Paul Newman

Born on June 26, 1925 in Cleveland (Ohio), with his characteristic eyes, little Paul was the second of the children of Arthur Newman, a sporting goods merchant of Jewish origin, and Teresa, a Hungarian emigrant of Catholic religion. . Because of his well-off financial position, the Newmans were able to provide the boy with the best schools. Meanwhile, his uncle Joe, an intellectual and man of letters, loved reading and even wrote him a little play for his stage debut, specifically in the school auditorium when he had seven years. After finishing high school, he prepares to study Economics. But the homeland claims him to join the ranks in the Second World War. At the end of the conflict he tries to graduate in Science at the University of Kenyon but, Nobody is perfect, the police arrest him with five other boys for serious street altercations. As a consequence of this black stain in the family’s history, he is expelled from the faculty and, not for nothing, he decides to become an actor. He joined various theater companies and acquired stage in productions of classics such as “Cyrano de Bergerac”. 

1950 was a decisive year in Newman’s life, for positive and negative reasons, because the joy of his wedding with Jackie Witte, a young woman he had fallen in love with as soon as he met her a few months before, was followed by the pain of death. his father’s. After unsuccessfully trying to get the family business going, he decides to sell it and turn to his acting career. He enrolls in the Actor’s Studio, the most famous acting school. Among his companions, Joanne Woodward stands out who, after the unfortunate failure of his first marriage, would become his second and final wife since 1958.

In 1954, Newman made his film debut with  The Silver Chalice  (1954), but it will be his unforgettable characterization as the indomitable boxer Rocky Graziano in  Marked by Hate  (1956), which will make him a star. The studies try to make him the successor of  Marlon Brando , but he wisely deviates from this line, inventing his own style and becomes the prototype of the loser in  The Long Hot Summer  (1958),  The Lefty  and, above all,  The hustler (1961), where his portrayal of Eddie Felson, a doomed pool player, would become the quintessential model for this type of character. She remains at the peak of success until well into her seventies, in comedies like  Ella y sus maridos De ella (1964) or intrigues directed by Hitchcock like  Torn Curtain  (1966) or imitations like  The Prize  (1963). In the field of drama, his collaborations with director Martin Ritt stand out , such as Four Confessions  (1964) and A Man (1967). It is necessary to mention the two films of him together with  Robert Redford  and the  director George Roy Hill , the unrepeatable Two men and a destiny  (1969) and  The coup  (1973). In 1969 Newman made his debut as a director, with  Raquel, Raquel , which was followed by five more feature films. He highlights  Harry & Son (1984), in which he portrays a family’s drug problems, the same drugs that killed Newman’s son.

After the success of With Water Around Your Neck and The Colossus on Fire , one of the milestones of catastrophic cinema, at the end of the 70s Newman’s career suffered a slight downturn. He recovers with two titles: Absence of Malice  (1980) and  Final Verdict  (1982). The Academy was able to repair in time the terrible mistake of denying him the Oscar, despite the fact that he had obtained six nominations and, in 1985, they awarded him an honorary statuette. They must have thought that it was not enough, because the following year they awarded him a second in the best actor category for  The Color of Money , where he recovered the character of Eddie Felson. Later he would again obtain a nomination for  Not a fool’s hair(1994). Although in recent years his appearances have become more and more sporadic, she gave a memorable performance in  Road to Perdition . His last job consisted of voicing one of the characters in Cars .