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Paul Newman Biography

Actor

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Blue-eyed, charming and rascally, Paul Newman was one of the biggest movie stars of the 20th century. With co-star Robert Redford he was in two of the biggest box office successes in history, 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Newman played Butch and Redford was Sundance) and 1973's The Sting. Newman was Oscar-nominated as best actor eight times, for films including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958, opposite Elizabeth Taylor), The Hustler (1961, co-starring George C. Scott), and Cool Hand Luke (1967). He went Oscar-less until 1985, when he was given an honorary Academy Award for his distinguished body of work; the next year he won the best actor Oscar for his role in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money (1986, co-starring Tom Cruise). He also directed several films, including Rachel, Rachel (1968), Sometimes A Great Notion (1971, based on the novel by Ken Kesey) and Harry and Son (1984). With his friend A.E. Hotchner, he founded the "Newman's Own" line of salad dressing in 1982, with the proceeds going to charity. The company expanded into many other foods (including "Fig Newman" cookies), and by the time of Newman's death had donated $200 million dollars to charities worldwide.

Extra credit: Newman enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served during World War II... He graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio in 1949... He was married to actress Joanne Woodward from 29 January 1958 until his death. They had three children: Elinor (b. 1959), Melissa (b. 1961), and Claire (b. 1965). He had earlier been married to actress Jacqueline Witte (1949-1957), and they also had three children: Scott (b. 1950), Susan (b. 1953), and Stephanie (b. 1955)... Scott Newman died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol; his father later founded the Scott Newman Center in California to fight drug abuse... Paul Newman was an avid race car driver and racing fan; he caught the bug when he starred in the 1969 racing movie Winning... "Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good" is the Newman's Own motto... Newman was also given the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Award by the Motion Picture Academy in 1994, for his work with Newman's Own.

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