The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

Rediscovered memories of perhaps the greatest movie star of our time. A man who was admired by many, but few truly knew.

" This book was created from an effort to explain everything to my children. " I want to leave behind some kind of record that will set things straight, dispel the myths that have arisen around me, destroy some legends, and keep the piranhas at a respectful distance. Something that would record with some accuracy the time I was on this planet. Because what exists in the records now has nothing to do with the truth at all. That' s all I care about. "

—Paul Newman

In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, embarked on an ambitious project. Stern was to compile an oral history, asking Newman' s family, friends, and those who worked closely with him to tell stories about the actor' s life. Newman was then to offer his version of the story, in collaboration with Stern. The only condition was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. The same condition applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.

The result is exceptional memoirs, selected from thousands of pages of transcripts that have only recently been rediscovered. Newman' s voice is sometimes funny, sometimes painful, but always above all true. More voices, who appear in the book – childhood friends and navy buddies, family members and film and theater collaborators like Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt and John Huston – add to the story, which Newman tells, wealth, colours and context.

Paul Newman recounts in detail his often traumatic childhood, insecurity in adolescence, youthful failures in women, rise to fame, his first opponents (Marlon Brando and James Dean), first marriage, your drink, charity, the death of his son Scott and the desire, so that his daughters would understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers on his relationship with Joanne Woodward—their deep love for each other, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally, and sensually, and his enduring dependence on her.

PAUL NEWMAN was an actor, film director, racing driver and businessman. He was nominated for an Oscar ten times and won it for Best Actor in The colour of Money. He was also the recipient of many other awards, including a BAFTA award, three Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Emmy Awards, the Cecil B.de Mille Prize and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Prize. His films include, for example, The Billiard King, Hud, Harper, Dude Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Understatement, Judgment, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, I' m not crazy, Road to Perdition and Pixar' s Cars, where he voiced Doc Hudson. As a racing driver, Newman won several national championships. As a political activist and humanitarian, he has raised and donated nearly $1 billion to numerous charities. Paul Newman had six children and was married to Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward for fifty years. He died in 2008 at the age of eighty-three.