Paul Newman ( 1925-2008)
Age 83
The story of legendary American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and auto racing enthusiast
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Ann Hornaday
Those eyes. Who wouldn't have had a charmed life with the endowment of such preternatural baby blues? And the metabolism of a 15-year-old boy, the superb physical coordination, the well-adjusted childhood and the series of fortunate breaks? Even the beneficiary himself had a name for it: "Newman's Luck." From the moment he was born, into a secure and stable Cleveland family in 1925, until he died at age 83 last September, Paul Newman personified that combination of congenital superiority, entitlement, modesty and beneficence that defined his era's most cherished ideals about America itself. For decades, he was probably the single best reason to go to the movies, from "Somebody Up There Likes Me" to "The Road to Perdition" (and let's not forget his gruff valedictory providing voice talent in the animated movie "Cars"). Newman embodied the Platonic ideal of the Hollywood movie star, combining heart-stopping good looks with genuine talent, and working continually at his craft when he could easily have coasted. But he found meaning in life far away from the screen: in Connecticut with his wife and six kids, on the racetrack, at camps he founded for terminally ill children and, relatively late in life, in a salad-dressing business that started as a lark but winded up being -- what else? -- stupendously successful. He was, in short, one hell of a guy. And Shawn Levy's absorbing, affectionate portrait manages to bring him back to us, if only cursorily. As Levy, a film critic for the Portland Oregonian, readily admits in the book's acknowledgments, he never spoke with Newman. He was forced to make do with interviews Newman had conducted with other reporters over the years, rearranging them in chronological order and constructing a grand unified narrative in the actor's own voice. Combining that with his own reporting and interjecting his own critical analyses of Newman's screen persona, Levy has respectfully and respectably summed up Newman as a man in full. By his own lights, that man was blessed with unusual good fortune. But occasionally even Newman's Luck gave out. Levy reminds readers that Newman's long and loving marriage to Joanne Woodward was the result of an affair during his first marriage, which had produced three children. (Even his marriage to Woodward endured at least one unbecoming instance of Newman's infidelity.) He had a difficult relationship with his only son, Scott, who in 1978 died of an accidental drug overdose. And, in what will perhaps come as the biggest surprise to readers, Newman himself was a devoted drinker. Although he eventually gave up the hard stuff, he continued to pound down several beers a day, somehow never developing the gut to show for it. That, pretty much, covers the bad news. The rest of "Paul Newman: A Life" reads as a virtually uninterrupted series of golden moments and gallantry. Fans of Newman's screen work may want to skip Levy's detailed chronicle of his subject's car-racing career in places like Atlanta and Daytona and Lime Rock, Conn., just as readers interested in his political activism -- which encompassed campaigns for Eugene McCarthy, Pete McCloskey and Ned Lamont -- may not especially care about whom he was up against each of the 10 times he was nominated for an Oscar. (He finally won in 1987, for "The Color of Money.") If the book occasionally feels rote in its retelling of Newman's accomplishments, it still presents a dutifully comprehensive record that, put together in one place, qualifies as astonishing in its consistency and level of achievement. Levy is most astute when he steps back to consider how Newman continually deployed his screen image to subvert his native appeal. As Fast Eddie Felson, Chance Wayne and Hud Bannon, he came to represent the youthful rebelliousness and anti-authoritarianism that the 1960s were all about. "The twist was that Newman played not kids but grown-ups," Levy writes, "more specifically, grown-ups who hadn't yet outgrown juvenile impulses, urges, and flaws and might never do so." Much later, in films like "The Verdict" and "Nobody's Fool," he played rough when he could have settled into a far more unthreatening dotage in more anodyne fare. It's tempting to think that Newman's Luck was just that: his alone, unattainable for mere mortals. But "Paul Newman: A Life" leaves readers with a surprisingly cheering and inspiring message. If the rest of us can't aspire to having Newman's life, we can at least take inspiration from the way he lived his. We can play the cards we're dealt -- with guts, grace and generosity.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
From Booklist
As many diverse roles as Paul Newman played on the silver screen, he occupied nearly as many roles in his real life. Levy, in this for-the-record biography, shows us Newman as the hungry New York actor, the guilt-ridden divorcé, the matinee idol, the grieving father, the business philanthropist—and many more. Newman thought of himself as essentially two people: the public actor and the private man. Levy shows us that, in fact, Newman had many different identities within those two primary delineations. As the public performer, he was a consummate professional (and, of course, glamorous beyond compare). In this context, he wore not only the hat of leading man but also those of director, fund-raiser, promoter, and stage performer. In his private life, Newman proved just as supple, inhabiting the roles of loyal son and brother, supportive husband (to actress Joanne Woodward) and responsible provider for his six children. But he had his faults. Levy delicately documents Newman’s extramarital dalliances as well as his fatherly failings. Ultimately, the author reveals how Newman was able to blend his many components and become a man of great integrity who was successful at almost everything he tried—including his charitable pursuits. Levy’s representation of the many Newmans will leave readers feeling that they have somehow slipped through the security gate and gotten to know a movie star who was famously guarded about his private life. --Jerry Eberle
Review
Praise for Paul Newman
“Shawn Levy’s absorbing, affectionate portrait manages to bring [Newman] back to us…. PAUL NEWMAN: A LIFE leaves readers with a suprisingly cheering message. If the rest of us can’t aspire to having Newman’s life, we can at least take inspiration from the way he lived his. We can play the cards we’re dealt–with guts, grace and generosity.”
—The Washington Post
“A graceful tribute to a one-of-a-kind man.”
—Seattle Times
“A rich, serious, yet thoroughly readable biography of a major American movie icon….Fascinating.”
—Portland Oregonian
“[A] very readable accounting of Newman’s life. Levy reveals the chinks…while still deeply appreciating the man.”
—People (featured review, 3 ½ stars)
“[R]ichly researched….Shawn Levy, a film critic at Portland's Oregonian, has done his homework....Being able to bask in Newman's Own insights is enough to bring this one-of-a-kind star back to life, however briefly. And to miss him terribly again when the final page is turned.”
—USA Today
“An illuminating look at one of the true greats, full of humor and intelligent analysis–highly recommended.”
—Kirkus, starred review
“Levy’s unique representation…will leave readers feeling that they have somehow slipped through the security gate and gotten to know a movie star who was famously guarded about his private life.”
—Booklist
“Respectful, thoroughgoing….Levy doesn’t’ shy from discussing Newman’s shortcomings as a father and husband, yet he leaves a glowing assessment of this legend’s career.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Shawn Levy
The Last Playboy
“[Levy is] a bulldog researcher, and many of his judgments are astute...an entertaining, informative book.”
—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
Ready, Steady, Go!
“Nimble and exciting . . . Levy’s writing is more smashing than an Austin Powers movie.”
—Entertainment Weekly
Rat Pack Confidential
“An excellent book, not only in its depictions of the Pack’s carryings-on but in its portrayal of the dark turns each life took.”
—Boston Sunday Globe
Product Description
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 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.
About the Author
SHAWN LEVY is the film critic for The Oregonian and the author of The Last Playboy, Ready, Steady, Go!, Rat Pack Confidential, and King of Comedy. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and three children.
