Paul Newman (Hardcover) ~ Shawn Levy (Author) Cover Art

Paul Newman (Hardcover)

By: Shawn Levy (Author)

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Review

"Shawn Levy's absorbing, affectionate portrait manages to bring [Newman] back to us....[It] leaves readers with a surprisingly cheering and inspiring message. If the rest of us can't aspire to having Newman's life, we can at least take inspiration from the way he lived his..."

"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..."

"An illuminating look at one of the true greats, full of humor and intelligent analysis--highly recommended." (starred review)

Publisher's note

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.

Annotation

While many of his Hollywood colleagues became as well-known for their idiosyncrasies or their infidelities as they were for their acting, Paul Newman's superstar status was virtually untouched by scandal. When he augmented his legacy by founding one of the most profitable and generous business ventures of all-time, there were very few people unwilling to testify to his sainthood. With Shawn Levy's biography, the first since Newman's death in 2008, the heavenly legacy of the onscreen legend who embodied the charismatic rebelliousness of characters such as Butch Cassidy, "Fast Eddie" Felson, and "Cool Hand" Luke remains remarkably intact. Levy does not shy away from documenting Newman's shortcomings, which did indeed include a few illicit love affairs as well as the intermittent emotional distance he maintained with his children. But the accumulated weight of Newman's professional benevolence tips the scales away from any personal defects. Everyone who loved Paul Newman as an actor, a race car driver, a philanthropist, and an icon will find even more to love in this glowing retrospective of an exemplary life.

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