Paul Newman (54 page)

In helping others, he said, “I wanted, I think, to acknowledge Luck: the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others: made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it.” And that, he was sure, would be the best reason for remembering him.

The entire string of his life—the remarkable eyes and metabolism, his comfortable home, the high caliber of his schooling, the fortune to survive a war, the career opportunities that fell to him, the serendipity to meet and wed a true life partner, the achievement of one-in-a-billion stardom, the high-speed realization of his athletic potential, the whimsical success of his business empire, the decades of good health—all of it, he reckoned, could be thought of merely as the fruit of a lucky streak of many decades.

He wouldn’t have wanted all the fuss. But then he had learned before the end to be appreciative. Just days before he succumbed, sitting in the garden at Westport with his daughters, he spoke his last recorded words and revealed how he felt about it all.

For full effect, his thoughts would have to be spoken aloud in an early autumn light, in a verdant setting, among family, and in the husky notes of his voice as it sounded in those last years. Barring that, the words alone could carry all the precious weight he put into them: “It’s been a privilege to be here.”

10: “He’s probably” —Jim Murray, “Perfect for the Part,”
Los Angeles Times
, November 24, 1976.

10: “I don’t think” —Denise Worrell,
Intimate Portraits
(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989), p. 81.

10: “The toughest role” —Vernon Scott, “Paul Newman, Sex Symbol,”
Cleveland Press
, April 16, 1971.

15: “a cloister” —Charles Hamblett,
Paul Newman
(Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1975), p. 6.

25: “My mother” —“Barbara Walters’ Last Interview with Paul Newman,”
ABCNews.com
.

26: “That didn’t really take” —Hamblett,
Newman
, p. 2.

28: “pooh-pooh” —Peter S. Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, April 1983.

28: “lakes and forests” —Charles Hamblett,
Paul Newman
(Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1975), p. 5.

29: “In high school” —Aaron Latham, “Paul Newman Takes the Stand,”
Rolling Stone
, January 20, 1983.

29: “beautiful little boy… yodeled” —Julian Krawcheck, “In College Days and After, Paul Newman Sold Himself,”
Cleveland Press
, June 4–6, 1959.

29: “I didn’t like it” —Lillian Ross and Helen Ross,
The Player: A Profile of an Art
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 239.

29: “frustrated actress” —Edwin Miller, “What’s Behind Those Beautiful Blue Eyes?,”
Seventeen
, November 1970.

31: “I don’t know that we ever connected” —Jess Cagle, “Two for the Road,”
Time
, July 8, 2002.

31: “uncommunicative …undemonstrative” —Bob Thomas, “Paul Newman: His Life Story,”
Good Housekeeping
, May 1979.

31: “six days a week” —Greenberg, “
Playboy
Interview.”

32: “an informal way” —Hamblett,
Newman
, p. 5.

32: “when I was a kid” —“In Newman’s Own Words,”
Good Housekeeping
, May 1995.

32: “Judeo-Christian” —Hamblett,
Newman
, p. 2.

32: “baseball glove” —Ibid., p. 3.

32: “toss-up” —Krawcheck, “In College Days.”

33: “felt the pinch” —Thomas, “Life Story.”

34: “never heard my father” —Ibid.

35: “stage-managed” —Ross and Ross,
Player
, p. 240.

36: “quaff a few” —Joy Ream, “Stalking the Newman Legend,”
Athens
, Spring 1973.

36: “A date” —Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview.”

36: “Gus” —Ream, “Stalking.”

38: “couldn’t wait” —Lillian Ross and Helen Ross,
The Player: A Profile of an Art
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 240.

38: “uniform” —Aaron Latham, “Paul Newman Takes the Stand,”
Rolling Stone
, January 20, 1983.

39: “errors in altimeters” —Dick Wells, “Interview: Paul Newman,”
Motor Trend
, August 1970.

39: “potshots” —Latham, “Takes the Stand.”

40: “a copy of Nietzsche” —Gore Vidal,
Palimpsest: A Memoir
(New York: Random House, 1995), p. 270.

41: “There I was” —“Paul Newman’s Getting More Beautiful As He Grows Older,”
National Star
, October 14, 1975.

41: “My father wrote” —John Skow, “Verdict on a Superstar,”
Time
, December 6, 1982.

42: “one of the worst” —Grover Lewis, “The Redoubtable Mr. Newman,”
Rolling Stone
, July 5, 1973.

46: “A bunch of us” —Ibid.

47: “Almost everybody” —Dan Groberg, “Paul Newman ’49,”
Kenyon Collegian
, October 2, 2008.

47: “The beer cost me” —Jane Wilson, “Paul Newman: ‘What If My Eyes Turn Brown?’”
Saturday Evening Post
, February 24, 1968.

48: “One day a stallion” —Peter S. Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, April 1983.

49: “worst college actors” —Ross and Ross,
Player
, p. 241.

49: “He took that stage” —Groberg, “Newman ’49.”

53: “a deal with his family” —Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein,
Paul and Joanne: A Biography of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
(New York: Delacorte Press, 1988), p. 8.

54: “I grew up” —Charles Hamblett, “The Private World of Paul Newman,”
Woman
[U.K.], 1972.

54: “I wasn’t ‘searching’” —Paul Newman Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection, June 1959.

54: “I think the only thing” —Ibid.

59: “He treated me” —John Skow, “Verdict on a Superstar,”
Time
, December 6, 1982.

60: “Paul worked hard” —Julian Krawcheck, “In College Days and After, Paul Newman Sold Himself,”
Cleveland Press
, June 4–6, 1959.

62: “I had no stars” —Newman Oral History.

63: “The machinery” —Ibid.

63: “The muscles” —Peter S. Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, April 1983.

64: “I was terrorized” —Skow, “Verdict.”

64: “If you talk” —Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview.”

64: “I like to think” —Charles Hamblett,
Paul Newman
(Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1975), p. 24.

65: “I was prepared” —Lillian Ross and Helen Ross,
The Player: A Profile of an Art
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 242.

71: “I had one decent suit” —Lillian Ross and Helen Ross,
The Player: A Profile of an Art
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 243.

71: “For the strange” —Richard Christiansen, “Paul Newman: Down-to-Earth Superstar,”
Youngstown Vindicator
, November 26, 1978.

72: “Boy, there was work” —Nikki Finke, “Sentimental Favorites,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 15, 1987.

72: “I heard a lot” —Ross and Ross,
Player
, p. 242.

75: “When I did my first scene” —Jane Wilson, “Paul Newman: ‘What If My Eyes Turn Brown?’”
Saturday Evening Post
, February 24, 1968.

75: “Lee can be destructive” —Paul Newman Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection, June 1959.

76: “primarily a cerebral actor” —Ross and Ross,
Player
, p. 243.

77: “Bill always had” —Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein,
Paul and Joanne: A
Biography of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
(New York: Delacorte Press, 1988), p. 19.

78: “I had it for about four days” —Gordon Gow, “Involvement,”
Films and
Filming
, March 1973.

80: “I had been making the rounds” and “Jeez” —Gene Shalit, “Joanne & Paul: Their Lives Together and Apart,”
Ladies Home Journal
, July 1975.

81: “My mother tells” —Joanne Woodward Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection, June 1959.

82: “Sandy Meisner discovered” —Ibid.

82: “For two years” —Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein,
Paul and Joanne: A
Biography of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
(New York: Delacorte Press, 1988), p. 17.

83: “twelve-year-old girl” —Woodward Oral History.

85: “I could just as easily” —Louella O. Parsons, “The Paul Newmans: ‘We Love Working Together,’”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, February 3, 1963.

87: “When I first saw him” —William Glover, “Paul Newmans Now Teamed on a Stage,”
Newark Evening News
, April 12, 1964.

87: “The fashion” —Morella and Epstein,
Paul and Joanne
, p. 17.

88: “I can remember” —Bob Thomas, “Haunted by the Shadow of His Dad, Paul Newman,”
New York Post
, March 29, 1982.

88: “Jackie lost her interest” —Kirtley Baskette, “Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman,”
Redbook
, February 1959.

88: “From the beginning” —Alan Ebert, “The Private Woodward,”
Lear’s
, September 1989.

92: “I had a lot of people” —Paul Newman Oral History, Columbia University

Oral History Research Collection, June 1959. 93: “‘Have you ever thought’” —Ibid.

94: “That was the last” —Lee Eisenberg, “Him with His Foot to the Floor,”
Esquire
, June 1988.

95: “I was flailing” —Lillian Ross and Helen Ross,
The Player: A Profile of an Art
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 244.

95: “Three weeks after” —Richard Warren Lewis, “Waiting for a Horse: Paul Newman Makes a Western,”
New York Times Sunday Magazine
, November 6, 1966.

98: “About 10 of us” —Roy Newquist,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, July 1968.

98: “I was horrified” —Craig Modderno, “Paul Newman: An Exclusive Portrait,”
Playgirl
, June 1980.

100: “I like to nail those guys” —Grover Lewis, “The Redoubtable Mr. Newman,”
Rolling Stone
, July 5, 1973.

103: “Mr. Montgomery and I” —Paul Newman Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection, June 1959.

109: “He is the most aware” —Kent R. Brown,
The Screenwriter as Collaborator: The Career of Stewart Stern
(New York: Arno Press, 1980), p. 123.

110: “I’m still convinced” —Peter S. Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, April 1983.

111: “There were two things” —Newman Oral History.

115: “They say you can take” —Greenberg, “Playboy Interview.”

116: “more of an ordeal” —Kirtley Baskette, “Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman,”
Redbook
, February 1959.

120: “One time I remembered” —Roy Newquist,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, July 1968.

121: “That was a painful experience” —Paul Newman Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection, June 1959.

121: “I had grave misgivings” —Newman Oral History.

122: “The house was full of people” —Gore Vidal,
Palimpsest: A Memoir
(New York: Random House, 1995), p. 296.

123: “He sees what he thinks” —Fred Kaplan,
Gore Vidal: A Biography
(New York: Doubleday, 1999), p. 417.

124: “The horse and I” —Richard Christiansen, “Paul Newman: Down-to-Earth Superstar,”
Youngstown Vindicator
, November 26, 1978.

124: “I lived in a bunkhouse” —Graham Fuller, “The Outsider as Insider,”
Interview
, March 1998.

124: “Somewhere along the line” —Newman Oral History.

125: “It helped me” —Peter S. Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview: Paul Newman,”
Playboy
, April 1983.

126: “She was tougher” —Gabriel Miller, ed.,
Martin Ritt Interviews
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), p. 144.

126: “The newspaper editor” —Newman Oral History.

127: “I said to him one day” —Miller,
Ritt Interviews
, p. 166.

128: “Orson and I” —Newman Oral History.

128: “Three could sleep” —Newquist,
“Playboy
Interview.”

131: “It wouldn’t be fair” —Kirtley Baskette, “Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman,”
Redbook
, February 1959.

131:“What happened to us” —Greenberg,
“Playboy
Interview.”

133: “There were no tourists” —Charles Hamblett,
Paul Newman
(Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1975), p. 73.

134: “That very nice doctor” —Fred Kaplan,
Gore Vidal: A Biography
(New York: Doubleday, 1999), p. 439.

134: “I’m in my pajamas” —Kitty Hanson, “Stranger in Hollywood,”
New York
Daily News
, April 4, 5, 6, 1962.

135:“You son of a bitch” —George Stevens Jr.,
Conversations with the Great Movie makers of Hollywood’s Golden Age
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), p. 552.

136:“If I had an infinite” —Mason Wiley and Damien Bona,
Inside Oscar: The
Unofficial History of the Academy Awards
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1987), p. 283.

136: “Acclaim is the false aspect” —John Skow, “Verdict on a Superstar,”
Time
, December 6, 1982.

137: “In Hollywood” —Joanne Woodward Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection, June 1959.

137: “I was raised” —Alan Ebert, “The Private Woodward,”
Lear’s
, September 1989.

139: “Wasserman was a master” —Lynn Hirschberg, “Has Paul Newman Finally Grown Up?”
New York
, December 12, 1994.

140: “This was my first crack” —Paul Newman Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, June 1959.

141: “The mistake that you make” —Ibid.

142: “I was so amazed” —Ibid.

143: “Whenever he would give me” —Leonard Probst, “Talking with Paul Newman,”
Atlantic
, November 1975.

145: “A baby was always” —Peer J. Oppenheimer, “The Paul Newmans Fight for Their Marriage,”
Hollywood Citizen-News
, October 9, 1960.

146:“He waited” —Hirschberg, “Grown Up?”

146: “I have a recurring nightmare” —Erin James, “Paul Newman: At Home with Himself,”
Saturday Evening Post
, October 1977.

147:“Paul hasn’t had” —Sidney Blackmer Oral History, Columbia University Oral History Research Collection.

149: “I’m two people” —Sidney Skolsky, “Tintyped: Paul Newman,”
New York
Post Magazine
, May 19, 1963.

153: “If he doesn’t like something” —Muriel Davidson, “Joanne Woodward Tells All about Paul Newman,”
Good Housekeeping
, February 1969.

154: “For me” —Lillian Ross and Helen Ross,
The Player: A Profile of an Art
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 240.