What do you think?
Rate this book
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - 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.
A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.
The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, surprising. Newman's voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty. The additional voices--from childhood friends and Navy buddies, from family members and film and theater collaborators such as Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt, and John Huston--that run throughout add richness and color and context to the story Newman is telling.
Newman's often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Marlon Brando and James 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.
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound.
A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.
The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, surprising. Newman's voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty. The additional voices--from childhood friends and Navy buddies, from family members and film and theater collaborators such as Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt, and John Huston--that run throughout add richness and color and context to the story Newman is telling.
Newman's often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Marlon Brando and James 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.
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound.
297 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2022
About the author
Paul Newman
15 books30 followersPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.
Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all profits and royalties to charity. As of May 2007, these donations had exceeded US$220 million.
On September 26, 2008, Newman died at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, of complications arising from cancer.
Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all profits and royalties to charity. As of May 2007, these donations had exceeded US$220 million.
On September 26, 2008, Newman died at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, of complications arising from cancer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,158 reviews
October 30, 2022
Audiobook….read by Jeff Daniels and a full cast.
…..8 hours and 46 minutes
Paul Newman was one of the most renowned actors in the world…
….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…..
he was honest to the core, was a loyal friend, very well respected by most people, loved to laugh at his own jokes…..
was a Hollywood giant ….
a good man … a grateful generous man.
Newman often had a shitty opinion of himself - spent time in therapy examining his life, his marriage to Joanne Woodward, his parenting, his acting, etc.
He was serious about giving back —
He knew he was lucky -knew he was good looking - but didn’t often feel worthy… so at least he could give money to places it might make a difference: with children, etc. He often gave money anonymously.
He said:
“It’s easy to be charitable when it doesn’t cost you anything”.
Newman was predisposed to addiction and alcohol. He compensated his drinking with physical fitness and long saunas.
This audiobook was great. It’s packed filled with everything— including the kitchen sink.
The interviews were between
1986 to 1991
It goes without saying Newman was great humanitarian.
He was honored with the lifetime achievement award…. a very deserving award.
He never stopped reaching for excellence.
Very thought-provoking, engrossing- and sincerely moving.
…..8 hours and 46 minutes
Paul Newman was one of the most renowned actors in the world…
….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…..
he was honest to the core, was a loyal friend, very well respected by most people, loved to laugh at his own jokes…..
was a Hollywood giant ….
a good man … a grateful generous man.
Newman often had a shitty opinion of himself - spent time in therapy examining his life, his marriage to Joanne Woodward, his parenting, his acting, etc.
He was serious about giving back —
He knew he was lucky -knew he was good looking - but didn’t often feel worthy… so at least he could give money to places it might make a difference: with children, etc. He often gave money anonymously.
He said:
“It’s easy to be charitable when it doesn’t cost you anything”.
Newman was predisposed to addiction and alcohol. He compensated his drinking with physical fitness and long saunas.
This audiobook was great. It’s packed filled with everything— including the kitchen sink.
The interviews were between
1986 to 1991
It goes without saying Newman was great humanitarian.
He was honored with the lifetime achievement award…. a very deserving award.
He never stopped reaching for excellence.
Very thought-provoking, engrossing- and sincerely moving.
October 22, 2022
Back in 1986, Paul Newman decided he wanted the truth out there about his life and started working on his memoir. His friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, was tasked with compiling an oral history of Paul's life by talking with friends and family of the actor. Afterwards, Paul would add his thoughts to the mix. The one stipulation Paul had was everyone involved must be open and honest, including himself. The project went on for 5 years but perhaps because it was an ambitious undertaking, it eventually was abandoned.
In 2008, Paul Newman died at the age of 83. While his kids figured the transcripts from their father's project were floating around somewhere, it took a decade to locate them. Piecing together what they found, they came up with this book, which is Paul's life in his own words with some relevant anecdotes from others, and it is an utterly fascinating read.
He had a reputation for being a private person so I was pleasantly surprised how much he shared his thoughts and feelings of his childhood, career, marriages and fatherhood. He sought therapy over the years and I'm sure that led to quite a bit of reflection about his life. He's self-deprecating, to a fault in my opinion, but it also shows he didn't have a massive ego. He knew he had flaws, he knew there was always room for improvement. I always liked him as an actor but after reading this memoir, I have mad respect for him as a man.
Highly recommend checking this one out if you are a Paul Newman fan and/or enjoy reading memoirs.
Thank you to Knopf Publishing for providing a copy of this book! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.
In 2008, Paul Newman died at the age of 83. While his kids figured the transcripts from their father's project were floating around somewhere, it took a decade to locate them. Piecing together what they found, they came up with this book, which is Paul's life in his own words with some relevant anecdotes from others, and it is an utterly fascinating read.
He had a reputation for being a private person so I was pleasantly surprised how much he shared his thoughts and feelings of his childhood, career, marriages and fatherhood. He sought therapy over the years and I'm sure that led to quite a bit of reflection about his life. He's self-deprecating, to a fault in my opinion, but it also shows he didn't have a massive ego. He knew he had flaws, he knew there was always room for improvement. I always liked him as an actor but after reading this memoir, I have mad respect for him as a man.
Highly recommend checking this one out if you are a Paul Newman fan and/or enjoy reading memoirs.
Thank you to Knopf Publishing for providing a copy of this book! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.
November 2, 2022
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.
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.
I was glad to get an inside look at an amazing actor who was a flawed human being who managed to make it to the top in Hollywood – one of the hardest places to make it at all.
Considering where he came from and his early life it is nothing short of AMAZING that he accomplished as much as he did. What is not so surprising is that he gave back to the world as much as he did.
Since a good deal of this is in the actor’s own words I found it profound, honest and endearing. For a flawed man to divulge his flaw so openly one must commend him for his honesty. He never held back even as he never seemed to think he was anything special. As flawed as he was the man was a hero.
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.
I was glad to get an inside look at an amazing actor who was a flawed human being who managed to make it to the top in Hollywood – one of the hardest places to make it at all.
Considering where he came from and his early life it is nothing short of AMAZING that he accomplished as much as he did. What is not so surprising is that he gave back to the world as much as he did.
Since a good deal of this is in the actor’s own words I found it profound, honest and endearing. For a flawed man to divulge his flaw so openly one must commend him for his honesty. He never held back even as he never seemed to think he was anything special. As flawed as he was the man was a hero.
April 26, 2023
In or around 1986, Paul Newman began a project with his good friend Stewart Stern, screenwriter of, among other works, Rebel Without a Cause. Newman referred to the project as an attempt at self-dissection - a memoir less about his life than it was to be about his character. Five years of conversation ensued until, as one of his daughters relays, the men pretty much overwhelmed themselves out of it. The manuscript was tossed aside, perhaps burned it was thought, and did not resurface until after Newman's death from the darker corners of a storage unit. Thousands of pages have been distilled into the body of this work, all under the supervision of his immediate family and abiding his original aim. It is a study of character largely from, but not limited to, the perspective of that character himself.
Newman was a complicated man. The forces that drove him were highly contradictory. Keenly aware of his privilege and charitably-inclined, he was also intricately bound to the dictates of a lusty machismo, and fenced with the sparkling blades of his own vanity throughout the course of his life. His mother, he felt, treated him like a doll and a decoration - like a girl, at one point he says - which led him into a dark and disorganizing conflict with regard to his appearance; a conflict that simmered through the many years of his film career and elevation to the status of sex symbol.
I always had the sense I cater to appearances, that I drink too much, that I don't know how to define myself, so that I can't define my children, either - all of these negatives in my life. I've always been a private man who needs all these people around me all the time. The damage for me has come when I've realized what people were clamoring for was not me. It was characters invented by writers. It was the wit and ability of the authors, the wit and ability of the people who did the exploitation and selling, that had the appeal. What the public was demanding in no way resembled the decoration, let alone the orphan. Do people think that I'm William Faulkner's Ben Quick? Or Hud? Or Butch Cassidy? Or Frank Galvin in The Verdict? Or any of the other parts I've played? It's a shell that's photographed onscreen, chased by the fans and garnering all the glory. While whoever is really inside me, the core, stays unexplored, uncomfortable, and unknown.
Newman's attempt at self-investigation is honest, compelling, sexually frank, and therapeutically informed. It's the rose with the thorns, and one is left with the sense that he'd be perfectly fine with that.
Newman was a complicated man. The forces that drove him were highly contradictory. Keenly aware of his privilege and charitably-inclined, he was also intricately bound to the dictates of a lusty machismo, and fenced with the sparkling blades of his own vanity throughout the course of his life. His mother, he felt, treated him like a doll and a decoration - like a girl, at one point he says - which led him into a dark and disorganizing conflict with regard to his appearance; a conflict that simmered through the many years of his film career and elevation to the status of sex symbol.
I always had the sense I cater to appearances, that I drink too much, that I don't know how to define myself, so that I can't define my children, either - all of these negatives in my life. I've always been a private man who needs all these people around me all the time. The damage for me has come when I've realized what people were clamoring for was not me. It was characters invented by writers. It was the wit and ability of the authors, the wit and ability of the people who did the exploitation and selling, that had the appeal. What the public was demanding in no way resembled the decoration, let alone the orphan. Do people think that I'm William Faulkner's Ben Quick? Or Hud? Or Butch Cassidy? Or Frank Galvin in The Verdict? Or any of the other parts I've played? It's a shell that's photographed onscreen, chased by the fans and garnering all the glory. While whoever is really inside me, the core, stays unexplored, uncomfortable, and unknown.
Newman's attempt at self-investigation is honest, compelling, sexually frank, and therapeutically informed. It's the rose with the thorns, and one is left with the sense that he'd be perfectly fine with that.
July 26, 2024
"The thing that always fascinated me is that you think you emanate a certain color of light. You are convinced that you are nice guy or you're convinced you are a bad guy. You're convinced that you are terribly complicated. Whatever it is, the light that people are looking at is not the light that you think you are emanating: they see something entirely different.
To have one thing on one side of the page completely contradicts something that's on the other side of the page, is interesting. It's good theatre. It presents a very clear picture that there is no clear picture. There's not a statement or a series of statements that simply define a person. The thing that defines a person is, I think, a set of serious contradictions that you get from splashes of color. Out of that you have a painting. Out of that painting you find parts that are worth looking at or not worth looking at."
"In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years."
A touching, honest and intriguing listen from first to last, very well narrated by Jeff Daniels et al.
If you don't know too much (or anything at all) about Paul Newman, then I don't recommend to start with this book. While obviously touching on all important milestones of his personal life as well as his movie career, this isn't a straightforward auto-biography/memoir.
It is a set of honest interviews with Paul Newman quoting family members, friends, colleagues reflecting to him. You can learn a lot about him, warts and all (his cheating on his first wife, Jackie, neglecting his children, later in life: losing his son, Scott, his problems with alcohol) and really get what kind of (hu)man he was. I found him fascinating with his honesty, his faults, his struggle with his impostor syndrome and his trying to make sense of the child, adolescent, adult, as he was, as he saw himself and as others saw him. He isn't kind to himself, but there is a sense of acceptance that feels genuine and all the more compelling.
He was such a private man and hated that people saw him as a pair of blue eyes or a sex symbol and had true difficulties dealing with the overwhelming public attention and chase he got.
(Oddly he said it was the relationship with his (2nd) wife, actress Joanne Woodward that made him feel sexy.) He kept questioning/doubting himself throughout his life, but always did the best he could.
I am very glad I read this book and I want to know some more about him.
To have one thing on one side of the page completely contradicts something that's on the other side of the page, is interesting. It's good theatre. It presents a very clear picture that there is no clear picture. There's not a statement or a series of statements that simply define a person. The thing that defines a person is, I think, a set of serious contradictions that you get from splashes of color. Out of that you have a painting. Out of that painting you find parts that are worth looking at or not worth looking at."
"In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years."
A touching, honest and intriguing listen from first to last, very well narrated by Jeff Daniels et al.
If you don't know too much (or anything at all) about Paul Newman, then I don't recommend to start with this book. While obviously touching on all important milestones of his personal life as well as his movie career, this isn't a straightforward auto-biography/memoir.
It is a set of honest interviews with Paul Newman quoting family members, friends, colleagues reflecting to him. You can learn a lot about him, warts and all (his cheating on his first wife, Jackie, neglecting his children, later in life: losing his son, Scott, his problems with alcohol) and really get what kind of (hu)man he was. I found him fascinating with his honesty, his faults, his struggle with his impostor syndrome and his trying to make sense of the child, adolescent, adult, as he was, as he saw himself and as others saw him. He isn't kind to himself, but there is a sense of acceptance that feels genuine and all the more compelling.
He was such a private man and hated that people saw him as a pair of blue eyes or a sex symbol and had true difficulties dealing with the overwhelming public attention and chase he got.
(Oddly he said it was the relationship with his (2nd) wife, actress Joanne Woodward that made him feel sexy.) He kept questioning/doubting himself throughout his life, but always did the best he could.
I am very glad I read this book and I want to know some more about him.
October 19, 2022
To start, this book published 14 years after Newman's death is a book Paul Newman never meant for you to read. It was compiled from hours and hours of interviews he did with a screenwriter friend decades ago, and after that session, he decided to burn all of the recordings. However, this book was compiled at the wishes of two of his daughters from the transcripts. Much of this is revealed at the end of the book in an afterward.
Throughout Newman's account of his life (narrated very well in audio by Jeff Daniels), there is a sense of real loneliness, at feeling like he wasn't always in control of his own life, and that he resented the intrusion of fame. He found it boggling how women eventually found him to be such a sex symbol, as he couldn't get a girl to even talk to him until after he had been discharged from the military. There were a lot of fascinating moments in this book: reading about his relationship with his parents (his mother treated him mostly like a prop and once he was married to his first wife, insisted they sleep in twin beds), his family's complicated relationship with Judaism and how he was the rare actor who chose not to change his name, his time working with Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio, his relationship with Joanne Woodward, the comparisons to Marlon Brando and James Dean, etc., plus the information from his daughter about his philanthropic efforts.
Despite that, there was a clear message that Paul Newman wanted to live a private life, and finding out after reading his story how much he didn't want other people to invade his privacy complicated my reaction to this book. I feel a little resentful that I was unwittingly someone else trying to get a piece of him, and that definitely affects my opinion of this "memoir."
Throughout Newman's account of his life (narrated very well in audio by Jeff Daniels), there is a sense of real loneliness, at feeling like he wasn't always in control of his own life, and that he resented the intrusion of fame. He found it boggling how women eventually found him to be such a sex symbol, as he couldn't get a girl to even talk to him until after he had been discharged from the military. There were a lot of fascinating moments in this book: reading about his relationship with his parents (his mother treated him mostly like a prop and once he was married to his first wife, insisted they sleep in twin beds), his family's complicated relationship with Judaism and how he was the rare actor who chose not to change his name, his time working with Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio, his relationship with Joanne Woodward, the comparisons to Marlon Brando and James Dean, etc., plus the information from his daughter about his philanthropic efforts.
Despite that, there was a clear message that Paul Newman wanted to live a private life, and finding out after reading his story how much he didn't want other people to invade his privacy complicated my reaction to this book. I feel a little resentful that I was unwittingly someone else trying to get a piece of him, and that definitely affects my opinion of this "memoir."
March 23, 2024
Paul Newman was tired of the tabloid depictions of his life.
He wanted to tell his life story in his own way. So that is what he set out to do with the help of his long-time friend and collaborator, Stewart Stern.
His intention was to bare his soul and be real in ways that expose his truth – his life, and thus he could feel right that he left his story the way he needed it to be said. Mostly for his children. And then for those who cared to read it, too. And in this way, we would learn about the man, the actor, his flaws, his imperfections, and the realness of him. As well as all the people that surrounded his life.
And many had something to say, who also shared commentary throughout his story.
This was a painstaking collaboration that took his recorded conversations, and translated them into a well-coordinated readable, reasonable sized book.
It is truly interesting, and thoughtful and painful and extraordinary.
He wanted to tell his life story in his own way. So that is what he set out to do with the help of his long-time friend and collaborator, Stewart Stern.
His intention was to bare his soul and be real in ways that expose his truth – his life, and thus he could feel right that he left his story the way he needed it to be said. Mostly for his children. And then for those who cared to read it, too. And in this way, we would learn about the man, the actor, his flaws, his imperfections, and the realness of him. As well as all the people that surrounded his life.
And many had something to say, who also shared commentary throughout his story.
This was a painstaking collaboration that took his recorded conversations, and translated them into a well-coordinated readable, reasonable sized book.
It is truly interesting, and thoughtful and painful and extraordinary.
February 20, 2023
Why can't I just enjoy the mystique of my favorite artists?
Do I really want to watch eternal faves like THE HUSTLER, ABSENCE OF MALICE, SLAP SHOT, NOBODY'S FOOL and think about what a shitty young husband and father Paul Newman was? How mean he could be when he was drunk? That he didn't speak to his mom for fifteen years?
As per IMDb, I've seen 36 Paul Newman movies. 37 if you count CARS. 38 if you count SILENT MOVIE. And the only inside scoop I want is how he chose his projects. Newman was always self-deprecating, chalking up his early success to looks, drive, and luck. But you don't star in movies for 40+ years unless every fourth or fifth one is a hit, a killer performance, or both. Stars gamble their whole career once or twice a year by accepting a role; too many duds/years in a row, you're done. Newman beat those odds.
And this is not a book about how he did it. It skims his inner journey, his personal struggles, his later-in-life reckoning. Which is moving, and important I guess, and explains why the man always looked good on screen chugging a beer. And I'm certainly glad he lived long enough to work through a number of his issues and became a stellar human being in the last third of his life.
And you can just take my word on that. If you're a Paul Newman fan, don't read this nice book his daughters put together. Just enjoy his movies.
Do I really want to watch eternal faves like THE HUSTLER, ABSENCE OF MALICE, SLAP SHOT, NOBODY'S FOOL and think about what a shitty young husband and father Paul Newman was? How mean he could be when he was drunk? That he didn't speak to his mom for fifteen years?
As per IMDb, I've seen 36 Paul Newman movies. 37 if you count CARS. 38 if you count SILENT MOVIE. And the only inside scoop I want is how he chose his projects. Newman was always self-deprecating, chalking up his early success to looks, drive, and luck. But you don't star in movies for 40+ years unless every fourth or fifth one is a hit, a killer performance, or both. Stars gamble their whole career once or twice a year by accepting a role; too many duds/years in a row, you're done. Newman beat those odds.
And this is not a book about how he did it. It skims his inner journey, his personal struggles, his later-in-life reckoning. Which is moving, and important I guess, and explains why the man always looked good on screen chugging a beer. And I'm certainly glad he lived long enough to work through a number of his issues and became a stellar human being in the last third of his life.
And you can just take my word on that. If you're a Paul Newman fan, don't read this nice book his daughters put together. Just enjoy his movies.
December 27, 2022
An odd memoir. Taken from recordings Newman left a decade or more before his death.
The man with the fifty year marriage, the man of many and successful movies, the man who created celebrity philanthropy, the man who designed camps for terminally ill kids…was a closed book, a cypher, a functional alcoholic whose epic marriage was set by his cheating on his first wife for years with Joanne Woodward.
Newman seems oddly detached from much of his life.
His son dies and he goes about his workday, leaving a few days later to attend to the funeral.
He’s aware of the mental space he creates and comments regularly on his detachment.
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.
Strange.
The man with the fifty year marriage, the man of many and successful movies, the man who created celebrity philanthropy, the man who designed camps for terminally ill kids…was a closed book, a cypher, a functional alcoholic whose epic marriage was set by his cheating on his first wife for years with Joanne Woodward.
Newman seems oddly detached from much of his life.
His son dies and he goes about his workday, leaving a few days later to attend to the funeral.
He’s aware of the mental space he creates and comments regularly on his detachment.
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.
Strange.
December 25, 2022
Check out all my reviews at: https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN: A MEMOIR by Paul Newman, David Rosenthal (Editor), Melissa Newman (Foreword), Clea Newman Soderland (Afterward) is an intimate and introspective memoir taken from thousands of pages of transcripts that Paul Newman recorded with his friend and screenwriter, Stewart Stern from 1986 to 1991. Family and friends were also interviewed with one stipulation, that also applied to Mr. Newman, which was anyone who spoke on record must be completely honest.
This is a surprisingly candid look into Paul Newman’s own life, the good, the bad and the ugly. I have lived in Cleveland and its suburbs my entire life and always find it interesting how many famous actors, athletes and writers have come from Northeastern Ohio. Mr. Newman’s birthplace of Shaker Hts. is very familiar to me with its economic and religious diversity. While he relates that he and his family were well off financially in his early years, emotionally he felt on his own or smothered by his mother for only his outer appearance. His and his mother’s relationship would be tumultuous for her entire life.
There are candid discussions for such a private man of his drinking and the effects it had on his and his families’ lives, the loss of his eldest child and only son, Scott to drugs and alcohol, and the guilt of adultery for years as he cheated on his first wife with his would be second wife, Joanne Woodward. He never felt as if he was a talented actor, but a lucky one. He also believed he had a learning disability due to his difficulty in school and later memorizing lines for plays and movies, but he was never diagnosed.
The later part of his life when he started his philanthropic organizations and camps for children, he continued to question his life and motivations. His love of car racing continued throughout his later life, and he was quite successful personally and professionally with his racing team. It was also interesting to hear about his view of or relationship with other actors and directors.
This was at times difficult to listen to because as he points out, there is a difference between the inner child and the outer self, the movie star persona who we all expect to see or meet. He was not an easy man (in his own words), but he does believe he always strives to do what is best especially as he has grown older. The Paul Newman narration is done by Jeff Daniels and is well done and easy to listen to.
This memoir was much more than I was expecting. Great for the person who wants some insight into the ordinary man, but not for you if you idealize the extraordinary star persona.
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN: A MEMOIR by Paul Newman, David Rosenthal (Editor), Melissa Newman (Foreword), Clea Newman Soderland (Afterward) is an intimate and introspective memoir taken from thousands of pages of transcripts that Paul Newman recorded with his friend and screenwriter, Stewart Stern from 1986 to 1991. Family and friends were also interviewed with one stipulation, that also applied to Mr. Newman, which was anyone who spoke on record must be completely honest.
This is a surprisingly candid look into Paul Newman’s own life, the good, the bad and the ugly. I have lived in Cleveland and its suburbs my entire life and always find it interesting how many famous actors, athletes and writers have come from Northeastern Ohio. Mr. Newman’s birthplace of Shaker Hts. is very familiar to me with its economic and religious diversity. While he relates that he and his family were well off financially in his early years, emotionally he felt on his own or smothered by his mother for only his outer appearance. His and his mother’s relationship would be tumultuous for her entire life.
There are candid discussions for such a private man of his drinking and the effects it had on his and his families’ lives, the loss of his eldest child and only son, Scott to drugs and alcohol, and the guilt of adultery for years as he cheated on his first wife with his would be second wife, Joanne Woodward. He never felt as if he was a talented actor, but a lucky one. He also believed he had a learning disability due to his difficulty in school and later memorizing lines for plays and movies, but he was never diagnosed.
The later part of his life when he started his philanthropic organizations and camps for children, he continued to question his life and motivations. His love of car racing continued throughout his later life, and he was quite successful personally and professionally with his racing team. It was also interesting to hear about his view of or relationship with other actors and directors.
This was at times difficult to listen to because as he points out, there is a difference between the inner child and the outer self, the movie star persona who we all expect to see or meet. He was not an easy man (in his own words), but he does believe he always strives to do what is best especially as he has grown older. The Paul Newman narration is done by Jeff Daniels and is well done and easy to listen to.
This memoir was much more than I was expecting. Great for the person who wants some insight into the ordinary man, but not for you if you idealize the extraordinary star persona.
December 13, 2022
I have been a huge fan of Paul Newman since I saw my first of his movies, The Long Hot Summer, which also happened to feature his wife Joanne Woodward. Those baby blues led to my major infatuation on my part and even to this day, I consider Paul Newman to be a celebrity crush. When I heard a posthumous memoir was created from his writing and interviews, I knew I needed to get my hands on it.
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.”
You do not need to be a Paul Newman fan to enjoy this really interesting and thorough memoir. Did I mention the audio is narrated in large part by Jeff Daniels? Need I say more?
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.”
You do not need to be a Paul Newman fan to enjoy this really interesting and thorough memoir. Did I mention the audio is narrated in large part by Jeff Daniels? Need I say more?
January 4, 2023
I knew nothing about Paul Newman before picking up this book. I became interested in this book after hearing about it on NPR , it seemed like it would be a fascinating read.
Paul Newman died in 2008 but he had been working on his memoirs since 1986. After he died his family and friends set about trying to finish this project. It took about 5 years and I think it was well worth the wait.
I've only seen 1 Paul Newman movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and that's only because Elizabeth Taylor is in it. To me Paul Newman is the salad dressing guy. But after reading this I will definitely be watching some of his movies. I also want to learn more about his wife Joanne Woodward because she seems like a cool person. At times while reading this I felt uncomfortable because of the way Paul Newman discusses his life. I felt like I was reading his diary. Paul Newman was extremely tough on himself. Paul talked about himself like he was trash. Luckily this book included his friends, family and co stars opinions because they all thought he was a great guy if a little bit stand-offish. He was like all of us a complex person and he made a lot of mistakes but overall every including his ex wife Jackie thought he was a good man...even if he didn't agree.
I think anyone who enjoys reading about complex people will enjoy this book. You don't need to know anything about Paul Newman or even be interested in Hollywood. This book isn't a Hollywood book, it's a deeply personal book about man who never believed his own hype.
I highly recommend this book!
Paul Newman died in 2008 but he had been working on his memoirs since 1986. After he died his family and friends set about trying to finish this project. It took about 5 years and I think it was well worth the wait.
I've only seen 1 Paul Newman movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and that's only because Elizabeth Taylor is in it. To me Paul Newman is the salad dressing guy. But after reading this I will definitely be watching some of his movies. I also want to learn more about his wife Joanne Woodward because she seems like a cool person. At times while reading this I felt uncomfortable because of the way Paul Newman discusses his life. I felt like I was reading his diary. Paul Newman was extremely tough on himself. Paul talked about himself like he was trash. Luckily this book included his friends, family and co stars opinions because they all thought he was a great guy if a little bit stand-offish. He was like all of us a complex person and he made a lot of mistakes but overall every including his ex wife Jackie thought he was a good man...even if he didn't agree.
I think anyone who enjoys reading about complex people will enjoy this book. You don't need to know anything about Paul Newman or even be interested in Hollywood. This book isn't a Hollywood book, it's a deeply personal book about man who never believed his own hype.
I highly recommend this book!
December 6, 2023
Paul Newman was much more than an actor and director. He was a family man, race car driver and a devoted philanthropist. Much of this book is in his own words, which show a talented, introspective and sensitive man very much aware of how much success had favored him. Thoroughly enjoyable reading.
March 23, 2024
В Холивуд, дори в славния период между 40-те и 70-те години, джентълмените (не светците!) се броят на пръсти. Всъщност се сещам само за Грегъри Пек и Пол Нюман.
Никога не съм причислявала Пол Нюман сред най-най-изумителните актьори, променили завинаги Холивуд с метода на дълбокия психологизъм, когато актьорската професия се превръща в благородно и бляскаво поприще. Но Пол Нюман е от същия актьорски клас на Лий Страсбърг, в който е бил и Марлон Брандо, и също налага този подход на пълно потапяне и плашещ реализъм. И у Пол Нюман определено има нещо, нещо отвъд сините му очи, които го превръщат в първия истински секссимвол на Холивуд.
Мисля, че това нещо се нарича “мярка”. Мярка, подплатена с дълбоко вкоренено в характера му самонаблюдение (до степен на болезненост и неувереност), която му пречи да опознае дълбините на пълното актьорско претопяване. Но и го пази от рисковете на тази загуба или промяна в личността, която да го откъсне от контакта с хората около него и най-вече от семейството му. Елиа Казан го нарича “честен актьор.”
Нюман никога не е смятал да публикува мемоари, след като през 90-те изгаря всички записи с приятели и врагове, които е възложил на своя приятел и режисьор Стюарт Стърн. Но Стърн предвидливо е запазил транскрипциите, и след смъртта на Нюман Итън Хоук прави през 2022 г. доста добър документален сериал - "The Last Movie Stars". Сериал, посветен на въпроса, как може да си звезда, и все пак да останеш женен за една и съща жена 50 години, да преживееш самоубийството на сина си, да участваш в движението за граждански права на Лутър Кинг, да дариш милиони за грижа за болни деца и наркомани като насмешливо сложиш лика си върху домашен сос из супермаркетите и същевременно живееш на ръба като автомобилен състезател.
Мисля, че отговорът се казва Джоан Удуърд - втората съпруга на Нюман, с която той има пет годишна извънбрачна и турбулентна връзка преди най-сетне да се разведе с първата си съпруга. В откъсите от интевютата със самия Нюман той е пределно честен - тя винаги е била негов коректив, а е била по-добра и по-рано успяла актриса от него, като обаче взема решение да се съсредоточи в нелекото поддържане на семейство, което все пътува за снимки и включва 6 деца, 3 от които са от първия брак на Нюман.
Нюман откровено се определя като “емоционално ане��тезиран” и благотворителността и гражданските му инициативи са неговият начин да се отблагодари за късмета си, за който той твърди, че няма вина. Късмет да се роди бял мъж и с неговата външност. И да срещне друг човек, с който истински да иска да прекара живота си, предвид колко трудно му е да установи истинска връзка, което той съзнава от първия до последния си ден.
Харесва ми запазената връзка с човешкото в него, пълната липса на главозамайване. Животът му е истинска борба за опазване на личното и за достигане на себепознание чрез актьорството, без което би бил просто емоционално блокиран неудачник.
Относно книгата - стори ми се доста по-орязана от сериала. Доста неща са премълчани - но не от Нюман, а от дъщерите му, редактирали заглавието. Направо са го цензурирали. Те почти не дават откъси с Джоан, за разлика от филма, и избягват твърде подплашено и благопристойно доста щекотливи те��и (алкохолизъм и малко изневери), застрашавали брака на родителите им през годините. Това за мен е крайно глупаво, защото в тях няма нищо кой знае колко страшно, при условие, че са били преодолени и осмислени. Пропускат и гледната точка на Джоан, като не дават и своята собствена, освен нищо не значещите предговор и послеслов. Не притежават в пълна степен честността на баща си. Една история или се разказва смело, или се хвърля в огъня, налоловина просто не става. Затова намалям оценката - дано някой ден се публикуват пълните транскрипции с наистина добра редак��ия и да се допълнят празнините след 1991 г. В този си вид книгата е осакатена, цензурирана и непълна. Пол и Джоан заслужават повече и едва ли биха одобрили това поднасяне на тяхната просто великолепна житейска история.
5⭐️ за Пол Нюман за проницателността и липсата на самозаблуда и за смелостта
2⭐️ за редактора и дъщерите на Нюман при съставянето и упражненста цензура
П. П. Четейки допълнителни статии за тези двама чудесни актьори за пореден път се удивлявам на абсурдно лицемерната и лъжлива холивудска машина за истории. Да му се не види, те не обичат искреността, идва им много драстична, и я заместват с пуритански лъжи от сорта, че Пол и Джоан цели 5 години били “само приятели”. И то при условие, че самият Пол разказва истината. Не го разбирам това пуританско лицемерие, не е ли по-добре нищо да не се пише тогава, просто да се мълчи с уважение към личното пространство? Добре, че самите Пол и Джоан са били готини хора и далеч не са били такива лицемери!
——-
🎬“Newman’s luck began in 1925 when I was born white in America. Appearance is the second luck. Cognitive skills in inventing is the third luck. And I had the luck to overcome the fact that people always said about me “Isn’t he darling!” or “Isn’t he so cute!” by having enough drive to see I wasn’t ever going to survive just on that. I’d been in contact with indifference and stupidity and my own lack of perception. But I’d never really come in contact with true adversity. Luck recognized me.”
🎬“The one thing I’ve always admired is excellence. I recognize it in almost anything: plumbers, museum guides, limousine drivers, bank tellers—I delight in seeing it. Maybe we choose those arenas in which we have the best chance for excellence. For me, maybe that’s acting, or being somehow connected to the theater, or capitalizing on the way I look, or fooling people”
🎬“If I had to define “Newman” in the dictionary, I’d say: “One who tries too hard.”
🎬“While whoever is really inside me, the core, stays unexplored, uncomfortable, and unknown.”
Никога не съм причислявала Пол Нюман сред най-най-изумителните актьори, променили завинаги Холивуд с метода на дълбокия психологизъм, когато актьорската професия се превръща в благородно и бляскаво поприще. Но Пол Нюман е от същия актьорски клас на Лий Страсбърг, в който е бил и Марлон Брандо, и също налага този подход на пълно потапяне и плашещ реализъм. И у Пол Нюман определено има нещо, нещо отвъд сините му очи, които го превръщат в първия истински секссимвол на Холивуд.
Мисля, че това нещо се нарича “мярка”. Мярка, подплатена с дълбоко вкоренено в характера му самонаблюдение (до степен на болезненост и неувереност), която му пречи да опознае дълбините на пълното актьорско претопяване. Но и го пази от рисковете на тази загуба или промяна в личността, която да го откъсне от контакта с хората около него и най-вече от семейството му. Елиа Казан го нарича “честен актьор.”
Нюман никога не е смятал да публикува мемоари, след като през 90-те изгаря всички записи с приятели и врагове, които е възложил на своя приятел и режисьор Стюарт Стърн. Но Стърн предвидливо е запазил транскрипциите, и след смъртта на Нюман Итън Хоук прави през 2022 г. доста добър документален сериал - "The Last Movie Stars". Сериал, посветен на въпроса, как може да си звезда, и все пак да останеш женен за една и съща жена 50 години, да преживееш самоубийството на сина си, да участваш в движението за граждански права на Лутър Кинг, да дариш милиони за грижа за болни деца и наркомани като насмешливо сложиш лика си върху домашен сос из супермаркетите и същевременно живееш на ръба като автомобилен състезател.
Мисля, че отговорът се казва Джоан Удуърд - втората съпруга на Нюман, с която той има пет годишна извънбрачна и турбулентна връзка преди най-сетне да се разведе с първата си съпруга. В откъсите от интевютата със самия Нюман той е пределно честен - тя винаги е била негов коректив, а е била по-добра и по-рано успяла актриса от него, като обаче взема решение да се съсредоточи в нелекото поддържане на семейство, което все пътува за снимки и включва 6 деца, 3 от които са от първия брак на Нюман.
Нюман откровено се определя като “емоционално ане��тезиран” и благотворителността и гражданските му инициативи са неговият начин да се отблагодари за късмета си, за който той твърди, че няма вина. Късмет да се роди бял мъж и с неговата външност. И да срещне друг човек, с който истински да иска да прекара живота си, предвид колко трудно му е да установи истинска връзка, което той съзнава от първия до последния си ден.
Харесва ми запазената връзка с човешкото в него, пълната липса на главозамайване. Животът му е истинска борба за опазване на личното и за достигане на себепознание чрез актьорството, без което би бил просто емоционално блокиран неудачник.
Относно книгата - стори ми се доста по-орязана от сериала. Доста неща са премълчани - но не от Нюман, а от дъщерите му, редактирали заглавието. Направо са го цензурирали. Те почти не дават откъси с Джоан, за разлика от филма, и избягват твърде подплашено и благопристойно доста щекотливи те��и (алкохолизъм и малко изневери), застрашавали брака на родителите им през годините. Това за мен е крайно глупаво, защото в тях няма нищо кой знае колко страшно, при условие, че са били преодолени и осмислени. Пропускат и гледната точка на Джоан, като не дават и своята собствена, освен нищо не значещите предговор и послеслов. Не притежават в пълна степен честността на баща си. Една история или се разказва смело, или се хвърля в огъня, налоловина просто не става. Затова намалям оценката - дано някой ден се публикуват пълните транскрипции с наистина добра редак��ия и да се допълнят празнините след 1991 г. В този си вид книгата е осакатена, цензурирана и непълна. Пол и Джоан заслужават повече и едва ли биха одобрили това поднасяне на тяхната просто великолепна житейска история.
5⭐️ за Пол Нюман за проницателността и липсата на самозаблуда и за смелостта
2⭐️ за редактора и дъщерите на Нюман при съставянето и упражненста цензура
П. П. Четейки допълнителни статии за тези двама чудесни актьори за пореден път се удивлявам на абсурдно лицемерната и лъжлива холивудска машина за истории. Да му се не види, те не обичат искреността, идва им много драстична, и я заместват с пуритански лъжи от сорта, че Пол и Джоан цели 5 години били “само приятели”. И то при условие, че самият Пол разказва истината. Не го разбирам това пуританско лицемерие, не е ли по-добре нищо да не се пише тогава, просто да се мълчи с уважение към личното пространство? Добре, че самите Пол и Джоан са били готини хора и далеч не са били такива лицемери!
——-
🎬“Newman’s luck began in 1925 when I was born white in America. Appearance is the second luck. Cognitive skills in inventing is the third luck. And I had the luck to overcome the fact that people always said about me “Isn’t he darling!” or “Isn’t he so cute!” by having enough drive to see I wasn’t ever going to survive just on that. I’d been in contact with indifference and stupidity and my own lack of perception. But I’d never really come in contact with true adversity. Luck recognized me.”
🎬“The one thing I’ve always admired is excellence. I recognize it in almost anything: plumbers, museum guides, limousine drivers, bank tellers—I delight in seeing it. Maybe we choose those arenas in which we have the best chance for excellence. For me, maybe that’s acting, or being somehow connected to the theater, or capitalizing on the way I look, or fooling people”
🎬“If I had to define “Newman” in the dictionary, I’d say: “One who tries too hard.”
🎬“While whoever is really inside me, the core, stays unexplored, uncomfortable, and unknown.”
November 9, 2022
If you like Paul Newman and want to continue to like him, I don’t recommend you read this book.
January 23, 2024
5 Stars for The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman read by David Rosenthal foreword by Melissa Newman.
This biography was pulled together from an early attempt by Paul Newman to try and set the record straight. In 1986 he had a close friend start talking an oral history of friends and family and then later Paul would give his side of the story. After a huge amount of conversations were recorded this project ended up getting abandoned and wasn’t rediscovered until well after his death.
This ends up being an interesting approach to a memoir, it’s as much about how his family and friends saw him as it’s how he saw himself. It was interesting for me to fill in all the details about his life that I didn’t know.
This biography was pulled together from an early attempt by Paul Newman to try and set the record straight. In 1986 he had a close friend start talking an oral history of friends and family and then later Paul would give his side of the story. After a huge amount of conversations were recorded this project ended up getting abandoned and wasn’t rediscovered until well after his death.
This ends up being an interesting approach to a memoir, it’s as much about how his family and friends saw him as it’s how he saw himself. It was interesting for me to fill in all the details about his life that I didn’t know.
September 14, 2024
More like 4.5 - and that mostly due to less-desired brevity.
One of my all-time-fave movies - along with Paul Newman's performance in it - is Sidney Lumet's 'The Verdict'. It's a piece of art that just works on many levels - and I think Newman should have won the Oscar (instead of for 'The Color of Money')... but don't get me started on the Oscars.
What Newman does in 'The Verdict' is largely the reason I read this. (I'm fond of a number of other Newman performances but my other faves are 'Mr. & Mrs Bridge', 'The Hustler' and 'The Sting'.)
In this memoir, Lumet recounts a memory of the 'Verdict' filming:
Interestingly, we almost never got this book. It's based on a series of interviews (from 1986-1991) that the actor sat through with his good friend and collaborator Stewart Stern. At one point on the road toward completion for publication, the wind went out of the project and it was abandoned and boxed up. It was then three decades before the material was re-discovered and evaluated for print.
At one point in the talks, Newman states:
Still, we do have what's now here - and it makes for a quick, relaxing, somewhat homey read. Newman is refreshingly candid (and rather detailed) about his upbringing: his standoffish relationship with his unhappy parents (but a supportive one with his older brother). We get a rather solid account of his wayward years at college, as a serviceman, as a too-young husband and father, and as an actor who lucked out with looks (something he spent his career working against).
~ all of this tied-in with a man in non-stop search of himself.
That's what makes this particular memoir a compelling - if a bit short - read. Thing is... originally there were thousands of pages of transcripts for this - so it seems we only got a small percentage (along with quotes from others in Newman's life). Ahh... what more we might have known!
Side Note: One of Newman's last performances was on Broadway - after many years of not being on the stage - in Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town'. YouTube has it in a complete version. The production itself is respectable - but Newman is the one to watch... to witness how he had taken life's lessons to heart, and filtered that into art.
One of my all-time-fave movies - along with Paul Newman's performance in it - is Sidney Lumet's 'The Verdict'. It's a piece of art that just works on many levels - and I think Newman should have won the Oscar (instead of for 'The Color of Money')... but don't get me started on the Oscars.
What Newman does in 'The Verdict' is largely the reason I read this. (I'm fond of a number of other Newman performances but my other faves are 'Mr. & Mrs Bridge', 'The Hustler' and 'The Sting'.)
In this memoir, Lumet recounts a memory of the 'Verdict' filming:
"What's the matter? It's not working."This whole memoir is about self-revelation.
"Oh, it's just the lines, Sidney. I'm having so much trouble with the fucking lines. I'll be all right."
"No, Paul, it isn't the lines."
He blinked, sort of, very rapidly, and said, "What do you think the problem is?"
"I think you have to make a decision," I said. "You have to decide how much of *you* you're going to let us see. It's you that's missing, the heartbeat."
Paul didn't say anything. We broke for the weekend. When he came in Monday, he was a different actor. It was all there, and there was very little to work on after that. I think Paul was waiting for someone to make a demand on his talent. He knows what good acting is, and good acting is about self-revelation."
Interestingly, we almost never got this book. It's based on a series of interviews (from 1986-1991) that the actor sat through with his good friend and collaborator Stewart Stern. At one point on the road toward completion for publication, the wind went out of the project and it was abandoned and boxed up. It was then three decades before the material was re-discovered and evaluated for print.
At one point in the talks, Newman states:
It isn't there yet, but slowly my insulation is beginning to break down.Of course I don't know - but perhaps the reason Newman put off making a book of what he was revealing was because he felt it was better to concentrate on doing that in real life instead of just putting words on a page. Apparently his last few decades were all about pushing personal growth.
Still, we do have what's now here - and it makes for a quick, relaxing, somewhat homey read. Newman is refreshingly candid (and rather detailed) about his upbringing: his standoffish relationship with his unhappy parents (but a supportive one with his older brother). We get a rather solid account of his wayward years at college, as a serviceman, as a too-young husband and father, and as an actor who lucked out with looks (something he spent his career working against).
~ all of this tied-in with a man in non-stop search of himself.
And there are a lot of things I don't get about myself, either. But I am certain that nobody can always be responsible for what other people are. You can only be responsible for who *you* are."And it seems Newman ultimately came to understand more of who he was as he grew into being an activist / philanthropist. From what I've read about the average celebrity (though I've read few memoirs by actors), it's the rare one that takes non-celebrity life by the horns in order to get real clarity about it.
That's what makes this particular memoir a compelling - if a bit short - read. Thing is... originally there were thousands of pages of transcripts for this - so it seems we only got a small percentage (along with quotes from others in Newman's life). Ahh... what more we might have known!
Side Note: One of Newman's last performances was on Broadway - after many years of not being on the stage - in Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town'. YouTube has it in a complete version. The production itself is respectable - but Newman is the one to watch... to witness how he had taken life's lessons to heart, and filtered that into art.
February 16, 2023
Fascinating. If you're looking for an in depth look at the films of Paul Newman and the stories behind their making, this is not that book. Instead, these are transcripts of interviews recorded between 1986-1991, which offer an unflinching insight into a man, his work, his family, his addictions, his struggles, his loves and regrets, his pain and the people he hurt. He puts to shame the vacous celebrities and film stars of today, and the meaningless blockbusters that fill our screens. A true titan in an era of so many great actors - Dean, Brando, Redford, McQueen. And a good excuse to look out those classic films to watch again. And a great anecdote about Sean Connery and chillies. A wonderful legacy to leave behind, of which this book only scratches the surface.
May 4, 2024
I could not finish this book. Paul Newman is not the man I thought he was, I lost all my respect for him.
May 18, 2023
This is pieced together from work Newman did for a memoir project earlier in his life that he never ended up finishing. It does help you feel like you know him as a person, and in compiling it they've done a good job of bringing in a few other voices from other people he had interviewed. This isn't an industry memoir. The first half or so is his life before fame, and the second half is less linear story and more anecdotes and thoughts around particular topics. I didn't mind it, and Jeff Daniels reading it is a nice choice.
You get a lot of real insight into him as a person, and it's clear that this project comes after a lot of self-reflection and consideration. It's fascinating to see the elements of his life that he's really been able to dive into and the ones that he isn't ready to yet (of the latter, his relationship with alcohol is a big one, which probably has a lot to do with the role it played in his relationship with his son and his son's untimely death). It's rare to hear a man, particularly one of Newman's generation, speak with such frankness about his failures and his emotions or lack thereof. He is extremely hard on himself, rarely gives himself much credit. But he has given many parts of himself a lot of thought and has a willingness to be vulnerable that is rare in most men, particularly wealthy and famous ones.
You get a lot of real insight into him as a person, and it's clear that this project comes after a lot of self-reflection and consideration. It's fascinating to see the elements of his life that he's really been able to dive into and the ones that he isn't ready to yet (of the latter, his relationship with alcohol is a big one, which probably has a lot to do with the role it played in his relationship with his son and his son's untimely death). It's rare to hear a man, particularly one of Newman's generation, speak with such frankness about his failures and his emotions or lack thereof. He is extremely hard on himself, rarely gives himself much credit. But he has given many parts of himself a lot of thought and has a willingness to be vulnerable that is rare in most men, particularly wealthy and famous ones.
October 20, 2022
This affirms my theory of the neuroticism of actors. Paul Newman is a prime example. With repressed emotion and sketchy sense of self he could only access himself by pretending to be someone else. Apart from that he was kind of ordinary: a hardworking beer drinking frat boy with drive. He accomplished a lot.
January 28, 2023
A REVIEW OF THE BOOK & THE AUNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK
THE BOOK:
There was nothing ordinary about Paul Newman (1925-2008), the Oscar-winning actor, prize-winning race car driver and philanthropist who gave away more than $570 million to charities. In "The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man", Newman never dwells on his accomplishments and, instead, uses the memoir like a long therapy session for soul-searching. Plagued with chronic insecurity, he felt for most of his life like an impostor who achieved success through luck rather than talent.
Between 1986 and 1991, Newman (In Pursuit of the Common Good, with A.E. Hotchner) taped conversations with friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern, who also interviewed many of Newman's family, friends and coworkers. Newman lost interest. The audiotapes were transcribed and forgotten. This posthumous memoir is a chronological, multi-voiced oral history, distilled from the 14,000 transcript pages. Although there are tales of filming "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Hud" and "The Sting", Newman is more interested in discussing such serious issues as his alcoholism. Joanne Woodward, his wife of 50 years, says, "I used to think the only peace Paul ever found was that peace he used to find in being dead drunk." The addictive personality was passed down to his son, Scott, who died of a drug overdose at age 28. Newman writes with heartbreaking insight and guilt about his son's long descent into addiction, rehab and death.
This unforgettable and extraordinary memoir, one of the best and most compelling books of 2022, is a breathtakingly honest mea culpa from a complicated man striving to excavate his demons; according to Newman's daughter Clea, who writes the memoir's afterword, he succeeded in his final decades.
The UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK:
The multi-voiced audio production boasts a superb Jeff Daniels doing most of the heavy lifting, narrating the majority of the book as Paul Newman. Daniels captures the world-weariness and fragility of a world class actor who was still plagued with self-doubts, insecurities and alcohol use disorder. Newman’s daughters Melissa Newman and Clea Newman Soderlund read the book’s foreword and afterword. John Rubinstein reads Stern’s contributions, while Ari Fliakos reads other male voices (including directors Sidney Lumet and George Roy Hill), and Emily Wachtel and January LaVoy read the various women in Newman’s life (including Joanne Woodward, Patricia Neal, and Piper Laurie).
This gripping and emotionally wrenching memoir is given a top-notch multi-narrator production.
THE BOOK:
There was nothing ordinary about Paul Newman (1925-2008), the Oscar-winning actor, prize-winning race car driver and philanthropist who gave away more than $570 million to charities. In "The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man", Newman never dwells on his accomplishments and, instead, uses the memoir like a long therapy session for soul-searching. Plagued with chronic insecurity, he felt for most of his life like an impostor who achieved success through luck rather than talent.
Between 1986 and 1991, Newman (In Pursuit of the Common Good, with A.E. Hotchner) taped conversations with friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern, who also interviewed many of Newman's family, friends and coworkers. Newman lost interest. The audiotapes were transcribed and forgotten. This posthumous memoir is a chronological, multi-voiced oral history, distilled from the 14,000 transcript pages. Although there are tales of filming "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Hud" and "The Sting", Newman is more interested in discussing such serious issues as his alcoholism. Joanne Woodward, his wife of 50 years, says, "I used to think the only peace Paul ever found was that peace he used to find in being dead drunk." The addictive personality was passed down to his son, Scott, who died of a drug overdose at age 28. Newman writes with heartbreaking insight and guilt about his son's long descent into addiction, rehab and death.
This unforgettable and extraordinary memoir, one of the best and most compelling books of 2022, is a breathtakingly honest mea culpa from a complicated man striving to excavate his demons; according to Newman's daughter Clea, who writes the memoir's afterword, he succeeded in his final decades.
The UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK:
The multi-voiced audio production boasts a superb Jeff Daniels doing most of the heavy lifting, narrating the majority of the book as Paul Newman. Daniels captures the world-weariness and fragility of a world class actor who was still plagued with self-doubts, insecurities and alcohol use disorder. Newman’s daughters Melissa Newman and Clea Newman Soderlund read the book’s foreword and afterword. John Rubinstein reads Stern’s contributions, while Ari Fliakos reads other male voices (including directors Sidney Lumet and George Roy Hill), and Emily Wachtel and January LaVoy read the various women in Newman’s life (including Joanne Woodward, Patricia Neal, and Piper Laurie).
This gripping and emotionally wrenching memoir is given a top-notch multi-narrator production.
December 10, 2022
I'm about halfway through the audiobook, and I cannot stop listening. My respect for the man is not even slightly diminished by knowing about his personal struggles. His honesty and integrity manage to shine throughout his revelations about his battle with alcoholism and self-doubt. I'm so glad that I chose to listen to the audiobook because it is impeccably done. I suspected that I was going to enjoy learning more about this very private man's life but I had no idea that the book was going to be so excellently executed. My very sincere thanks to his family, friends, and coworkers - and to everyone else involved in the production of this outstanding combination autobiography/biography. It does this extraordinary man justice.
When I'm finished I will write more but I just had to say: Read (or listen to) this book.
When I'm finished I will write more but I just had to say: Read (or listen to) this book.
December 30, 2022
Sembra un romanzo di Yates. Dove tutto prelude alla tragedia. E i protagonisti si sentono sempre orribilmente inadeguati (oltre che a bere come spugne tutti quanti, quantità industriali di birra e superalcolici).
Parla pochissimo del suo mestiere di attore, come se fosse un accidente del tutto casuale e secondario, “ero un bel faccino” questa frase dà la dimensione di quanto fosse ossessionato dal fatto di essere scelto per la sua bellezza e per i suoi occhi azzurri (oggettivamente era bello come pochi). Parla pochissimo in generale, si nasconde dietro al ricordo (richiesto) di amici parenti colleghi.
Parla pochissimo del suo mestiere di attore, come se fosse un accidente del tutto casuale e secondario, “ero un bel faccino” questa frase dà la dimensione di quanto fosse ossessionato dal fatto di essere scelto per la sua bellezza e per i suoi occhi azzurri (oggettivamente era bello come pochi). Parla pochissimo in generale, si nasconde dietro al ricordo (richiesto) di amici parenti colleghi.
April 16, 2023
Memoir is loosely applied here. This is the transcript of a recorded series of conversations between Paul Newman and screenwriter friend Stewart Stern in the late 80s- early 90s that two of Newman's daughters published years after their father's death, with added bits and pieces from other friends, family and industry colleagues to round out the anecdotes and memories. In this way, it is mostly Newman's own words, but it's impossible to know if this is how he would have chosen to present his story and his voice.
Still, it's a fascinating portrait of an actor of preternatural beauty who worked extraordinarily hard at his craft. His complicated childhood and fraught personal life as a young man imprinted him early with a need to be seen and yet fiercely guard his true self. Understanding the irony that his looks would breed jealousy and suspicion in an industry where beauty opens doors, Paul Newman pursued gritty, hard-edged roles (Hud, Cool Hand Luke), but there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he would escape the sex symbol status that vaulted him to the top of the celebrity A-list.
The stories shared here mostly avoid the glamour grind of Hollywood and instead detour into Newman's relationship with Joanne Woodward, whom he met while both were breaking into the New York theatre scene. Newman was young husband and father, his marriage the result of a summer stock crush that moved far too quickly to the altar, not surprisingly given his mother's claustrophobic obsession with her angel-faced younger son. He and Joanna carried on a love affair, somewhat openly, for years. Newman and his first wife had three children together before they finally divorced. Tragically his eldest child and only son, Scott, would die of a drug overdose at the age of 28.
Paul Newman is also candid about his own alcohol addiction and the abandonment of his children from his first marriage, but he seems to have pulled it together after Scott's death, devoting more time to his philanthropic endeavors (yep, I've got a bottle or two of Newman's Own salad dressing in my fridge), his passion for auto racing, and his family. And still his acting roles just seemed to get better as he aged (The Color of Money, The Verdict)...
The celebrity crush I've had on Paul Newman, going on 50 years since I first saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Paul was supposed to play Sundance but got pushed into playing Butch after his turn in Cool Hand Luke. Then Steve McQueen was tapped for Sundance until he and Paul quarreled. Along came a golden-haired newcomer, Bob Redford, and Sundance became his iconic role) as a little thing was in no way diminished with this raw, rough cut of a life.
Still, it's a fascinating portrait of an actor of preternatural beauty who worked extraordinarily hard at his craft. His complicated childhood and fraught personal life as a young man imprinted him early with a need to be seen and yet fiercely guard his true self. Understanding the irony that his looks would breed jealousy and suspicion in an industry where beauty opens doors, Paul Newman pursued gritty, hard-edged roles (Hud, Cool Hand Luke), but there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he would escape the sex symbol status that vaulted him to the top of the celebrity A-list.
The stories shared here mostly avoid the glamour grind of Hollywood and instead detour into Newman's relationship with Joanne Woodward, whom he met while both were breaking into the New York theatre scene. Newman was young husband and father, his marriage the result of a summer stock crush that moved far too quickly to the altar, not surprisingly given his mother's claustrophobic obsession with her angel-faced younger son. He and Joanna carried on a love affair, somewhat openly, for years. Newman and his first wife had three children together before they finally divorced. Tragically his eldest child and only son, Scott, would die of a drug overdose at the age of 28.
Paul Newman is also candid about his own alcohol addiction and the abandonment of his children from his first marriage, but he seems to have pulled it together after Scott's death, devoting more time to his philanthropic endeavors (yep, I've got a bottle or two of Newman's Own salad dressing in my fridge), his passion for auto racing, and his family. And still his acting roles just seemed to get better as he aged (The Color of Money, The Verdict)...
The celebrity crush I've had on Paul Newman, going on 50 years since I first saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Paul was supposed to play Sundance but got pushed into playing Butch after his turn in Cool Hand Luke. Then Steve McQueen was tapped for Sundance until he and Paul quarreled. Along came a golden-haired newcomer, Bob Redford, and Sundance became his iconic role) as a little thing was in no way diminished with this raw, rough cut of a life.
January 13, 2023
Firstly, not quite sure want to call this book.
A Memoir, an autobiography, a biography, an editorial collection of stories.
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.
Then all of this work was found and all put together by a third person David Rosenthal.
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.
But all of this does not make a good book, the book does not flow. The pictures and the dialogue do not connect, the stories and life go backwards and forwards. You can be reading a story around the early 60's, then there are pictures of the late 70's.
Yes a great film career, enormous about of charity work, some lovely salad dressing, but so many interesting stories missing. Yes also a near borderline alcoholic.
You read a celebrity biography/autobiography you would like to know the person, the personality, Newman shows not much personality, a very private and quite person, no mention of co-stars, many films not mentioned at all, no mention of The Towering Inferno at all.
Interesting, but could have been much better. Over hyped, a disappointment.
A Memoir, an autobiography, a biography, an editorial collection of stories.
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.
Then all of this work was found and all put together by a third person David Rosenthal.
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.
But all of this does not make a good book, the book does not flow. The pictures and the dialogue do not connect, the stories and life go backwards and forwards. You can be reading a story around the early 60's, then there are pictures of the late 70's.
Yes a great film career, enormous about of charity work, some lovely salad dressing, but so many interesting stories missing. Yes also a near borderline alcoholic.
You read a celebrity biography/autobiography you would like to know the person, the personality, Newman shows not much personality, a very private and quite person, no mention of co-stars, many films not mentioned at all, no mention of The Towering Inferno at all.
Interesting, but could have been much better. Over hyped, a disappointment.
October 26, 2022
Genres: Nonfiction/Autobiography
I liked this one and I love the cover. It felt like a candid look into the life of Paul Newman. I liked that he owned his life decisions, both the good and maybe the not so good. And I liked the way he covered the issues with his parents without playing the "woe is me - victim card".
What I liked the most was the humor...great timing is a must and this had that. And what I appreciated the most is that this wasn't too long (and by that I mean long winded) and it wasn't too short...it was just right. So 4 stars.
I liked this one and I love the cover. It felt like a candid look into the life of Paul Newman. I liked that he owned his life decisions, both the good and maybe the not so good. And I liked the way he covered the issues with his parents without playing the "woe is me - victim card".
What I liked the most was the humor...great timing is a must and this had that. And what I appreciated the most is that this wasn't too long (and by that I mean long winded) and it wasn't too short...it was just right. So 4 stars.
December 3, 2022
this book came from conversations and edited later and interesting as he explains his life
October 28, 2022
Over-hyped and disappointing
I was SO looking forward to this but, alas....meh..
And with the VOLUMES of material available THIS was selected?!
I can see why Paul burned every thing...or so he thought.
I was SO looking forward to this but, alas....meh..
And with the VOLUMES of material available THIS was selected?!
I can see why Paul burned every thing...or so he thought.
December 6, 2022
An extraordinary compilation and editing that reads like an honest reflective chat with a friend struggling to communicate a lifetime of feeling like an outsider despite fame and fortune and, for the most part, lucky breaks attached to a strong work ethic. It sings.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,158 reviews