THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound. One of the very finest screen actors of our time. Newman spanned the gap between the golden days of Hollywood, the 40s and 50s with actors like Cary Grant and James Stewart and Clark Gable, and the present lot represented by Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise' Sir Michael Parkinson I wish I could, but I can’t. But I also wish I could ski. And I wish I could play tennis well. I wish I could do lots of things, but I can’t—and that doesn’t make me a bad person. The ultimate cool guy, who men wanted to be like and women adored. He was an American icon, a brilliant actor, a Renaissance man and a generous but modest philanthropist ... Newman entertained millions in some of Hollywood's most memorable roles ever, and brightened the lives of amny more, especially seriously ill children, through his charitable works.' Arnold Schwarzenegger An excessively private man he started to make notes for an intended Memoir and then gave it up. His children found much of the documents long after his death and decided to share it with the public. Since they are his children they would know better than I if he would be pleased about this or not – considering he passed away so many years ago, maybe now he couldn’t care less.

Danger ejected him from this state of anaesthesia. Hence his obsession with racing cars, which began with a movie role as a grand prix driver in Winning but took him “outside that fictional experience into something real and quite primitive”. More culpably, he also urged his son, Scott – an addict and an unsuccessful actor, with whom his relationship was “a dance of death” – to take high-speed risks on the road. At one lacerating moment, Newman recalls that he considered shooting himself to rid Scott of “the affliction that was me”; in the event, it was the unhappy Scott who died prematurely. I felt no closer to understanding Newman after reading this book than I did before. He would agree with my assertion and nod and shrug.It would make my life a lot easier if whenever someone stopped me on the street and asked, “Ooh, let me take your picture,” I said OK. But that would draw another 12 people over, and that would draw some more people, and you stand there signing autographs while politely asking them about their mother and father. Much later in his career, Newman’s voice became an equally striking feature. Unlike the eyes, the voice had to be earned; it was no pretty boy’s birthright. Decades of smoking, drinking and pain produced a rusty baritone that could narrate its way to the very soul of a man’s regret. Newman’s voice settled into its terminal register in the 1980s, in movies like “Absence of Malice” and “The Color of Money.” His world-weary characters could still get the girl, but the right one had long since gotten away. By the end of his career, Newman spoke with a lovely white-haired softness as a sort of national grandfather, teaching a boy to use a watch in “Nobody’s Fool” (1994) and describing the rules of the road in Pixar’s animated “Cars” (2006). Millions of children know him by his voice alone.

Then all this was put together for a book about Paul Newman, contributions and stories from his co-stars and directors. Newman's often traumatic childhood is detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Brando and Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott, his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers around his relationship with Joanne Woodward - their love for each other, his dependence on her, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally and sexually. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by I thought I knew quite a bit about his life. Turns out, I knew next to nothing. From the long standing affair he had with Woodward, prior to his divorce and marriage to her, to the death of his beloved only son, I learned so much about his upbringing, his marriages, parenting and most importantly, his philanthropy. Per his daughter, “his obituary in the economist noted he was the most generous individual, relative to income, in the twentieth century history of the United State. He was also incredibly loyal to his friends and helped beyond what most people would do. I know of a few times he gave up part of his salary to his co-stars to level the playing field. He strove for fairness in all things.”The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. The greatest movie star of the past 75 years covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his thoughts on Marlon Brando, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, John Huston, his greatest roles, acting, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward, his innermost fears and passions and joys. With thoughts/comments throughout from Joanne Woodward, George Roy Hill, Tom Cruise, Elia Kazan and many others. Paul Newman was an ordinary man gifted with extraordinary good looks and extraordinary talent. Even if (in his own words) he probably would not accept that he had any talent at all. also a director, race car driver, husband, father, philanthropist, (went further than most actors), business owner of a non-profit ‘Newman’s Own’ (salad dressings, etc.), struggled with alcohol, was often lonely, a private man who needed to have a lot of people around him…..