Film career
Newman made his Broadway theater debut in the original production of William Inge’s Picnic with Kim Stanley. He later appeared in the original Broadway productions of The Desperate Hours and Sweet Bird of Youth with Geraldine Page. He would later star in the film version of Sweet Bird of Youth, which also starred Page.
His first movie for Hollywood was The Silver Chalice (1954), followed by acclaimed roles in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), as boxer Rocky Graziano; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), opposite Elizabeth Taylor; and The Young Philadelphians (1959), with Barbara Rush and Robert Vaughn. However, predating all of these above was a small but notable part in a 1952 episode of the science fiction television series Tales of Tomorrow entitled “Ice from Space” in which he played Sergeant Wilson, which was possibly his first commercial venture not on stage.
In February 1954, Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean, directed by Gjon Mili, for East of Eden (1955). Newman was testing for the role of Aron Trask; Dean was testing for the role of Aron’s fraternal twin brother, Cal Trask. Dean won the part of Cal, while the role Newman was up for went to Richard Davalos. The same year Newman would co-star with Eva Marie Saint and Frank Sinatra in a live —and color —television broadcast of the Thornton Wilder stage play Our Town. In 2003 Newman would act in a remake of Our Town, taking on Sinatra’s role as the stage manager.
Major films
Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from 1950s cinema to that of the 1960s and 1970s. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation. Newman starred in Exodus (1960), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Hombre (1967), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977) and The Verdict (1982). He teamed with fellow actor Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).
He appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!, (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984) and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). They also both starred in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.
In addition to starring in and directing Harry & Son, Newman also directed four feature films (in which he did not act) starring Woodward. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), based on Margaret Laurence’s A Jest of God, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box (1980) and a screen version of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie (1987).
Twenty-five years after The Hustler, Newman reprised his role of “Fast” Eddie Felson in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Color of Money (1986), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He told a television interviewer that winning an Oscar at the age of 62 deprived him of his fantasy of being formally presented with it in extreme old age.
Last works
In 2003, he appeared in a Broadway theatre revival of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, receiving his first Tony Award nomination for his performance. PBS and the cable network Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Newman was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.
His last screen appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, although he continued to provide voice work for films. In keeping with his strong interest in car racing, he provided the voice of Doc Hudson, a retired race car in Disney/Pixar’s Cars. Similarly, he served as narrator for the 2007 film Dale, about the life of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, which turned out to be Newman’s final film performance in any form.
Retirement from acting
Newman announced that he would entirely retire from acting on May 25, 2007. He told US broadcaster ABC that he did not feel he could continue acting on the level that he would want to. “You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that’s pretty much a closed book for me.”
Filmography
- Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) (V) (voice) …. Doc Hudson
- Cars (2006) (VG) (voice) …. Doc Hudson
- Cars (2006) (voice) …. Doc Hudson
- Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (2005) (voice) …. Dave Scott
- Empire Falls (2005) (TV) …. Max Roby
- Our Town (2003) (TV) …. Stage Manager
- Freedom: A History of Us …. Justice Earl Warren / … (2 episodes, 2003)
- Road to Perdition (2002) …. John Rooney
- Where the Money Is (2000) …. Henry Manning
- Message in a Bottle (1999) …. Dodge Blake
- Twilight (1998) …. Harry Ross
- Nobody’s Fool (1994) …. Sully Sullivan
- The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) …. Sidney J. Mussburger
- Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) …. Walter Bridge
- Blaze (1989) …. Gov. Earl K. Long
- Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) …. Gen. Leslie R. Groves
- The Color of Money (1986) …. Fast Eddie Felson
- Harry & Son (1984) …. Harry Keach
- The Verdict (1982) …. Frank Galvin
- Come Along with Me (1982) (TV)
- Absence of Malice (1981) …. Michael Colin Gallagher
- Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) …. Murphy
- When Time Ran Out… (1980) …. Hank Anderson
- Quintet (1979) …. Essex
- Slap Shot (1977) …. Reggie ‘Reg’ Dunlop
- Great Performances: Dance in America …. Narrator (1 episode, 1976)
- Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) …. The Star / William F. Cody
- The Drowning Pool (1975) …. Lew Harper
- The Towering Inferno (1974) …. Doug Roberts
- The Sting (1973) …. Henry Gondorff
- The MacKintosh Man (1973) …. Joseph Rearden
- The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) …. Judge Roy Bean
- Pocket Money (1972) …. Jim Kane
- Sometimes a Great Notion (1971) …. Hank Stamper
- WUSA (1970) …. Rheinhardt
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) …. Butch Cassidy
- Winning (1969) …. Frank Capua
- The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968) …. Pvt. Harry Frigg
- Cool Hand Luke (1967) …. Luke
- Hombre (1967) …. John Russell
- Torn Curtain (1966) …. Professor Michael Armstrong
- Harper (1966) …. Lew Harper
- Lady L (1965) …. Armand Denis
- The Outrage (1964) …. Juan Carrasco
- What a Way to Go! (1964) …. Larry Flint
- The Prize (1963) …. Andrew Craig
- A New Kind of Love (1963) …. Steve Sherman
- Hud (1963) …. Hud Bannon
- Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962) …. The Battler
- Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) …. Chance Wayne
- Paris Blues (1961) …. Ram Bowen
- The Hustler (1961) …. Eddie Felson
- Exodus (1960) …. Ari Ben Canaan
- From the Terrace (1960) …. David Alfred Eaton
- The Young Philadelphians (1959) …. Anthony Judson Lawrence/Narrator
- Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! (1958) …. Harry Bannerman
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) …. Brick Pollitt
- The Left Handed Gun (1958) …. Billy The Kid
- The Long, Hot Summer (1958) …. Ben Quick
- Playhouse 90 …. Christian Darling (1 episode, 1958)
- Until They Sail (1957) …. Capt. Jack Harding
- The Helen Morgan Story (1957) …. Larry Maddux
- The Kaiser Aluminum Hour …. Charlie Correlli / … (2 episodes, 1956)
- The Rack (1956) …. Capt. Edward W. Hall Jr.
- The United States Steel Hour …. Giorgio / … (3 episodes, 1954-1956)
- Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) …. Rocky
- Playwrights ‘56 …. The Battler (1 episode, 1955)
- Producers’ Showcase …. George Gibbs (1 episode, 1955)
- The Philco Television Playhouse …. Billy the Kid (1 episode, 1955)
- Appointment with Adventure …. Mack (2 episodes, 1955)
- The Silver Chalice (1954) …. Basil
- Danger (1 episode, 1954)
- Armstrong Circle Theatre …. Jimmy Polo (1 episode, 1954)
- Goodyear Television Playhouse (2 episodes, 1954)
- The Mask (1 episode, 1954)
- The Joe Palooka Story …. Fight Spectator (1 episode, 1954)
- The Web …. Alex (4 episodes, 1952-1953)
- You Are There …. Nathan Hale / … (3 episodes, 1953)
- The Aldrich Family (1949) TV series …. Occasional Cast Member (1952-53)
- Suspense …. Capt. Radetski (1 episode, 1952)
- Tales of Tomorrow …. Sergeant Wilson (1 episode, 1952)
