Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning actor with the legendary blue eyes, achieved superstar status by playing charismatic renegades, broken heroes, and winsome antiheroes in such revered films as The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Verdict, The Color of Money, and Nobody’s Fool. But Newman was also an oddity in Hollywood: the rare box-office titan who cared about the … titan who cared about the craft of acting, the sexy leading man known for the staying power of his marriage, and the humble celebrity who made philanthropy his calling card long before it was cool.
The son of a successful entrepreneur, Newman grew up in a prosperous Cleveland suburb. Despite fears that he would fail to live up to his father’s expectations, Newman bypassed the family sporting goods business to pursue an acting career. After struggling as a theater and television actor, Newman saw his star rise in a tragic twist of fate, landing the role of boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me when James Dean was killed in a car accident. Though he would joke about instances of “Newman’s luck” throughout his career, he refused to coast on his stunning boyish looks and impish charm. Part of the original Actors Studio generation, Newman demanded a high level of rigor and clarity from every project. The artistic battles that nearly derailed his early movie career would pay off handsomely at the box office and earn him critical acclaim.
He applied that tenacity to every endeavor both on and off the set. The outspoken Newman used his celebrity to call attention to political causes dear to his heart, including civil rights and nuclear proliferation. Taking up auto racing in midlife, Newman became the oldest driver to ever win a major professional auto race. A food enthusiast who would dress his own salads in restaurants, he launched the Newman’s Own brand dedicated to fresh ingredients, a nonprofit juggernaut that has generated more than $250 million for charity.
In Paul Newman: A Life, film critic and pop culture historian Shawn Levy gives readers the ultimate behind-the-scenes examination of the actor’s life, from his merry pranks on the set to his lasting romance with Joanne Woodward to the devastating impact of his son’s death from a drug overdose. This definitive biography is a fascinating portrait of an extraordinarily gifted man who gave back as much as he got out of life and just happened to be one of the most celebrated movie stars of the twentieth century.
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Meet the complex man behind the gorgeous blue eyes.
I can’t say I began reading this book with objectivity. I am a lifelong Paul Newman fan.
I will say that I got to know him better through this book and discovered a much more complicated actor-racer-entrepreneur-philanthropist than I expected. In fact, in many ways, he was a study of …
I was always a big fan of Paul Newman, however this book allowed me to find out so many more interesting things about this man and what made him tick. He was involved in so many different things in his life and he backed up many of his ideals through his philanthropy.
A little disappointing. Not inspired writing.
Very well researched and very in depth. Loved this actor, and admired his commitment to his craft, his philanthropy and his sense of humor. This author conveyed all of these qualities very well. Recommend for the die hard Paul Newman fan like myself, but the casual fan may not appreciate.
Excellen
Interesting and fun
Very good writing and very detailed book about an inspiring man.
Newman had a very interesting life. He was a very giving person.
Boring boring boring book
While this certainly was not written by Paul Newman himself, the author seemed to have access to almost everyone in his life, including his wife JoAnn, and it felt like you were really gaining insight into Paul Newman himself, his acting style, his style of parenting, and his style of “husbanding” a wife or a project. Very entertaining and …
I was afraid of the length of this nook book. Was pleasantly surprised at how fast the pages went. Kept my interest up all the way. It was one of the best books written on a celebrity.
I enjoyed this book and when I finished it I felt I knew the man behind those blue eyes – warts and all.
A about one of the best.
I quit reading this in middle of chapter 2. If the reader wants to know every little detail abaout every movie Paul Newman was ever involved in this is the book for you. Not a book about Paul as a person or actor. the reader never gets a sense of the man which is what i was after. I am a huge fan of Paul newman therefore I was very anxious to get …
I enjoyed this book, but would only recommend it to people who are really interested in Paul Newman’s life. I believe it portrayed the different sides of Paul Newman, but it was a slow moving read.
good insight into Paul Newman’s life. sometimes gets a long winded about movies he made. Liked it.
This book is fantastic for any Paul Newman fans. He was an amazing man and
there is much here that almost no-one knows.
Did nor like the beginning and the in-depth of the area he grew up in. Way too long and information.
Author to long winded. Would have love to have finished reading about Paul Newman’s life but I could not stay with this writer’s style.
A good book. I now know more about Paul Newman than I did.