Newman who served in Second World War, studied drama at Yale and later enrolled in the Actor’s Studio where he meet James Dean, Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen.
After some parts in Broadway and TV plays, Newman signed a contract with Warner Brothers and debuted in the religious drama The Silver Chalice in 1954.
Although his first film was a total flop he continued working on the stage until 1956’s Somebody Up There Likes Me directed by Robert Wise made him a star.
In 1958 Paul Newman starred in The Long Hot Summer with Orson Welles and Joan Woodward who would become his second wife, and to whom he was married for 50 years.
Cat on a Hot Thin Roof gave Newman his first Oscar nomination
That same year he starred with Elizabeth Taylor in Richard Brooks adaptation of Tennessee Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, earning his first Oscar nomination.
Exodus (1960) and Paris Blues (61) were competent films but it would be Robert Rosen’s The Hustler that would give him a second Oscar nomination and the character for which he would win the Oscar for best actor in 1987 in Martin Scorsese's The Colour of Money.
The next year Newman worked again with Richard Brooks for the screen version of Tennessee Williams Sweet Birth of Youth, a role Newman had recently played on Broadway.
In 1963 Newman joined forces with Director Martin Ritt for one of the highlights of both man’s carers. Hud, a contemporary western in witch Newman played a rebel cowboy with an amoral perspective of life.
In the years that followed Paul Newman, like so many actors of this period had trouble getting the roles he deserved. Hollywood was facing profound changes in the public taste and both Harper and Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain (66) were merely average efforts.
Fortunately 1967’s Cool and Luke would give Paul Newman another classic role in one of his best remembered films. Newman who plays a rebellious convict that strongly believes in freedom and self esteem, earned his forth Oscar nomination
But Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (69) directed by George Roy Hill was one of the most popular films in Newman’s carer. Starring alongside Robert Redford the two man started a long friendship that would continue on screen with The Sting (1973).
In 1969 Newman directed his first film, Rachel, Rachel, for which his wife Joanne Woodward received an Oscar Nomination.
The Seventies were a busy decade for Newman who worked with John Huston in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (72) and The Macintosh Man (73) and in Robert Altman's Buffalo Bill and the Indians (76).
The eighties began in full gear with Sidney Pollack’s Absence of Malice (81) and The Verdict (82) directed by Sidney Lumet for which the actor would earn another Oscar nomination.
In 1987 Newman directed The Glass Menagerie, an acclaimed adaptation of the Tennessee William’s stage play and in 1990 he starred with his wife Joan Woodward in James Ivory’s Mr and Mrs Bridge.
In 1995 Paul Newman aged 70, received another Oscar nomination for his role in Robert Benton’s Nobody’s Fool in which he worked with Jessica Tandy.
During the eighties and nineties Newman screen persona matured admirably and his roles reflected the emotional and physical ages of the actor who was portraying them.
Finally in 2002 Newman got his last Oscar nomination for his role of an elderly Crime Boss in Sam Mendes Road to Perdition.
In 1986 Paul Newman received an honorary Oscar for his carer and in 1994 the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
In 2005 Newman started a foundation for the purpose of helping numerous social works using his multi million dollar donations in the support of poor families and sick children.
More than a very good actor turned millionaire, Paul Newman was a man who cared. He cared for his art and for his fellow human beings.
