The Daily Mail is running some exhaustive excerpts from Frank Langella’s upcoming book, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them, in which he trashes countless now-deceased celebrities including Anne Bancroft, Yul Brynner, Paul Newman, and Liz Taylor. (I could go on.) Langella, 74, was nominated for an Oscar in 2008 for Frost/Nixon, and he’s got about three movies coming out this year, most notably the goofy-looking Robot and Frank. I’ve never really had an opinion on the guy until reading this. I remember seeing a profile of him during his Oscar campaign and he came across as very controlled and somewhat regal. Now I just think he’s a total a**hole. I can understand finding some people boring or hard to tolerate, but Langella barely has a kind word for anyone. In his world, everyone is self absorbed and boring, except his conquests, who are needy. Yes The Mail excerpted the most sensational parts, but they’re outrageous. Here’s just a sample, with more at the source:

Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was 20 years older than him, almost permanently drunk and suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. She was unable to remember her lines unless they were written in huge block letters and placed next to the camera.

But actor Frank Langella, then 34, still fell for his co-star, and they began a passionate affair together on the set of the little-remembered 1972 Western called The Wrath Of God.
The couple — playing mother and son in the film — spent every evening together in her rooms, working their way through endless bottles of bourbon and wine as she reminisced mournfully about the good old days.

‘Don’t stare at me, baby. You can see me in the movies,’ she told him loftily one night, but when he left her for the last time after several weeks, Hayworth ran out to the car and pleaded: ‘Don’t leave me. I gotta have a man with me.’

Richard Burton
Richard Burton similarly failed to impress, though this time the venue was Langella’s dressing room while he was starring in Dracula on Broadway in 1977.
Single-handedly polishing off a bottle of Scotch which he had offered nobody else, a slurring Burton launched into a series of reminiscences about Britain’s great theatre actors and recited lengthy sections of Dylan Thomas’s poetry.

As the hours wore on, Langella just wanted to get home. ‘Could anyone, I wondered, be so unaware of what a crashing bore he had become?’ he writes. ‘There sat a man approximately 52 years of age, looking ten years older, dressed in black mink, with heavily applied pancake [make-up], under a tortured, balding helmet of jet black hair, grandly reciting tiresome poetry.’

At least, says Langella, Burton wasn’t terrified of playing roles that might make audiences question his heterosexuality — unlike Harrison and Laurence Olivier. (Burton told Langella he had ‘tried’ homosexuality once but ‘didn’t like it’.)

John F. Kennedy
As for John F Kennedy — who would have thought his idea of a perfect afternoon was listening to Noel Coward telling dirty jokes and belting out Mad Dogs And Englishmen on the piano? But a 24-year-old Langella was there to see it during a Cape Cod lunch party.

He was so shocked by the President’s ‘fast and furious’ belly laughs at Coward’s wit that he feared JFK would have a heart attack.

Later, he watched in awe as — with Secret Service men staring impassively from every doorway — JFK jumped onto a coffee table to dance as Coward played his most famous tunes and Jackie Kennedy sang along, knowing all the lyrics by heart. Before boarding his helicopter, JFK turned to Langella and asked: ‘What do you think, Frank? Should I keep my day job?’

Anne Bancroft
He reserves particular ire for Anne Bancroft — an ‘elegant’ stage name, he says, which was ‘about as suited to her as Cuddles would have been to Adolf Hitler’. He first met Bancroft, wife of comic actor Mel Brooks, and the actress who played the glamorous Mrs Robinson in The Graduate, in 1966 when they co-starred in a play.

Although they were close friends for two decades, Langella soon realised she was ‘consumed by a galloping narcissism that often undermined her talents’.

She once told him how she had been in a New York department store when she saw a woman smiling at her. Bancroft felt ‘inexplicably’ attracted to the woman and wanted to go over and ‘embrace and kiss her passionately’ — until she realised she was looking into a mirror.

Yul Brenner
Self-love surely doesn’t come more intense than this, but Yul Brynner apparently came close. No actor ever talked about himself so much, Langella recalls. And perhaps none had so little time for his fans.

The shaven-headed star — ‘never far from a full-length mirror’ — once gave Langella and his former wife, Ruth, a lift in his 20ft-long white limo. On the drive, Brynner explained how he’d had a special lift — big enough to fit a car — installed in the Broadway theatre where he was starring in The King And I.

His chauffeur could drive straight in and spare the star from having to ‘deal with the public’. Brynner even showed off a pair of blinding flash lights which he kept handy ‘in case blacks attack my car’.

Paul Newman
According to Langella, Paul Newman — long regarded as one of Hollywood’s Mr Nice Guys — was a frightful bore, too. ‘After dirty-sexy jokes, shop talk, cars or politics were exhausted, Paul was a pretty dull companion,’ he recalls. ‘Never rude or unkind, just dull.’ In awe of his good looks, companions would instinctively think it their fault when he suddenly went quiet.

The reality, says Langella, was that he had simply run out of anything to say. Like the statue of David, Newman was ‘physically perfect but emotionally vacant’.

Bette Davis
Bette Davis was well into her 60s when, having seen Langella’s films, she ordered their mutual agent to put them in touch. Though — as with his affair with Rita Hayworth — she was 20 years older, they had ‘a number of racy conversations, not quite phone sex but certainly rife with foreplay,’ he says.

But nothing more ever happened as Davis always cancelled their dinner dates. Years later, he ran into her at a hotel and — enraged, he believes, that her privacy had somehow been invaded — she froze him out when he identified himself.

Liz Taylor
He had more luck with Elizabeth Taylor. Put in touch in 2001 by a mutual friend who said the Hollywood icon was desperately lonely, Langella reveals that their second date culminated in Taylor — then 69 — urging him to: ‘Come on, baby, and put me to sleep.’ After having to help her upstairs rather indecorously by pushing on her backside, he was taken aback by the clutter in her bedroom.

It was filled with pictures of her dead ex-husbands, ‘dozens and dozens’ of bottles of witch hazel which she used to remove her make-up and a giant open box of chocolates on the bed.
Despite knowing that a relationship with her was ‘quicksand’, he began a brief affair.

He says she was: ‘A small, sweet woman who wanted a man to be with her, protect her and fill a void as deep as the deepest ocean.’ At one stage, she told him she wanted to leave Los Angeles and move with him to the East Coast of America to ‘find a place that’s normal’, but Langella told her a relationship would never work because she would ‘have him for lunch’.

[From The Daily Mail]

Oh no he did not disrespect John F. Kennedy, Liz Taylor and Paul Newman! Everyone gets tired at the end of the night, and Paul was human after all. People do not exist in this world just to entertain us. It’s not like it’s their job to regale us with funny stories and anecdotes for hours. After we get past a certain point in an early friendship, usually what happens next is that you exchange confidences, get to know each other, and do things together. The fact that everyone was such a massive bore to Langella suggests that he expected entirely one-sided relationships that others did not deliver on. In other words, he’s a selfish jerk.

The stuff about how everyone was boring and self absorbed (pot meet kettle) was obnoxious, but I found it even worse the way he characterized his ex-lovers. He’s the one who decided to have relationships with these women. They couldn’t have all been so needy and desperate. He comes across as a user, who is now trashing women he took advantage of. He cowardly waited until they’d all passed away so that they wouldn’t be around to defend themselves.

Langella also dated Whoopi Goldberg from 1996 to 2001. For those of you who watch The View, please let us know if she addresses this book by her ex at all.

This video only plays in the US – sorry about that!

Julia Roberts was on “The Late Show” last night. During her last appearance on the show in mid-March, Dave fawned all over her, said that he wanted a chance with her in the past, and seemed to delight in touching her hair.

On last night’s show Roberts talked about her involvement in Paul Newman’s Hole In The Wall Camps, which provide free summer camps to ill children. She’s a member of the board of the charitable organization and has volunteered with Newman working as a camp counselor. It seems like she was really on the show to let Dave tell us about his wedding in late March, though.

Julia and Dave joked about the fact that he was single the last time they saw each other, and that he got married just a couple of days later.

Dave brought up Julia’s marriage of seven years. “I love the story of you marrying this guy, a guy who works in crafts services.”

“Cinematographer,” Julia corrected.

Dave then tried to change the subject and Julia said she wasn’t done.

“I’m curious about a few things. Did she take your name?”

“Yes, she did.”

“So she’s Mrs. Letterman?”

“No, she’s Dave.”

“You’re so much funnier than other people that talk at this time of the evening.”

Dave said that on the way to get married in Montana his truck got stuck in the mud. He explained that he also had to stop and pull over twice because their five year-old son threw a fit when he realized they were late.

Letterman explained that it was just him, his wife Regina, their son and a justice of the peace at the ceremony.

Julia called the wedding “sweet” and Dave said “it’s legal that’s the most important thing…. I’ve never been more deeply in love,” he deadpanned.

“A lovely and no doubt tolerant woman,” Julia said.

“And I know she’s watching at home.”

Julia then talked about the late Paul Newman and his incredible legacy. She called him “a great example of how to live your life.” She was a counselor 13-14 years ago at his first Hole In the Wall camp in Connecticut.

There was a benefit for the organization on Monday night at Lincoln center, and Julia said she got overwhelmed seeing scenes from Newman’s life.

Julia will next star with Javier Bardem in Eat, Pray, Love and joked that she has reservations about starring with him after seeing him play the killer No Country For Old Men in which he sported an “evil Beatles” haircut.

You can tell these two have a great rapport. Dave got all moony over Julia the last time they were on the show, but he kept it in check this time and focused on his marriage. He seems to have picked just the right person to help him open up to the public about it.

Thanks to WENN for these photos of Julia outside the Late show yesterday

As awards season came to a close, the final image of most “In Memory” sections of the shows was Paul Newman. The Oscar winner was shown in a variety of ways in the clips – some showed him at his most young and beautiful in scenes from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Long Hot Summer, which was the first film he did with Joanne Woodward, and they were married soon after the production ended. Some showed clips of his work in the middle and end of his career – his famous on-screen partnerships with Robert Redford, or trying to con Tom Cruise in The Color of Money, which finally won Newman his Oscar.

In the months since Newman died, we’ve also seen more archival footage of Newman the humanitarian, working with his Hole In the Wall kids, and giving away the millions of dollars that Newman’s Own made. He lived an extraordinary life. This week Congress finally decided to recognize it. The honor was sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat, Rep. Cohen and Rep. Jordan, who both spoke about Newman’s contributions. Reuters has more:

Paul Newman, who died last September of cancer, was given a posthumous honor on Tuesday as the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution recognizing the iconic actor’s life and achievements.

Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, introduced the resolution honoring Newman on the House floor in Washington. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from the actor’s native state of Ohio, was among the House members who spoke about Newman.

“His legendary acting, steely blue eyes, good humor and passion for helping the less fortunate made him one of the most prominent figures in American arts for 40 years,” Jordan said.

In a statement, Cohen called him “a talented artist whose craft has been a part of our American tapestry for over 50 years” and a person who “made the world a better place.”

Newman, who died at age 83, earned nine Oscar nominations and appeared in more than 50 movies including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Sting.”

Aside from auto racing and his commitment to quiet family life outside Hollywood’s media glare, Newman was also a noted philanthropist who in 1982 co-founded Newman’s Own, a food company that has given more than $250 million to charity.

The House resolution’s approval came two days after Newman was celebrated at the Academy Awards on Sunday, where a video clip of the actor concluded an annual tribute to entertainers who died the year before.

From Reuters

As I was doing research, I discovered something odd. Though Newman was honored by the Academy and by the Kennedy Center, Paul Newman never received a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the civilian honor bestowed on outstanding Americans for their contributions to society. Refresher: Former CIA Director George Tenet has a Medal of Freedom. And not Paul Newman. Usually, artists of a certain caliber are recognized with the award – Gregory Peck received one by President Clinton, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn were both awarded. There is absolutely no reason Newman should not have been honored with a Medal of Freedom during his lifetime, and his family should be given one in his honor posthumously. Let’s petition President Obama!

Paul Newman is shown at a photocall on 4/25/08. Credit: WENN

The late Paul Newman’s humanitarian work lives on – and his first posthumous fundraiser, for a children’s camp, was well attended by his fellow actors. A benefit for The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with life threatening illnesses, was planned before Newman passed away from complications due to lung cancer on Sept. 26. Celebs such as Sean Penn, Tom Hanks and Danny Glover attended the benefit, which turned into an impromptu tribute for Newman.

A Hollywood who’s-who turned out for an annual fundraiser for Paul Newman’s children’s camp that doubled as a tribute to the late actor.

The lineup for a dramatic reading of “The World of Nick Adams” on Monday night at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall already was set when the acting legend died of cancer Sept. 26 at the age of 83. The event benefited The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses, that was started by Newman in 1999.

“We expected Paul to be with us and so this kind of turned into kind of a tribute,” said Danny Glover, who joined Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Sean Penn and other big names in the reading. “This is the first time we are doing this without Paul _ there is a void there, without a doubt.”

Some 2,500 people attended the star-studded benefit, which began with a video in which Newman discussed his work with the Association of Hole in The Wall Camps, which runs 11 camps around the world including The Painted Turtle.

“What I was trying to do was acknowledge luck,” Newman said in the video narrated by Nicholson. “If you acknowledge it, you have to do something about it _ something for the less fortunate.”

[From Huffington Post]

It was estimated that the Newman’s Own brand of foods raised more than $250 million for charitable causes over the years. It looks like that mission will continue. The Painted Turtle was founded in 1999 by Newman himself and gives children with terminal or life threatening conditions a chance to experience an authentic summer camp, by supporting their medical needs and also offering parents respite.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Paul Newman at the American Ireland Fund’s Annual Gala in New York City on March 5th, 2007. Photographer: Antonio Salvador. Images thanks to WENN.

Decades before he jumped on Oprah’s couch, Tom Cruise was famous for underwear-dancing around a couch to the sounds of Old Time Rock and Roll in Risky Business. He was the 80s All-American heartthrob with a big grin not yet turned into its present creepiness. He’d made All the Right Moves and was about to become the biggest star in the world in Top Gun.

After Top Gun was released, Tom starred opposite legend Paul Newman in The Color of Money. Newman had faced his own battles with the heartthrob label in his career, and instead chose roles that swam against that stereotype. Newman advised Tom to do the same thing. With Paul as his inspiration, Tom went on to take edgier roles in Rainman and Born on the Fourth of July.

Newman passed away at age 83 on September 26. This week’s People honors Newman on the cover. Subscribers like myself receive the issue with only Newman’s picture; the newsstand copy has a sidebar referring to Scarlett Johansson. Heather Locklear and Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Inside the issue, Tom writes a memorial to his friend and mentor that recalls how down-to-earth and inspirational Newman was.

The first time I met Paul Newman was 25 years ago, when I went in to audition for Harry & Son, a movie he was directing. I remember Joanne Woodward was there and — I will never forget this — she was knitting during the meeting, but she had her eye on every single thing happening in the room. They were a true team. I didn’t get the part, but Newman remembered me, and two years later I had the honor of acting opposite him in The Color of Money. Because he was so respected, so famous, so beloved, he was bigger than life to me … but he always had a way of putting us all at ease. For all his accomplishments, he was incredibly down-to-earth and real. He had a great sense of humor about life and himself.

We stayed friends long after The Color of Money. He called me Cruiser or sometimes Kid….

Toward the end of shooting on The Color of Money, Paul got me into car racing, and I ultimately raced on his team. The last time we raced was a few years back. We were trying out different cars at Willow Springs Raceway in California. Per usual, I thought I had him beat … but suddenly he comes around the corner. His car is next to mine. Then he flips me off and blisters past. You’ve gotta love it. It was pure Newman.

Paul Newman gave me an enormous gift — his friendship. He was a great movie star … a great actor and a great family man. And then on top of it all, he became a great philanthropist. His life will forever inspire me. The world has lost an icon; I have lost an idol.

[From People, print edition, October 13, 2008]

If you look at Tom’s movies before The Color of Money and after, you can see that Newman did influence him to take more challenging roles. I have to wonder what Newman thought of Tom’s recent publicity stunts and mishaps. Newman’s passing and the current state of Tom Cruise’s career are sad reminders that Hollywood’s glory days may be lost forever.

In the October 13 issue of Time, Robert Redford also remembers Paul Newman. Redford says, “What impressed me about Paul was that he was very realistic about who he was. He knew the world of hyperbole and distortion he was in. That meant he maintained a certain amount of privacy. He was generous and a pillar of integrity. He was loyal and self-effacing.”

Could more good advice from the self-effacing and self-aware Newman have revived Tom Cruise’s career? Perhaps Tom is too far gone into his own image to have listened.

Redford and Newman in November, 2006

Beloved late screen star and philanthropist Paul Newman has been honored by many celebrities who worked with him and whose lives he touched. His co-star and best friend Robert Redford, 72, spoke with ABC News about his long and enduring friendship with Newman. He spoke of his dear friend in the present tense. Redford talked about how Newman loved his own jokes, even if they were crappy, but said his laughter was contagious and it didn’t matter how bad the joke was.

He told some stories about the pranks they used to play on each other, including one time he got a trashed Porsche and had it sent to Newman as a gift for his 50th birthday. He had the car wrapped with a ribbon and put on Newman’s back porch. Redford said that Newman used to bug the shit out of him talking about racing and he sent him the car as a reference to that.

Redford said he didn’t hear anything from Newman for a couple of weeks, but then he saw a big box sitting in his living room that was so heavy it dented the floor. Newman had sent the Porsche back to him in a box after he had it compacted.

Redford then contacted a sculptor he knew in Westport, CT where they both lived at the time and had the Porsche sent to her to make into a garden sculpture. He then hired a towing company and had the transformed Porsche towed back to Newman’s garden.

He said that “to this day, neither of us had ever spoken about it. Never acknowledged it.”

Redford currently lives in Sundance, Utah, but he used to live about a mile away from Newman in Connecticut with his family.

Here’s a link to the video of Redford talking about Newman and here’s a link to the transcript if you’d rather read it.

Note: I wrote the article below before I realized that MSat had already covered Paul Newman’s death. He was an incredible actor and someone who touched so many people’s lives and we are posting this in his honor.

A war veteran, philanthropist, devoted family man, and car racing enthusiast, Newman lived life to the fullest and will long be remembered for his impact in Hollywood and on humanitarian causes. He founded the food company Newman’s Own in 1982, which has gone on to become a multi-million dollar empire with a spinoff, Newman’s Own Organics, run by his daughter, Nell Newman. All the profits from both companies are donated to charitable and educational causes. Newmans Own has contributed over $250 million to charity to date.

Newman leaves behind a wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward, five daughters and eight grandchildren:

Paul Newman, a screen hero for more than half a century and the head of a philanthropic food empire for the past 25 years, has died, it was announced Saturday. He was 83.

Surrounded by his family and close friends at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn., Newman succumbed Friday after a long battle with cancer, according to a statement from publicist Jeff Sanderson.

Famed for his intense blue eyes, his love of car racing and one of the coolest demeanors ever to heat up the silver screen, Newman was nominated for Oscars ten times.

But perhaps his proudest accomplishment, besides his 50-year marriage to actress Joanne Woodward, was starting Newman’s Own, which since 1982 has made popcorn, spaghetti sauce, lemonade and salad dressing and has donated more than $250 million to charities selected by Newman himself.

Career Highs
With more than 80 films and TV productions to his credit, Newman’s career spanned generations. His first Oscar nomination was in 1959 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and his most recent was in 2003 for Road to Perdition.

The son of a sporting goods storeowner, the Ohio native enrolled in Ohio’s Kenyon College after his 1946 discharge from the Navy. He married for the first time in 1949, then moved wife Jackie and their young son Scott east, where Newman attended the Yale Drama School and, later, the New York Actors Studio.

Dramatic TV roles came his way, but it was his Broadway debut in 1953, as the sexy stranger in Picnic, that led to a Warner Bros. Hollywood contract and his first movie – the 1954 toga epic The Silver Chalice, which even he considered one of the worst movies ever made.

Still, the looker more than redeemed himself in two screen adaptations of Tennessee Williams dramas, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof costarring Elizabeth Taylor, and Sweet Bird of Youth, with a highly charged Geraldine Page.

In 1957, Newman and Jackie, with whom he also had two daughters, divorced. The next year, he married Woodward, with whom he eventually had another three daughters.

By the ’60s Newman had hit his stride with such career-defining roles as the leads in The Hustler, Hud and Cool Hand Luke. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, followed by The Sting, made him and screen partner Robert Redford the hottest male stars of the ’70s.

Newman won an Oscar for The Color of Money, in 1987. Exactly 20 years later, he announced his retirement from acting, saying, “I’m not able to work anymore … at the level that I would want to. You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention.”

Among his final roles was the voice of Doc Hudson in the 2006 animated movie Cars.

[From People.com]

Paul Newman founded the “Hole In The Wall Gang” summer camps in 1988 for seriously ill children. The camps are now running in over 12 locations worldwide. He loved to visit the children, according to his daughter, Nell, who said that he hoped they would become his legacy.

I used to live near Westport and had the pleasure of seeing Joanne Woodward speak at an event I attended there several years ago. She came across as very down to earth and earnest, and you can just imagine how much Paul meant to her. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was an incredible man who left a vast legacy on the screen and, more importantly, in life.

Paul Newman discusses his retirement and “Hole In The Wall” camps:

Paul Newman talks to David Letterman in January, 2007, about going out to race. (This is just a segment, here’s a link to the full interview)

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward talk about their Las Vegas wedding:

James Dean and Paul Newman screentest for East of Eden, which was out in 1955. How cute are these guys?

[Some details from Telegraph.co.uk and Money.cnn.com.]

Photos below thanks to WENN, PRPhotos, Fame Pictures, and AllMoviePhoto.

Sad news: Paul Newman has lost his long battle with cancer at the age of 83. Newman was a screen icon with dozens of classic films to his credit, as well as an avid humanitarian. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, their six children and eight grandchildren.

Paul Newman has died at age 83.

He passed away after a long battle with cancer Friday at his farmhouse near Westport, Connecticut. No other details were available.

In a statement, Robert Forrester, vice-chairman of Newman’s Own Foundation, said: “Paul Newman’s craft was acting. His passion was racing. His love was his family and friends. And his heart and soul were dedicated to helping make the world a better place for all.

“Paul had an abiding belief in the role that luck plays in one’s life, and its randomness. He was quick to acknowledge the good fortune he had in his own life, beginning with being born in America, and was acutely aware of how unlucky so many others were. True to his character, he quietly devoted himself to helping offset this imbalance.”

Born in Ohio in 1925, the actor rose to fame in such roles as The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which he starred opposite Robert Redford.

He was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning for 1987′s The Color of Money and taking home two honorary ones.

Newman was also known for his philanthropy. He created the Newman’s Own brand of organic foods and donated the company’s profits to charity.

“What started as something of a joke in the basement of his home, turned into a highly-respected, multi-million dollar a year food company,” Forrester said in a statement. “And true to form, he shared this good fortune by donating all the profits and royalties he earned to thousands of charities around the world, a total which now exceeds $250 million.”

He also founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children with serious illnesses. Said Forrester: “Today, there are 11 Camps around the world, with additional programs in Africa and Vietnam. Through the Camps, well over 135,000 children have had the chance to experience what childhood was meant to be.”

Newman is survived by his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, 78. The couple celebrated their golden anniversary in January. He is the father of six children and eight grandchildren.

Newman never confirmed reports that he was battling cancer. In June, as rumors swirled about his illness, his pal (and neighbor) Martha Stewart wrote, “He is still full of vim and vigor, he is still Cool Hand Luke to me, and of course, my Butch Cassidy!”

Newman announced he was retiring last year.

“I’m not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to,” he said on Good Morning America. “You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that’s pretty much a closed book for me… I’ve been doing it for 50 years. That’s enough.”

Newman had said he’d like to be remembered as “a guy who tried, tried to be part of his times, tried to help people communicate with one another, tried to find some decency in his own life, tried to extend himself as a human being. Someone who isn’t complacent, who doesn’t cop out.”

[From Us Weekly]

Newman was nothing short of a class act from the very beginning of his career. His All-American good looks and bright blue eyes garnered lots of attention, but he quickly proved that he was more than just a pretty face. His acting career spanned more than 50 years, boasting such films as “The Verdict” (one of his bast, in my opinion), “Hud” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Despite the accolades and A-list status, Newman kept his personal life private. Even as he battled cancer, he worked to keep the severity of his condition from the media. His 50-year marriage to actress Joanne Woodward is a definite inspiration and an anomaly in a town where famous couples are lucky to last a couple of years.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Picture note by JayBird: Paul Newman is shown in the header image with his wife, Joanne Woodward. Here are some pictures of Newman throughout his career.

Back in January we covered reports that Paul Newman was battling lung cancer, to which he responded that the only things he was getting treatment for were hair loss and athlete’s foot. Five months later and it seems that he’s looking very frail, and more news agencies are suggesting that the lifelong smoker does have lung cancer. His rep has a cryptic statement from the man.

“Newman says he’s doing nicely,” his spokesman, Jeff Sanderson, said in a message emailed to media outlets today in answer to queries about the cancer reports.

Reached by telephone in his Los Angeles office, Sanderson declined to elaborate or give further details.

“This is what I got from him. He says he’s doing nicely, and this is the statement I wanted to share with you, and that’s what I have,” Sanderson told Reuters.

“I spoke to his office. … this is the statement that came directly from him.”

Sydney Morning Herald

That is very cryptic, but what you come to expect from a legend like Paul Newman. OK! Magazine actually says that the rep called the reports ‘not true’, but I haven’t been able to find this elsewhere.

As well as being a great actor, he also has a successful range of ‘Paul Newman’s Own’ salad dressings, cookies and organic food products. Adding speculation that he is unwell is that he has just turned over his $120million share in the company to charity.

Paul is now 83 years old, so he might just be scaling back into proper retirement. Hopefully this is the case, since it isn’t unusual for people to live well into their 90s.

Paul and his wife Joanne Woodward celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in January, which I think means they aren’t allowed back into Hollywood. They live in Westport, Connecticut currently. He was just the most attractive man in his prime, and is still working now. His last film role was the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars.

Paul Newman is shown in the header in a still from a Barbara Walters interview this spring, thanks to Splash.

Depending on whom you believe, beloved actor Paul Newman is in a fight for his life with an undisclosed cancer. The National Enquirer, The Daily News, The Huffington Post and Showbiz Spy are all reporting that the 83-year-old legend recently underwent secret surgery for an unnamed cancer, and that the operation was successful.

Everything went well but Newman, 83, still shows no signs of slowing down and remains very involved on his passion for car racing.

He is fit enough to go out and has been seen outside his home in Westport, Connecticut, where his neighbours say he looks well.

An Enquirer reporter spoke to the superstar on January 18 as he was leaving his restaurant Dressing Room with his wife of nearly 50 years, Joanne Woodward.

The once heavy smoker did not deny he had cancer but instead sidestepped the question and responded in a gravelly voice: “As you can see, I’m doing okay.”

[From Showbizspy]

However, the Enquirer makes things up more often than not, and Newman’s rep denies any cancer diagnosis, saying these reports are “unfounded.”

Warren Cowan revealed that he spoke with Newman about the claims by tabloid magazine The Enquirer.
Newman said: “I’m being treated for athlete’s foot and hair loss… maybe the doctors know something that I don’t!”

[From RTE.ie]

With so many celebs’ medical conditions becoming public knowledge against their will (the airing of Heath Ledger’s prescription medication regime is a good example), it’s understandable that a private person like Paul Newman would want to keep his health his business. But it’s notable that the usually healthy-looking Newman has appeared rather fragile lately. He and his lovely wife, Joanne Woodward, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on January 29—a real rarity in Hollywood.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Here are a pictures of Paul Newman throughout his long career. He is shown in the header image with his wife, Joanne Woodward. There is an image below from 1958 of them posing with a small dog from the book Men & Dogs: A Personal History from Bogart to Bowie. The newest photo of Newman is the last one below and was taken on 5/4/07 at The American Ireland Fund’s Annual Gala. He is also shown working on the animated film Cars.

I hope he’s ok and pulls through. We have a friend who lives in Connecticut like Newman, and she is 91 years old and still active and fit. Bob Hope and George Burns both lived to be 100.

Looking at all these old pictures of Newman makes me swoon. The guy has it in a way that’s so unique.