Paul Newman: 1925-2008

Legendary actor Paul Newman, creator of such iconic screen characters as Fast Eddie Felson, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and Frank Galvin, passed away yesterday at the age of 83.

Nominated for ten Academy Awards (nine for acting -- Best Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Absence of Malice, The Verdict, The Color of Money and Nobody's Fool, Best Supporting Actor for Road to Perdition -- and one Best Picture nod for Rachel, Rachel, in which he directed his longtime wife, Joanne Woodward), Newman won three Oscars (for The Color of Money, plus an Honorary Award in 1986 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his many charitable contributions, in 1994).


Through his over 50-year career, he received many other accolades, including awards from BAFTA, the Cannes Film Festival, the Emmys, the National Board of Review, the Screen Actors Guild, several critics groups and six honors from the Golden Globes, including their prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Newman made his film debut in 1954's The Silver Chalice. Other classic films he has appeared in include Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Long, Hot Summer, Exodus, Sweet Bird of Youth, Harper, Torn Curtain, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, The Sting, The Towering Inferno, Slap Shot, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge and The Hudsucker Proxy. His final film role was as the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars. In addition to Rachel, Rachel, he also directed Sometimes a Great Notion, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds and The Glass Menagerie (the latter two again with Woodward) and wrote and directed Harry & Son.

For more on Paul Newman here at Movie Dearest, read his Cinematic Crush profile.