TRENDING NEWSENTERTAINMENTFOOD & DRINKHEALTHY NOWBOOKSHEPATITIS C STARTER KITNEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER HOME CELEBS SEE MORE About Parade¡ Contact Us¡ Terms of Use¡ Privacy Policy Š 2022 e Real Paul Newman! New Docu mentary, Book and 'Parade' Archives Shed Light on the Modest Hollywood Legend Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward had an unlikely romance.</p><p> MICHAEL GILTZ â˘SEP 16, 2022 Who doesnât know Paul Newman? The man with the beautiful blue eyes, the chiseled face and body, the 50-plus years of memorable acting and directing roles, the awards, the movie-star marriage.</p><p> Well, it turns out, there is lots more to know.</p><p> Both a recent HBO Max documentary (The Last Movie Stars) about his marriage to Joanne Woodward and an upcoming posthumous memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, out October 18, are based on interviews that Newman himself participated in, starting in 1986.</p><p> The documentary was revelatory, says Ben Mankiewicz, Turner Classic Movies host. âNewman and Woodward teach us that the last part of your life can be the best part of your life.â But there are other sides to Newman too.</p><p> Parade cover stories going back to 1969 reveal an actor who was a reluctant star, a man sometimes more interested in civil rights or racing cars than acting, and a loyal, sometimes cranky husband (see âFrom the Parade Vaultâ below).</p><p> And weâre learning he could be unpr edictable.</p><p> After working for ve years with screenwriter Stewart Stern of Rebel Without a Cause fame on candid interviews with himself, Woodward, family, childhood friends and artistic partnersâeveryone from Tom Cruise and Gore Vidal to buddies from World War IIâNewman burned all of the tapes in 1991.</p><p> Luckily, there were transcripts of those interviews, which formed the basis of this yearâs documentary and book.</p><p> Why did he burn the tapes? Nobody knows, says Mankiewicz, but maybe âhe thought, Nobody needs this arrogant actor talking about how great he is.</p><p> This is a waste of time and the world does not need Paul Newman talking about himself.</p><p> Iâm a fraud and this is just gonna lionize me.â And, says Mankiewicz laughing, âHe also clearly liked setting things on re,â remembering a moment in The Last Movie Stars where Newman is described torching some formalwear. âThat was the other part.</p><p> He had a little low-grade pyromaniaâburning the tuxedo in the driveway is pretty great.â What else donât we know about Paul Newman? Read on to nd out.</p><p> Related: Paul Newmanâs Best Roles e Making of a Star Newman was born on January 26, 1925, to a well-o father who ran a sporting goods store and quietly drank.</p><p> A lot.</p><p> Most of his life, Newman drank a lot too. âI didn't know that about him,â says Mankiewicz. âIâm told now that everyone knew.â Newman acted in some school plays and local productions as a kid but didnât take acting seriously.</p><p> After serving in World War II, he did summer stock, met his rst wife, Jackie, got married and had three kids, all before turning 30.</p><p> Newmanâs rst break was being cast in a new Broadway play, Picnic, in 1953.</p><p> His second break was working with the understudy for the female lead: Joanne Woodward, whoâd grown up in Georgia. âJoanne is a force of natur e,â says actor Michael Ontkean, who was 7 years old when Picnic premiered and would go on to co-star with Newman in 1977âs Slap Shot. âWhere would Paul have been without her giving him the keys to access the voices and souls of his early Southern and Texan characters? Those guys were courtesy of Joanne .â Mankiewicz agrees. âWhen they meet on the Broadway production of Picnic, there was this universal unde rstanding that he's this pretty boy who has some talent and she's Joanne f---ing Woodward,â he says. âShe's better.</p><p> And she was probably better for decades, until circumstance and baked-in Hollywood sexism meant that she had to give up her career.â Newman divorced his wife to marry Woodward in 1958 and have three more kids of their own.</p><p> Their lm careers skyrocketed as well.</p><p> Woodward won an Oscar for 1957âs The Three Faces Of Eve.</p><p> Newman followed her lead with Oscar-nominated roles in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967).</p><p> Then in 1968, Newman directed Woodward to an Oscar nomination for her performance in Rachel, Rachel.</p><p> In 1969, Woodward and that lm were up for Academy Awards.</p><p> It was also the year of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.</p><p> Joanne Woodward was an acclaimed actressâand Paul Newman was a movie star.</p><p> Newman and Redford followed the success of Butch Cassidy with The Sting, another monster smash hit and critical darling.</p><p> The duo never acted together again, despite being friends and the easy money the pairing would have brought in.</p><p> Instead, Newman preferred to spend his fame on o beat fare like WUSA (a 1970 political drama about conservative talk radio), Sometimes a Great Notion (a 1971 lm about strikers in a logging community) and Robert Altman movies such as Bu alo Bill and the Indians (1976).</p><p> Newman was active politically too, campaigning and discussing the issues of the day.</p><p> He was more comfortable speaking out against the Vietnam War and marching with Dr.</p><p> Martin Luther King Jr. than aiming for the top of the box o ce.</p><p> Actress Sally Field, who worked with Woodward in the 1976 TV miniseries Sybil and with Newman in 1981âs Absence of Malice, credits Newman and Woodward with her political awakening. âI learned from them,â she says. â[Director] Marty Ritt taug ht me.</p><p> Paul taught me.</p><p> Joanne .</p><p> I grew up in a very, very conservative household.</p><p> I watched how they cared about people.</p><p> Joanne would get so upset when the craft services would serve the crew junk food.</p><p> She said, âYou canât do that.</p><p> These young men need real food!â She would make goodies and bring them healthy mu ns and nuts and fruits. âIn both of them, thereâs this caring for their fellow man.</p><p> When I had the opportunity to do roles like Norma Rae and when I was in the shoes of someone I wasnât, I learned.</p><p> I was awakened. âOh, wait.</p><p> I do care about these hardworking people who are getting shafted.</p><p> I do care that they get paid fairly.</p><p> That they can stand up to the right and be heard.ââ Related: Ethan Hawke on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's Love Story in The Last Movie Stars Turning Tragedy on Its Head In 1978, Newman lost his son, Scott, to a drug overdose at the age of 28. âHe su ered the unfathomable tragedy of losing his son,â Mankiewicz says, âand realizing he probably didn't do all he could to help him.â (scroll to keep reading) Related Stories Princess Anne Sha res Emotional Statement About Her Mother's Last 24 Hours as Queenâs Co n Arrives at Buckingham Palace20 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth IIPaul Newman's Best Roles Newman responded in three ways: He plunge d even more into the world of professional auto racing, which he fell in love with after accepting the role of race car driver Frank Capua in the movie Winning (1969).</p><p> He rededicated himself to acting.</p><p> And he and Woodward launc hed the Scott Newman Center to ght addiction.</p><p> It would only be the start of their philanthropic endeavors, as Newman then parlayed his celebrity status into a line of food productsâfor a good cause.</p><p> Newmanâs Own donates all pro ts to charity.</p><p> The food angle wasnât all that o beat if you knew Newman well, says Field. âHe was a major cook.</p><p> He and [Absence of Malice director] Sydney Pollack would have cook-o s, and I would have to tell them which one was better.â In 1988, Newman launched the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a year-round camp to help kids and their families dealing with cancer or other medical challenges. âPaul saw Camp as the place where he could meaningfully acknowledge the benevolence of luck in his own life and the brutality of it in the lives of others,â says James Canton, CEO of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. âSo often, people would be enamored with Paul when he talked about it, but he was always so modest and deliberate in redirecting their attention to the courage of the children.â During all of this, Newman and Woodward ourished artistically.</p><p> Woodward starred in a string of acclaimed TV movies and won three Emmys.</p><p> And for 1986âs The Color of Money, Newman nally won his own Oscar, nearly 30 years after Woodward. âThe end of Newmanâs careerâThe Verdict, The Color of Money and Nobodyâs Foolâthose are his best roles,â says Mankiewicz.</p><p> The lms and their charities live on, even after Newmanâs 2008 death and 15 years after Woodwardâs Alzheimerâs disease diagnosis.</p><p> Newmanâs Own, begun in 1982, has raised more than $570 million for charity.</p><p> And the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp has helped thousands of kids and their families. âHe was more complicated than we thought,â Mankiewicz says. âIâm sure his memoir and the doc are just lled with an exposure to his humanity.</p><p> I mean that in both waysâhis outward humani ty toward the world and his sense of obligations.</p><p> He was a human and he was awed deeply, but he loved his family and tried his best to overcome it.â Related: James Canton, CEO of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, Talks to Parade About Paul Newman From the Parade Vault Paul NewmanâPolitically Active Superstar.</p><p> January 5, 1969 Paradeâs entertainment editor Lloyd Shearer called Newman an unlikely superstar who, in spite of his No. 1 status at the box o ce, âdoesnât live in Hollywood, drives a souped- up Volkswagen with a Porsche engine, owns only six suits and generally dresses like a sophomore attending college on the GI Bill of Rights.â Unlike most leading men, Shearer reported, Newman declined to seduce his leading ladies or ambitious young actresses. âI regularly get steak at home,â Newman said, referring to his wife. âWhy should I fool around with hamburger?â The actor was about to release his 29th lm, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and had directed his wife the year before in Rachel, Rachel. âI stumbl ed into serious acting,â Newman told Parade in 1969. âI was running away from the sporting goods business [his fatherâs profession], and acting was as good an escape mechanism as any.â Newmanâs respect as a professional actor gave him the power to get involved in âthe issues of our time,â he told Parade. âThere are too many crises, too many urgencies, too may really important life-and-death matters for anyone to stand aside.</p><p> These are the times in which a man must stand up and be counted.â Even in the 1960s, heâd set up a charitable founda tion that donated to civil rights and other groups.</p><p> Newman and Redford Together AgainâThis Time as Con Men.</p><p> April 22, 1973 It was big entertainment news when it was reported that actors Paul Newman and Robert Redford and director George Roy Hillâthe trio behind the popular Butch Cassidy and the Sundanc e Kidâwere back together for another movie.</p><p> This time it was The Sting, which also starred Robert Shaw.</p><p> Parade reported that Redford signed on rst, followed by Hill and then Newman, who, âexuding enough wit and charm to win anyoneâs con dence, plays Henry Gondor , the seasoned con who knows all the angle.â The Sting went on to be a huge critical and popular success and won 1974âs Oscar for Best Picture.</p><p> Paul Newman and Joanne WoodwardâAn Unlikely Romance.</p><p> October 28, 1990 As their new movie, Mr. and Mrs.</p><p> Bridge, was about to be released, Parade sat down with Newman and Woodward on the terrace of their Fifth Avenue apartment.</p><p> It was the 15th of their 16 projects together (and would be the last in which they appeared together onscreen; they had no scenes together in the 2005 HBO miniseries Empire Falls).</p><p> They both loved the books upon which the movie was based and relished âthe chance to get to work together again, which we hadnât done for a long time,â Newman said.</p><p> When asked about his seemingly perfect 32-year marriage, Woodward talked about âsheer luckâ and noted that âitâs an advantage that we spend time apart.</p><p> He races, I go to school.</p><p> We have our causes.</p><p> I go o to the spa, he goes shing.â Newman added, âOur marriage hasnât been a bed of roses! Hell, we went through some pretty rough stretches not so long ago.</p><p> Sometimes you get terminally irritated, and at one point I just packed up and left.â He was gone, he said, about 15 minutes before he said to himself, âWhat the hell am I doing? Iâve got no place to go! And I turned around and came right back.</p><p> Joanneâs right,â he said. âWhat weâve got is sheer luck!â Related: 25 Celebrities You Probably Didn't Know Were VeteransTrending Stories e 17 Best, Scariest Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now Kourtney Kardashian Addresses Fan Concerns a t She Never Lets Her Kids Eat French Fries Chrissy Teigen Addresses 'Brutal' Backlash A er Opening Up About Her Life-Saving Abortion Katie Couric Takes TikTok Followers Inside Her Beauty Routine Reese Witherspoon Honors 20th Anniversary of 'Sweet Home Alabama' With rowback ClipDouglas Kirkland/ACC Art Books Actor Ontkean, who appeared with Newman in the sports classic Slap Shot (1977), had a wonderful relationship with the star: âPaul is never far from my thoughts, as he was the father and brother I never had growing up.â PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Milton Greene/ACC Art Books âWe were standing outside of the Miami Herald at night,â recalls Field, during the lming of Absence of Malice (1981). âAt the end of the block there was a barricade and people were there, watching.</p><p> Paul saw them and said, âOh, look at that crowd.</p><p> I wonder whatâs going on down there?â I said, âDonât you know? 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