Hollywood legend Paul Newman dies of cancer age 83

Saturday, September 27, 2008

American actor Paul Newman died on Friday at age 83 of cancer. He pulled out of directing a stage production of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in Connecticut because of unspecified health problems.

Newman starred in his first film in 1954 when he appeared as Basil in The Silver Chalice. Later in his career he starred in several films including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hustler, Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man and Hud. He won an Oscar for best actor in 1987 for his appearance in The Color Of Money. This was his only Oscar win but was nominated a total of 10 times. He also worked as both a director and a producer. He also voiced the part of Doc Hudson in the 2006 Pixar film Cars

Newman married actress Joanne Woodward in 1958; they had three children. He was previously married with three other children. His son Scott from his first marriage died in 1978 of a drug overdose. He set up a center for drug abuse in memory of his son. Newman opened up his own company, Newman’s Own, which made a line of food products including salad dressing, salsa, lemonade and others. He donated all of the company’s profits to charity.

Newman retired in May 2007. He told broadcaster ABC “I’m not able to work anymore… at the level that I would want to.”