Born: January 26, 1925
Died: September 26, 2008 Place of Birth: Cleveland, Ohio
Major Notes:
Paul Newman was one of two sons of Arthur and Theresa Newman.
His father operated a successful sporting-goods store in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland.
He attended the local schools and, following high school, drifted until deciding to join the Navy.
During World War II, he served in the South Pacific and, after the war, enrolled in Kenyon College with an athletic scholarship.
It was at Kenyon that Paul Newman found he had an interest in acting and appeared in several college productions before graduating with a BA degree in 1949.
Unfortunately, his father died in 1950 and Paul returned home to operate his father's business.
After some time, he got the acting bug again and decided to turn the store over to his brother.
Newman enrolled in the Yale University drama program for post-graduate students.
He had married in 1949 and had a son so this was a major move for his family.
In 1952, Newman scored a part in the program called "The Aldridge Family"; also by now he had added two daughters to his own family.
That year, he was also accepted into the well-known Actors Studio studying what was termed "method" acting.
Soon Paul Newman was acting on broadway in the show "Picnic" where he was seen and signed up by Warner Brothers for movies.
Over the next few years, he did several movies and stage productions with varying degrees of success.
When he was 31, Paul Newman took a role as Rocky Graziano, a noted boxer, and won tremendous praise for his acting.
From this time, Newman was offered better roles and soon won a Golden Globe award as the Most Promising Newcomer.
He married a second time, to Joanne Woodward; the two became inseparable and added three more children to the Newman family.
In 1982, Newman formed a company called "Newman's Own" which sells condiments like salad dressings and pasta sauces.
He arranged for all after-tax profits to be donated to educational and charity organizations and it is estimated the company has donated over $150 million since it was founded.
In addition to acting, Newman produced and directed several films, and often took part in car racing being crowned champion more than a few times.
As he aged, Newman still acted in a movie now and then but he really devoted most of his time to his charity work and helped thousands in this respect.
Over the years, Paul Newman was nominated for Best Actor or won an Oscar nearly a dozen times.
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