Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) is an American actor and film director. He has won numerous awards including Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an Emmy award. He is also the founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donates all profits and royalties to charity.[1] As of May 2007, these donations have exceeded $220 million USD. Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), the son of Theresa (née Fetzer or Fetsko)[2][3] and Arthur S. Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store.[4][5] His father was Jewish and his mother a Hungarian-born Catholic;[6] Newman has described himself as Jewish, stating that "it's more of a challenge".[7] Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his brother Arthur (who later became a producer and production manager).[8]
Newman showed an early interest in the theater, which his mother encouraged. At the age of seven, he made his acting debut, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. Graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.[8]
Newman served in the Navy in World War II in the Pacific theater.[8] He had wanted to be a pilot, but did not qualify because he was color blind.[8] After the war, he completed his degree at Kenyon College, graduating in 1949.[8] Newman later studied acting at Yale University and under Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio in New York City.[8]
Oscar Levant wrote that Newman was initially hesitant to leave New York for Hollywood: "Too close to the cake," he reported him saying, "Also no place to study." Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from 1950s cinema to that of the 1960s and 1970s. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation. Newman starred in Exodus (1960), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977) and The Verdict (1982). He teamed with fellow actor Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).
He appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films 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. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). They also both starred in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.
In addition to starring in and directing Harry & Son, Newman also directed four feature films (in which he did not act) starring Woodward. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), based on Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box (1980) and a screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1987).
25 years after "The Hustler", Newman reprised his role of "Fast" Eddie Felson in the Martin Scorsese directed "The Color of Money" for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. With writer A.E. Hotchner, Newman founded Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982. The brand started with salad dressing, and has expanded to include pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, and salsa, among other things. Newman donates the proceeds, after taxes, to charity. As of early 2006, the franchise has resulted in excess of $200 million in donations.[1] He co-wrote a memoir about the subject with Hotchner, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Among other awards, Newman co-sponsors the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, a $25,000 reward designed to recognize those who protect the first amendment as it applies to the written word.
One beneficiary of his philanthropy is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children, which is located in Ashford, Connecticut. Newman cofounded the camp in 1986; it was named after the gang in his film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Newman's college fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, adopted "Hole in the Wall" as their "national philanthropy" in 1995. One camp has expanded to become several Hole in the Wall Camps in the U.S., Ireland, France and Israel. The camp serves 13,000 children every year, free of charge.[1]
In June 1999 Newman donated $250,000 to the relief of Kosovo refugees.
On June 1, 2007, Kenyon College announced that Newman had donated $10 million to the school to establish a scholarship fund as part of the college's current $230 million fund-raising campaign. Newman and Woodward were honorary co-chairs of a previous campaign.
Paul Leonard Newman amerikai színész, rendező. Clevelandi zsidó kereskedő második fiaként született – ereiben német és magyar vér is csörgedezik. Apja azt szerette volna, ha a sportcikkekket árusító üzletét veszi át – nem is volt felhőtlen a viszonyuk. 18 évesen a II. világháború idején pilóta szeretett volna lenni, de színvaksága miatt alkalmatlannak bizonyult. A Kenyon Egyetemen tanult angol irodalmat és közgazdaságtant. Később a Yale Egyetem drámaszakán tanult, majd az Actor's Studioban. 1958 óta él boldog házasságban második feleségével Joanne Woodward színésznővel.
1954-ben debütált a Broadway-n a Piknik című drámában, majd televíziós és filmszerepek következtek. 1958-ban már Oscar-díjra jelölik a Macska a forró bádogtetőn című filmben nyújtott alakításáért. Összesen nyolc alkalommal jelölték, s kétszer meg is kapta a legjobb színésznek járó díjat: Martin Scorsese A pénz színe, valamint a Senki bolondja című filmekben nyújtott alakításáért.
1968 óta rendez, első filmje a Rachel, Rachel volt. Producerkedik is, továbbá prémium spagettiszószokkal és salátadresszingekkel foglalkozó cége van, melynek teljes nyereségét jótékony célra fordítja.