The Los Angeles Times follows up (while not quite shooting down) rumors that Paul Newman is fading fast due to lung cancer.
The Times quotes a Newman spokesman (courtesy of People), thusly: “He says he’s doing nicely, and this is the statement I wanted to share with you, and that’s what I have. I spoke to his office [in Connecticut]. This is the statement that came directly from him.”
Also included is a link to the blog of Shawn Levy, who’s working on a Newman biography and who hints rather strongly that Newman might not make his next birthday. Levy’s line: “I suspect I’ll be writing an obituary before I hold a copy of my book in my hand.” Yikes!
Levy’s a film reviewer for The Oregonian as well as a biographer. He says the Newman bio is “my fifth book, and it’s the first that is about someone I can admire unqualifiedly.” His previous subjects include Jerry Lewis and the Rat Pack.
[Now-it’s-getting-complicated update: A.E. Hotchner, Newman’s longtime chum, now says the Associated Press misquoted him and that he knows nothing about Neman being sick. The AP had quoted Hotchner as confirming that Newman had cancer.]