual private commitment.