Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, filmmaker, racecar driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Described as one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, he earned numerous honors throughout his career, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, seven Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and an Actor Award. He also received the Academy Honorary Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and raised in Shaker Heights, Newman was the son of Arthur Sigmund Newman Sr., who ran a sporting goods store, and Theresa Garth. He developed an early interest in theater, performing at age seven in a school production of Robin Hood and later at the Cleveland Play House. During World War II, Newman served in the United States Navy as a radioman and tail gunner in the Pacific theater, qualifying in torpedo bombers and flying as a turret gunner in an Avenger torpedo bomber.

After his military service, Newman completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama and economics at Kenyon College in 1949. He toured with summer stock companies, including the Belfry Players and the Woodstock Players, before attending the Yale School of Drama for a year. He subsequently moved to New York City to study under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Newman made his Broadway debut in William Inge's Picnic in 1953 and later appeared in original stage productions such as The Desperate Hours and Sweet Bird of Youth.

Newman began acting in television in the early 1950s before making his Hollywood film debut in The Silver Chalice (1954). His breakthrough came in 1956 when he portrayed boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. In 1958, he starred in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, earning his first Academy Award nomination, and won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for The Long, Hot Summer. That same year, he married actress Joanne Woodward, with whom he shared a long screen partnership across 16 films.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Newman established himself as a major star with roles in films such as The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), Hombre (1967), and Cool Hand Luke (1967). In 1968, he directed Rachel, Rachel, which earned two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. He co-starred with Robert Redford in the smash hit Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and later appeared in major productions like The Sting (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977), and Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981).

Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Color of Money (1986). His other Oscar-nominated performances included roles in The Young Philadelphians (1959), Absence of Malice (1981), The Verdict (1982), Nobody's Fool (1994), and Road to Perdition (2002). His stage career concluded with Thornton Wilder's Our Town on Broadway in 2003, and he later voiced Doc Hudson in the animated film Cars (2006).

Beyond acting, Newman was an accomplished auto racer who won several Sports Car Club of America national road racing championships. In business and philanthropy, he co-founded Newman's Own, a food company donating all post-tax profits and royalties to charity, generating over $600 million by 2026. He also founded charitable organizations including the SeriousFun Children's Network and the Safe Water Network. Married twice, Newman was the father of six children.