Paul Newman: A Life [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Shawn Levy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Film critic and biographer Levy (Rat Pack Confidential) embarks on a respectful, thoroughgoing survey of Newman's long life (1925–2008) and massive film career without lingering on emotional and psychological factors. A kind of accidental hero, Newman recognized that his blue-eyed good looks would open doors for him, but by sheer determination and work ethic he muscled his way to the Olympian heights of America's finest actors. Born to middle-class Jewish parents in Shaker Heights, Ohio, he eventually enlisted in the navy then attended Kenyon College on the GI Bill; his early first marriage and dabbling in theater seemed to be a way to avoid having to return home and take over his father's sporting-goods store. He enrolled in Yale's drama department, then in 1952 gave himself a year in New York to prove himself: he hustled small, paying parts and gradually became a part of the Actors Studio, where he claimed to have learned everything he knew about acting. From then on, using his connections shrewdly, he moved from success on Broadway (Picnic, where he met Joanne Woodward, whom he married in 1958) to TV (Our Town) and Hollywood (Somebody Up There Likes Me). From there, the professional accolades began piling up, while Levy also chronicles Newman's stunning success as a race-car driver, entrepreneur and philanthropist. 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. (May)
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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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Crown Archetype; 1ST edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307353753
• ISBN-13: 978-0307353757
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Bio of a Great Man, June 1, 2009

By 

Richard Masloski (New Windsor, New York USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Paul Newman: A Life (Hardcover)

I never knew that Paul Newman had been married once before his storied romance and marriage to Joanne Woodward - until now. I never knew that Paul Newman had a son that died tragically young - until now. I never knew that the storybook marriage that seemed rock-solid once had a major crack in it in the form of a fairly serious affair - until now. I knew that Paul Newman liked his beer, but not to the full extent as he apparently did - until now. I new Paul Newman was generous towards worthy causes - but just how incredibly generous I never knew...until now. I learned alot in the reading of this book. Shawn Levy's new biography of the incredible Mr. Newman is an informative read. It is swiftly paced (except for a little too much detail regarding the actor's passion for racing - but...given that he spent so much of his life pursuing racing, perhaps the details are appropriate.) If anything, the book moves along at too quick a speed. Don't expect any detailed analysis on the making of the movies, for example. Marlon Brando is mentioned as meeting Mr. Newman a number of times, yet there is no information as to what they thought of one another, how they got along. (Newman was compared to Brando in the '50's and some reviewers even felt he looked like him!)And Paul Newman's final days are rather quickly recounted; as a matter-of-fact, we never learn anything of wife Joanne Woodward's reaction to his demise. But these small points aside, if you wish to learn much more than you may presently know about Paul Newman, give this book a read. I enjoyed it. It could have been more, but what there is of it is pretty darn good. And I'll say it again: Paul Newman's legacy - apart from a handful of really wonderful films - will be his genuine generosity and true compassion for the charities he not only gave to but also created. He was a beautiful man on the outside, yes, but all the more beautiful inside for his gift of giving.

54 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Begins to add to the body of knowledge, May 5, 2009

By 

Uncle Elmer "tod3" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Newman: A Life (Hardcover)

While some may lament with passion that this book was written charging that Paul Newman was a saint and should not be tarnished I take a different view. Hooray the book was written and let it begin a body of knowledge on the greatness of Paul Newman. So what that it is not entirely flattering? It is a start of the process of scholarship on looking at this man's outstanding legacy and, yes, Paul was a saint. No matter what flaws he had he was a wonderful and good man who deserves a series of books that study his art and life's beautiful charity. This book begins that process and I am sure many will follow. Let us celebrate this book and this process of examining one of our giants of both movies and theatre.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating look at an American movie star, June 18, 2009

By 

Diane "bookchickdi" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paul Newman: A Life (Hardcover)

Paul Newman is one of our true movie stars, back when that phrase really meant something. His death last year reminded us what a unique individual he was- an actor, movie star, race car driver, husband, father, grandfather, businessman, humanitarian.

Shawn Levy has written a new biography, titled PAUL NEWMAN- A LIFE. And it was quite a life he lived. I vividly remember my mother taking me to see "The Sting", starring Newman and Robert Redford. It was one of the first grown-up movies I saw, and I felt very sophisticated. Redford was gorgeous, but it was Newman who charmed me. There seemed something mischievous behind those blue eyes and that knowing smile.

Levy does a great job chronicling Newman's early years, and he footnotes and endnotes extensively, not something you normally see in a biography of a movie star. He quotes from reviews of Newman's plays and movies, and that helps put Newman's work in context of the times.

The author delves into Newman's youth and his college days at Kenyon College, where Newman realized he had the desire to act. Newman was a bit of a rascal who loved to party and was not opposed to imbibing in beer, something that he continued to do throughout his life. Levy states that as an adult Newman would often drink a case of beer a day. (Budweiser sent Newman ten cases of beer a week as payment for advertising for them, and they didn't go to waste.)

Levy spoke with several people who went to school with Newman, and their memories of a young Newman are insightful. Newman loved to rehearse, to dig deeply into his character and their motivations, and as this practice grew with his career, it was not always appreciated by his costars or directors.

He married young and had two children with his first wife, but their marriage didn't last. Levy points out the irony of a man who was well known for having one of the most successful, long-lived marriages in Hollywood, actually falling in love with his second wife, actress Joanne Woodward, while he was still married to wife number one.

I did not know that Newman also had an affair (while married to Joanne) with a reporter he met while filming "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". It lasted for over a year, and nearly ruined his second marriage, but after the affair ended, he and Joanne worked it out. Again, they were an example for people that no marriage is perfect, but it takes work, love, patience and forgiveness to make it last.

Newman had such a long career, Levy does his best to get it all in this book without making it 1000 pages, which it easily could have been. The one thing that gets short shrift is Newman's role as a father. It is touched on, but it would have been interesting to know more about how he parented from his children. They seem like people who like their privacy, and after the death of Newman's son Scott from a drug overdose, and the publicity surrounding it, I imagine they were leery of the press.

Newman is quoted as saying that "What I would really like to put on my tombstone is that I was part of my time". Levy makes the correct statement that he was, and that is one thing that shines through in this fascinating biography. Newman really was a man made in his time, an embodiment of a true American individual.