Paul Newman was voted the greatest film actor of all times,
according to a survey of film experts. The man with the most famous
blue eyes in Hollywood topped the list
based on such criteria as box-office success, Oscar nominations and
acting range.
The
top 10: Paul
Newman | Tom
Hanks | James Stewart | Harrison
Ford | Marlon
Brando | Cary Grant | Robert Redford | Sean Connery | Tom Cruise | Gary Cooper
Born Paul Leonard Newman in Shaker Heights,
Ohio, on 26 January 1925, the second son of Arthur and Theresa Newman. He attributed his
good looks to his mixed heritage of being half Jewish (father side)
and half Christian (on
his mother’s side)
Newman was so disgusted with his debut performance in "The Silver Chalice" (1954) that he took out press adverts, garlanded
with a funeral wreath, to persuade people to avoid it. It had an adverse effect when crowds flocked to the cinema much to Newman’s
dismay. Oscar-nominated for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler
(1961), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Absence of Malice (1981)
and The Verdict (1982), before finally winning in 1986 for The
Color of Money. Newman unfazed stored his only Oscar in a cupboard. However,
he will admit to the the New York Critics Prize award for his directorial debut, Rachel, Rachel
(1968)
He served in the US Navy during the Second World War, but his hopes of becoming a pilot were dashed when a medical revealed that those dazzling blue eyes, for which he would later become famed, were colour-blind. That was just the beginning of the troubles those eyes have caused. All his life, Newman complained, he was plagued by fans demanding to see them. Paul once said, "to accomplish what I have accomplished, and than have some yo-yo come up to you and
bark... "Take off those dark glasses and let’s have a look at those blue eyes’… it’s really
discouraging."
He married actress Jacqueline Witte,
in 1949 and had three children. They moved to New York where Jacqueline modelled and Newman studied at Lee Strasberg’s Actors’ Studio, among a vintage collection of classmates
were Marlon Brando, James Dean and Rod Steiger. The group perfected the art of cool, although Newman admits it took some time to get
a grip on it.
Father to three children, Scott, (who committed suicide)
Susan and Stephanie, with first wife and three
daughters, Nell, Lissy and Clea, with Joanne Woodward who he married
in Vegas in 1958. Since the drug overdose death of his son, Newman has donated the proceeds
from his own recipe salad dressings and foods to the Scott Newman
Foundation. He also represented the USA at the 1978 UN Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.
The press describes him as, "A
cool sexuality that is unique in American cinema with a
quality se of sex and danger…." Newman retorts
with, "My
spaghetti sauce out-grosses my films" Newman's
favourite films all have a H in the title: The Long Hot
Summer 1958 - Cat On A Hot Tin
Roof 1958 - The Hustler 1961 -
Hud 1963 - Hombre 1967 -
Cool Hand Luke 1967
Famous Jewish Actors
