Entertainment> Celebrities

Hollywood legend Paul Newman dies, aged 83

(Agencies)
2008-09-28 09:46

 

Born in a Cleveland suburb on January 26, 1925, Newman was a Navy radio man in the Pacific during World War Two. He went to Kenyon College in Ohio on a football scholarship, but took up acting after he was cut from the team over a barroom brawl.

He helped run the family sporting goods store, then headed to the Yale Drama School and ended up in New York, winning a Broadway role in "Picnic" in 1953. His first major movie role was as boxer Rocky Graziano in "Somebody Up There Likes Me."

In 1958, Newman starred in "The Long Hot Summer" with Woodward, whom he married that year shortly after divorcing his first wife, Jacqueline Witte.

He played an alcoholic loser in "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," opposite Elizabeth Taylor, and pool shark Fast Eddie Felson in "The Hustler." Other hits were "Hud" and "Cool Hand Luke."

Newman was also recognized for work behind the camera, earning a best picture Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award for best director for "Rachel, Rachel," starring Woodward, which he produced and directed.

Although his movie career slowed in later years, Newman picked up Oscar nominations in 1994 for "Nobody's Fool" and in 2002 for "Road to Perdition."

He returned to the stage the same year in "Our Town" at a Connecticut playhouse. The show moved to Broadway and Newman was nominated for a Tony award. He won an Emmy, U.S. television's highest honor, for its 2003 broadcast.

In 2005 he won another Emmy for best supporting actor in the mini-series "Empire Falls." His last film part was a voice-over role in the 2006 animated "Cars."