ACTOR
Paul Newman
106 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (106)
- #001
Paul Newman owned his own line of food products, "Newman's Own," most notably spaghetti sauces and salad dressings. Over the years the company earned more than $100 million in profit, all of which was donated to various charities.
- #002
Known as an obscene joker, Newman and Robert Redford played numerous pranks on each other in particular. Once, Redford, who was also involved in auto racing, had a battered Porsche shell delivered to Newman's porch for Newman's 50th birthday. Newman said nothing, but shortly afterward Redford found a (now) molten metal safe delivered into the living room of a house Redford had rented, collapsing the floor. Not to be outdone, Redford turned the metal into an incredibly ugly sculpture and threw it into Newman's garden.
- #003
Paul Newman turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971) because he considered the script too right-wing, and recommended Clint Eastwood for the part instead.
- #004
Newman's final film, the animated comedy Cars (2006), became the highest-grossing film of his career.
- #005
On his 75th birthday, Newman said he burned his tuxedo because his formalities were over.
- #006
Newman often said that among all the films he appeared in, Slap Shot (1977) was the most fun and his personal favorite.
- #007
It was not widely known that Paul Newman was a talented jazz and blues pianist, like Clint Eastwood. A photograph was taken showing him playing while Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin sang, with Robert Mitchum and James Garner watching.
- #008
During the Watergate scandal, Newman was among the celebrities on President Richard Nixon's famous "Enemies List."
- #009
Nine years after his death, Newman reprised the role of Doc Hudson in Cars 3 (2017): unused recordings from Cars (2006) were used as new dialogue.
- #010
Newman finished second in the 1979 Le Mans 24-hour race driving a Porsche 935.
- #011
When Premiere magazine compiled its annual list of 24 Great Performances, it usually asked actors who their idols were. Newman was by far the most frequently cited idol.
- #012
Since the 1980s, Newman donated between $150 million and $175 million to charities.
- #013
In an interview, Newman said that no film had a particular effect on him until he saw On the Waterfront (1954).
- #014
The GI Bill allowed Newman to spend his first three months at Yale University. For the rest of his time there, he sold the Encyclopaedia Britannica to pay his tuition. He claimed he was very good at it.
- #015
Newman was training to be a pilot in the United States Navy, but it turned out he was color blind, ending his dreams of flying.
- #016
Paul Newman was Jake Gyllenhaal's godfather.
- #017
Newman has two roles that were first offered to Elvis Presley but turned down by Presley's manager: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).
- #018
Early in his acting career, Newman was often mistaken for Marlon Brando. He claimed to have read around 500 autographs signed "Best wishes, Marlon Brando."
- #019
Paul Newman was nominated for an acting Oscar in five different decades: the 1950s (Best Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958), the 1960s (Best Actor for The Hustler, 1961, Hud, 1963, and Cool Hand Luke, 1967), the 1980s (Best Actor for Absence of Malice, 1981, and The Verdict, 1982, and The Color of Money, 1986, which he won), the 1990s (Best Actor for Nobody's Fool, 1994) and finally Road to Perdition (2002), for which he won Best Supporting Actor.
- #020
Paul Newman said his favorite sound was that of a V-8 engine.
- #021
Paul Newman was offered the role of Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur (1959), but turned it down, saying he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic.
- #022
As a Mother's Day gift, Paul Newman gave his wife Joanne Woodward a two-hour uninterrupted drive along roads in Westport, Connecticut, that she had never seen before.
- #023
Paul Newman was so ashamed of his debut in the failed costume drama The Silver Chalice (1954) that he placed an ad in Variety apologizing for his performance. Years later he was given the Golden Turkey Award for Most Embarrassing Debut Film of All Time for his performance in The Silver Chalice (1954). His response was that he fully agreed with the award.
- #024
Paul Newman became friends with the future Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme when they were students at Kenyon College in Ohio in the 1940s.
- #025
In June 2002, Newman returned to live theater for the first time in 35 years in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" at the Westport Country Playhouse near his Connecticut home. He directed and played the role of the Stage Manager. His wife, Joanne Woodward, was then the Playhouse's Artistic Director. To help fund the Playhouse next door, he opened a restaurant called "Dressing Room" in Westport with co-owner and chef Michael Nischan.
- #026
With Road to Perdition (2002), Paul Newman became the first actor nominated for an Oscar for a performance in a comic-book adaptation.
- #027
Paul Newman is one of only six actors nominated for an acting award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences across five decades (the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s). The others who pulled off the feat are Laurence Olivier (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s), Katharine Hepburn (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s), Jack Nicholson (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s), Michael Caine (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s) and Meryl Streep (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s).
- #028
The original "Daytona" model from the 1960s, one of the most sought-after and valuable collectible Rolex watches, is informally and passionately known worldwide as the Rolex "Paul Newman," and in steel it can sell at auction for as much as $100,000. The nickname was adopted because he wore one in a film.
- #029
Paul Newman appeared 14 times in Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars poll between 1963 and 1986, placing him 7th on the all-time top 10. He comes after Bing Crosby, who made the list 15 times, Clark Gable (16 times on the list), Gary Cooper and Tom Cruise (18 times each), Clint Eastwood (21 times) and John Wayne (25 times).
- #030
Otto Preminger, himself Jewish, cast Paul Newman in Exodus (1960) because he wanted someone of Jewish origin who did not "look Jewish."
- #031
The Simpsons episode Lost Verizon (2008) was dedicated to his memory.
- #032
Despite being color blind, Paul Newman did all of his own driving in films.
- #033
Paul Newman had a son and two daughters with his first wife, Jacqueline "Jackie" Witte. His only son, Scott Newman, died of a drug overdose in 1978. His daughter Susan Kendall Newman is known for stage acting and philanthropic work. His other daughter from his first marriage is Stephanie, born in 1954.
- #034
Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts were to star in Paper Moon (1973), but this changed when original director John Huston withdrew and was replaced by Peter Bogdanovich.
- #035
Paul Newman's performance as Frank Galvin in The Verdict (1982) ranked 19th on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
- #036
When Paul Newman did not receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), producer Charles Schnee and director Robert Wise gave him what they called a "Noscar." The engraving reads: "To Paul Newman, the Schnee-Wise Noscar award, for best portrayal of a worthless person, turning him into a charming and lovable soul, and thereby doing what Lincoln said should never be done, namely fooling all the people all the time."
- #037
Before filming The Hustler (1961), Paul Newman had no talent for playing pool. After being coached for the role, however, he felt so confident in his ability that he bet his co-star Jackie Gleason $50 on a game of pool. Gleason, an excellent pool player, beat Newman. Instead of paying him in dollars, Newman threw 50 dollars' worth of pennies onto the table for Gleason to take.
- #038
Paul Newman directed three actors to Oscar nominations: Joanne Woodward (Best Actress, Rachel, Rachel (1968)), Estelle Parsons (Best Supporting Actress, Rachel, Rachel (1968)) and Richard Jaeckel (Best Supporting Actor, Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)).
- #039
Lee Strasberg, who trained Newman at the Actors Studio, said the actor could be as great as Marlon Brando but often relied on his good looks to get through a role.
- #040
Newman was nominated for an Oscar 10 times: eight times for Best Actor, once for Best Supporting Actor and once for Best Picture (the latter two in the same year), yet he never received a Best Director nomination even though he won the then equally prestigious New York Film Critics Award for Best Director for Rachel, Rachel (1968). The only actors with more acting nominations are Jack Nicholson, with 12 (8 Best Actor and 4 Best Supporting Actor nominations), and Laurence Olivier (nine Best Actor nominations and 1 Best Supporting Actor nomination). On the other hand, Bette Davis, nominated for an Oscar 10 times, all in the Best Actress category, has more acting nominations than Newman, as do Katharine Hepburn with 12 nominations and Meryl Streep with 21.
- #041
Paul Newman did not begin training to become an actor until he was 26.
- #042
In 2003, over a five-month period, Newman was nominated for an Oscar (for Road to Perdition (2002)), a Tony (for "Our Town") and an Emmy (for Our Town (2003)).
- #043
The role of Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) was first given to James Dean, who died before shooting began; because of Dean's untimely death, Newman was cast in the part. Dean had also agreed to play Billy the Kid in The Left Handed Gun (1958), but that role too fell to Newman after Dean's death. Dean and Newman had done their final screen tests together for East of Eden (1955); Dean, six years younger, took the role, while Newman went on to appear in the notorious turkey The Silver Chalice (1954).
- #044
Paul Newman was named the 13th Greatest Movie Star of All Time by Entertainment Weekly.
- #045
Like his close friend Robert Redford, Newman had a firstborn son named Scott who died before his father.
- #046
While campaigning for the Democrats in the 1968 US presidential election, Newman rented a Jaguar on weekends. When he learned that his opponent Richard Nixon, known to his rivals as "Tricky Dick", rented the same car during the week, Newman left a note inside reading, "This clutch is tricky, so you won't have any trouble with it."
- #047
When color blindness disqualified him from becoming a pilot, Paul Newman served as the rear gunner of a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber.
- #048
Paul Newman was a big fan of Jim Carrey.
- #049
In May 2007 Newman announced his retirement from acting. He had previously announced his retirement in 1995 but returned to make four more films. Newman died on 26 September 2008 at the age of 83; a heavy smoker for thirty years, he died of lung cancer.
- #050
Paul Newman had three daughters with Joanne Woodward: the actress Melissa Newman, Nell Potts and Claire Newman.
- #051
In the 1950s and 1960s Newman was close friends with his fellow Democrat and civil rights activist Charlton Heston. In 1983, after Heston's political views shifted to the right, the two actors took opposing sides in a television debate about President Ronald Reagan's Star Wars missile defense program. Heston, far better informed and prepared than Newman, was judged to have won the debate easily. Several years later, when Newman learned that Heston was to introduce him at an awards ceremony, Newman insisted that the liberal Donald Sutherland be brought in in place of his former friend.
- #052
Premiere magazine ranked Paul Newman the 6th Greatest Movie Star of All Time in its 2005 feature "Stars in Our Constellation."
- #053
Paul Newman was the only actor to win an Oscar for a role he had played before. He had previously been nominated as the same character in The Hustler (1961) and won for playing Fast Eddie Felson in The Color of Money (1986).
- #054
Paul Newman's performance as Luke Jackson in Cool Hand Luke (1967) ranked 30th on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes and Villains list.
- #055
Paul Newman was a longtime supporter of gun control and a member of Handgun Control Inc.
- #056
Paul Newman lived in Westport, Connecticut, and was known to race at Lime Rock Road Circuit.
- #057
Paul Newman is one of only six actors nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role. He was nominated for the role of Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986). The other five are Bing Crosby, nominated as Father O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945); Peter O'Toole, nominated as Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968); Al Pacino, nominated as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974); Cate Blanchett, nominated as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007); and Sylvester Stallone, nominated as Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015).
- #058
His longest gap without an Oscar nomination was the 13 years between his Best Picture nomination for Rachel, Rachel (1968) and his Best Actor nomination for Absence of Malice (1981).
- #059
He was an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage.
- #060
He and Frank Sinatra are the only actors to have won an acting Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a Special/Honorary Academy Award. Sinatra won Best Supporting Actor (1953), the Humanitarian Award (1970) and a Special Award (1945, Best Short Subject, The House I Live In (1945)). Newman won Best Actor (1986), the Humanitarian Award (1993) and an Honorary Award (1985) for lifetime achievement.
- #061
Derek Kolstad said that when he first conceived the film, he had Newman in mind for the lead role in John Wick (2014).
- #062
His film poster for Hud (1963) is visible in Midnight Cowboy (1969).
- #063
His performance as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) ranked 64th on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
- #064
The Eiger Sanction (1975) was initially conceived as a vehicle for him.
- #065
He attended President Jimmy Carter's inauguration ceremony on January 20, 1977.
- #066
On February 1, 1994, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #067
He took part in month-long festivities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in support of the Indianapolis 500.
- #068
He was ranked 12th among the 100 sexiest stars in film history by Empire magazine.
- #069
He was friends with Angela Lansbury and Martha Stewart.
- #070
He and Frank Sinatra are the only people to have been awarded a competitive Oscar, an Honorary Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
- #071
As of 2007, he is one of six directors to have guided his wife to a Best Actress Oscar nomination (Joanne Woodward, Rachel, Rachel (1968)). The other five are Joel Coen, who directed Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996); John Cassavetes, who directed Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980); Blake Edwards, who directed Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria (1982); Paul Czinner, who directed Elisabeth Bergner in Escape Me Never (1935); and Richard Brooks, who directed Jean Simmons in The Happy Ending (1969). Jules Dassin also directed his future wife Melina Mercouri in an Oscar-nominated performance (Never on Sunday (1960)), but they were not yet married at the time of the nomination.
- #072
Michelle Pfeiffer wanted Newman to play her father, patriarch Larry Cook, in A Thousand Acres (1997), which Newman produced. Newman turned down the role, which went to Jason Robards.
- #073
He was ranked 19th on Empire magazine's list of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time (2007).
- #074
He was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1990).
- #075
GQ magazine named Paul Newman one of the 50 Best-Dressed Men of the Last 50 Years.
- #076
He donated $1 million to The Nation magazine to keep it running.
- #077
He turned down the lead role of Jackie Scanlon in Sorcerer (1977), which ultimately went to Roy Scheider.
- #078
He was one of many Hollywood celebrities who enjoyed regular weekend visits to Ralph Helfer's Africa U.S.A. exotic animal ranch in Soledad Canyon, California, to help with chores and play with the animals.
- #079
He was mentioned in a discussion in La Dolce Vita (1960) about the salaries paid to film stars.
- #080
Along with Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Bon Jovi, Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary J. Blige, Chevy Chase and Jessica Lange, he took part in the Democrats' main fundraising event for Senator John Kerry at Radio City Music Hall ahead of the Democratic National Convention (13 August 2004).
- #081
He backed anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy's 1968 bid to win the Democratic nomination from incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson, and actively campaigned for George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.
- #082
He starred in two of the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Films: Cool Hand Luke (1967) at No. 71 and The Verdict (1982) at No. 75.
- #083
He made 16 films with his wife Joanne Woodward, sharing top billing in The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984) and Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990). Newman directed or produced the following films starring Woodward: Empire Falls (2005), Rachel, Rachel (1968), They Might Be Giants (1971), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), The Shadow Box (1980) and The Glass Menagerie (1987).
- #084
He joined the Navy during World War II and spent three years in the Pacific as a radio operator on torpedo planes.
- #085
He turned down the role of Bernie White in The Paper (1994), which went to Robert Duvall.
- #086
He was director Robert Wise's first choice for the lead in The Sand Pebbles (1966), a role that ultimately went to Steve McQueen, who earned his only Oscar nomination for it. Wise had previously directed Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and Until They Sail (1957).
- #087
According to Joe McGinniss's book on the advertising industry's involvement in Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign, the first telethon of the Eugene McCarthy campaign, staged by Newman, raised $125,000 (about $800,000 in 2008 dollars, a good sum at the time). Nixon's admen attributed the success of their own fundraising drive to Newman's involvement.
- #088
He supported Al Franken's campaign to be elected United States Senator from Minnesota.
- #089
He supported Senator Ted Kennedy's 1980 campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
- #090
He was the grandfather of Peter (born May 1996) and Henry Elkind, the sons of his daughter Melissa "Lissy" Newman and her husband Raphael "Raphe" Elkind.
- #091
He recorded a television commercial for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
- #092
Pro-Palestinian advocates claimed that Newman later regretted making Exodus (1960), but no record of this exists.
- #093
After his war service, Paul Newman enrolled at the Yale School of Drama and moved to New York, where he entered television.
- #094
Paul Newman was the father-in-law of Gary Irving (husband of Elinor "Nell" Newman), Raphael "Raphe" Elkind (husband of Melissa "Lissy" Newman) and Kurt Soderlund (husband of Claire "Clea" Newman).
- #095
During his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1968, Paul Newman was stunned by Eugene McCarthy's shocking of the United States. Newman appeared on the cover of the May 10, 1968 issue of Life magazine wearing a McCarthy badge on his jacket.
- #096
Paul Newman made two films with Pier Angeli: The Silver Chalice (1954) and Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956).
- #097
According to director Robert Zemeckis, Paul Newman turned down the role of Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) because he found acting opposite animated characters demeaning.
- #098
Paul Newman was considered for the role of Richard Vernon in The Breakfast Club (1985).
- #099
Paul Newman once finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
- #100
Paul Newman was born in a middle-class area of Cleveland, Ohio.
- #101
Paul Newman was considered to play James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).
- #102
A significant portion of the characters Paul Newman played have first names, surnames or nicknames beginning with the letter 'H': Captain Edward Hall, Jr. in The Rack (1956), Captain Jack Harding in Until They Sail (1957), Harry Bannerman in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), the title character in The Hustler (1961), Hud Bannon in Hud (1963), Lew Harper in Harper (1966) and The Drowning Pool (1975), the title character in Hombre (1967), Harry Frigg in The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968), Hank Stamper in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), Henry Gondorff in The Sting (1973), Hank Anderson in When Time Ran Out... (1980), Harry Ross in Twilight (1998), Harry Keach in Harry & Son (1984) and Doc Hudson in Cars (2006).
- #103
In 1952, Paul Newman lived with his first family at the Ambassador Apartments at 30 Daniel Low Terrace in St. George, Staten Island, New York.
- #104
Paul Newman turned down the role of Rambo.
- #105
Paul Newman was born on the same day as actress Joan Leslie.
- #106
While in New York performing on stage and in films, Paul Newman lived on Corbett Road near Crocheron Park in Bayside, Queens, New York.
Continue through the archive
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidas Butch Cassidy
Cool Hand Lukeas Luke Jackson- The Verdictas Frank Galvin
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roofas Brick Pollitt
- Slap Shotas Reggie
- Nobody's Foolas Donald 'Sully' Sullivan
- The Young Philadelphiansas Anthony Judson Lawrence
- The Long, Hot Summeras Ben Quick
- Harperas Lew Harper
- Twilightas Harry Ross
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