PAUL NEWMANPaul Newman, who died on 26 September, 2008, aged 83, was an iconic, multi-award winning film actor and director.Newman made a lasting impression on the silver screen with his classic good looks and piercing blue eyes, and was nominated ten times for a 'Best Actor' Oscar during his illustrious career.He headed the Hollywood A-List in the 1950s with acclaimed roles in films such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and proved his staying power by starring in a string of classics throughout the '60s and '70s such as Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).During the filming of Winning in 1969, Newman became passionate about motorsports. After years as an active racing driver, he co-founded an IndyCar racing team with Carl Haas in 1983.Also a keen philanthropist, in 1982 Newman and writer A E Hotchner founded a line of food products called Newman's Own, the proceeds of which are donated to charity. In 1988 he set up a holiday camp (named after Cassidy and Sundance's Hole in the Wall Gang) for seriously ill children and he donated millions of dollars to aid relief and education charities.Born on 26 January, 1925, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to a successful sporting goods store owner, he studied acting at the Yale Drama School after serving in the Navy during World War II. He later attended the highly prestigious New York Actors' Studio and made his Broadway debut with Picnic in 1953, after which he was snapped up by Warners.Newman acted in films until announcing his retirement in May 2007. His later roles included a mob boss in Road to Perdition (2002) alongside Tom Hanks and providing his vocal talents for Disney/Pixar's animated film Cars (2006). He said he was giving up acting because he could no longer work "at the level that I would want to".Newman spent his final years in Westport, Connecticut, with wife Joanne Woodward, with whom he had appeared in several films, including The Long, Hot Summer (1958). Their marriage was considered one of the most stable of Hollywood marriages and they celebrated their Golden Wedding in 2008.He had two daughters and a son from his first marriage to Jackie Witte, and three daughters from his marriage to Joanne Woodward. Newman's son, Scott Newman, died tragically in November 1978 from an accidental drug overdose.
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