Trivia

Had his own line of food products, "Newman's Own", featuring mainly spaghetti sauces and salad dressings. The company made more than $100 million in profits over the years, all of which he donated to various charities.

Known as an inveterate prankster, he and Robert Redford in particular played numerous pranks on each other. One time, Redford, who was also into car racing, had a beaten-up Porsche shell delivered to Newman's porch for Newman's 50th birthday. Newman never said anything, but not long after, Redford found a crate of the (now) molten metal delivered to the living room of a house Redford rented, which dented the floor. Not to be outdone, Redford then had the metal turned into an incredibly ugly sculpture and dropped into Newman's garden.

Turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971) because he thought the screenplay was too right-wing, and recommended Clint Eastwood for the role instead.

Often said that of all the films he had performed in, Slap Shot (1977) was the most fun and his personal favorite.

This was little known that he was a skilled jazz and blue piano player, like Clint Eastwood. One photo was taken which appears to show him playing while Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin sing, while Robert Mitchum and James Garner look on.

After being asked so many times what the secret was to being married for so long to Joanne Woodward, he finally responded, "I don't know what she puts in my food".

The animated comedy Cars (2006), his last film, was the highest-grossing film of his career.

Said that he burned his tuxedo on his 75th birthday because he was through with formality.

Finished second in the 1979 Le Mans 24-hour race in a Porsche 935.

He was among the celebrities on the famous "Enemies List" kept by President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

Donated between $150 million-$175 million to charity since the 1980s.

Nine years after his death, he reprised his role as Doc Hudson in Cars 3 (2017): unused recordings from Cars (2006) were used as new dialogue.

Godfather of Jake Gyllenhaal.

Said in an interview that a film had never made any special impact on him until he saw On the Waterfront (1954).

When Premiere magazine does a list of 24 Great Performances from each year, they often ask the actors who their idols are. Newman has been the most frequently cited idol so far.

He was the visual inspiration for the illustrations of superhero Green Lantern/Hal Jordan (when the character was reintroduced in 1959). Newman was 34 years old at the time.

The GI Bill got him through his first three months at Yale University. To pay tuition for the rest of his time there, he sold Encyclopedia Britannica. He claims he was very good at it.

Students at Princeton University have named 24 April Newman's Day. Students try to drink 24 beers over the 24 hours of the day. The tradition stems from a comment that Newman is alleged to have made; "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not." The event is not officially sponsored by the university, and Newman stated that he would "like to bring an end to the tradition".

Was training to be a pilot while in the United States Navy, but was discovered to be colorblind, ending his flying aspirations.

Once, when he was handing out punch at a Westport charity event, a dowager asked him to stir her drink with his finger. "I'd be glad to," Newman replied, "but I just took it out of a cyanide bottle.".

Got two roles which were first offered to Elvis Presley but which were turned down by Presley's manager: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).

For a Mother's Day gift, he gave wife Joanne Woodward two hours of uninterrupted driving around the roads of Westport, Connecticut that they had never seen before.

Early in his acting career, he was often mistaken for Marlon Brando. He claims to have signed around 500 autographs reading, "Best wishes, Marlon Brando".

Turned down the role of the shark hunter Quint in Jaws (1975), which went to Robert Shaw.

He was nominated for nine acting Academy Awards in five different decades - the 1950s (Best Lead Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)), 1960s (Best Lead Actor for The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967)), the 1980s (Best Lead Actor for Absence of Malice (1981), The Verdict (1982) and The Color of Money (1986) winning for this last film), the 1990s (Best Lead Actor for Nobody's Fool (1994)) and finally in Road to Perdition (2002) for Best Supporting Actor.

Said the sound he loved most is that of a V-8 engine.

Was offered the role of Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur (1959), which he turned down because he said he did not have the legs to wear a tunic.

Newman did all of his own driving in films despite his color blindness.

Was so ashamed of his debut in the failed costume drama The Silver Chalice (1954), that he took out an ad in Variety apologizing for his performance. Years later, he was presented with the Golden Turkey Award for the Most Embarrassing Movie Debut of All Time for his performance in The Silver Chalice (1954). His response was that he fully agreed with the award.

Became friends with future Prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme when they were students at Kenyon College in Ohio in 1940s.

His performance as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is ranked #20 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains. This is a ranking which he shares with Robert Redford, who played the Sundance Kid.

He and his daughter Nell Potts were supposed to be in Paper Moon (1973) in the leading roles, but this changed when original director John Huston bowed out and was replaced by Peter Bogdanovich.

Owned the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp for children with cancer and other blood-related diseases (and their siblings) in Ashford, Connecticut, and also ran a fall "Discovery" program for inner city kids, also in Ashford.

Had a son and two girls with his first wife Jacqueline "Jackie" Witte. His only son, Scott Newman, died of a drug overdose in 1978. Daughter, Susan Kendall Newman, is well known for stage acting and her philanthropic activities. His other daughter from his first marriage is named Stephanie and was born in 1954.

Is one of only six actors to be nominated for acting honors by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over five decades (1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s). Laurence Olivier (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s), Katharine Hepburn (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s), Jack Nicholson (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s) and Michael Caine (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s) Meryl Streep (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s) are the others who have turned the trick.

In June 2002, Newman returned to live theater for the first time in 35 years in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" at the Westport Country Playhouse near his Connecticut home. He directed and starred as the Stage Manager. His wife, Joanne Woodward, was the Playhouse's then-Artistic Director. He opened a restaurant called "Dressing Room", with co-owner and chef Michael Nischan, in Westport to help subsidize the Playhouse, which is next door.

Appeared on Quigley Publications' annual poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars 14 times from 1963 to 1986, which ranks him #7 for all-time in appearances in the top 10. He trails Bing Crosby, who made the list 15 times, Clark Gable (16 appearances on the list), Gary Cooper and Tom Cruise (18 times each), Clint Eastwood (21 times) and John Wayne (25 times).

One of the most sought after and valuable collectible Rolex watches, the early "Daytona" model, from the 1960s, is known unofficially and passionately worldwide, as the Rolex "Paul Newman", which in steel can fetch as much as $100,000 in auctions. This nickname was adopted as he sported one in film.

Prior to filming The Hustler (1961), Newman lacked talent at playing pool. But after brushing up on it for the role, he felt very confident in his ability. So he bet co-star Jackie Gleason $50 on a game of pool. Being the excellent pool player he was, Gleason beat Newman. Instead of paying him in dollar bills, Newman dumped $50 worth of pennies on the table for Gleason to take.

The Simpsons series episode Lost Verizon (2008), was dedicated to his memory.

Otto Preminger, Jewish himself, cast him in Exodus (1960) because he wanted someone of Jewish heritage who did not "look Jewish".

He was the first actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for his performance in a comic book adaptation, which he received for Road to Perdition (2002).

His father was Ashkenazi Jewish. Paul's paternal grandparents were Simon Newman, from Hungary, and Hannah Cohn, from Poland. Paul's mother was from an ethnic Slovak family, and was born in Homonna, Pticie, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Stefan Fetsko and Mária Polenak. As an adult, while Paul was not religious, he described himself as Jewish because it's "more of a challenge".

When Newman failed to receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), producer Charles Schnee and director Robert Wise gave him what they called a "Noscar". The engraving says, "The Schnee-Wise Noscar award to Paul Newman for best portraying a terrible no-good, for turning him into a charming and lovable sprite, and for thereby doing what Lincoln said should never be done, i.e. fooling all of the people all of the time.".

Turned down Donald Sutherland's role in A Time to Kill (1996) because he found the film's justification of murder distasteful.

He was director William Friedkin's first choice for the lead role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971), but he was deemed too expensive. The role went to Newman's good friend Gene Hackman.

His performance as Frank Galvin in The Verdict (1982) is ranked #19 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Lee Strasberg, who trained Newman at the Actors Studio, said the actor could have been as great as Marlon Brando but too often relied on his good looks to coast through a role.

In the 1970s, long before Brokeback Mountain (2005), he was thwarted by Hollywood in his desire to star in the movie version of the best-selling novel "The Front Runner", about the love affair between a male coach and a male star runner. The project remains unmade.

During the 1950s and 1960s, he was close friends with fellow Democrat and civil rights activist Charlton Heston. In 1983, after Heston's political beliefs had moved to the Right, both actors took opposing sides in a television debate on President Ronald Reagan's Star Wars defense missile program. Heston, much better briefed and prepared than Newman, was judged to have won the debate easily. Some years later, when Newman learned that Heston was supposed to introduce him at an awards ceremony, Newman insisted that his one-time friend be replaced by the liberal Donald Sutherland.