Tribute: Paul Newman

Paul New­man: a cen­te­nary marked by cin­e­ma and commitment 

A leg­endary actor, respect­ed direc­tor, pas­sion­ate rac­ing dri­ver, and tire­less phil­an­thropist, Paul New­man (1925–2008) embod­ied the rare ele­gance of those who have suc­cess­ful­ly com­bined celebri­ty with activism

On the cen­te­nary of his birth, the Deauville Fes­ti­val pays trib­ute to this leg­endary Hol­ly­wood fig­ure, whose mag­net­ic aura and pro­found human­i­ty con­tin­ue to inspire generations. 

An Ohio native, Paul New­man began his career on stage, tour­ing with sev­er­al the­ater com­pa­nies before mov­ing to New York, where he per­formed on Broad­way and joined Lee Stras­berg’s Actors Studio. 

He rose to fame in 1958 with the fea­ture film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, direct­ed by Richard Brooks, in which he starred oppo­site Eliz­a­beth Tay­lor and earned his first Oscar nom­i­na­tion. In 1961, he played the leg­endary pool play­er Fast Eddie Fel­son in Robert Rossen’s The Hus­tler, a role he reprised 25 years lat­er in Mar­tin Scors­ese’s The Col­or of Mon­ey, for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor

He worked with some of the great­est film­mak­ers: Michael Cur­tiz, Otto Pre­minger, Alfred Hitch­cock, Robert Alt­man, Sid­ney Lumet, Syd­ney Pol­lack, Mel Brooks, James Ivory, Joel Coen, and Sam Mendes. 

Paul New­man also stepped behind the cam­era. He direct­ed his wife, Joanne Wood­ward, in his first film, Rachel, Rachel (1968), which was nom­i­nat­ed for an Oscar and won a Gold­en Globe for Best Direc­tor. This was fol­lowed by Some­times a Great Notion (1971), The Effect of Gam­ma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Har­ry & Son (1984), and The Glass Menagerie (1986). 

Beyond the screen, the Deauville Fes­ti­val has cho­sen to high­light a man of action and com­pas­sion. In 1982, he cre­at­ed New­man’s Own, a food com­pa­ny that donates all of its prof­its to char­i­ty. He is also the founder of the Seri­ous­Fun Chil­dren’s Net­work, a glob­al net­work that pro­vides chil­dren with seri­ous ill­ness­es access to free vaca­tion stays at med­ical centers. 

A recog­nised pub­lic util­i­ty asso­ci­a­tion, L’ENVOL is a mem­ber of this net­work and con­tin­ues the actor’s mis­sion in France. Since 1997, it has offered free med­ical hol­i­day camps and respite stays to more than 40,000 sick chil­dren and their families. 

To cel­e­brate the mem­o­ry of an excep­tion­al man, whose influ­ence con­tin­ues to be felt both in the his­to­ry of cin­e­ma and in the char­i­ta­ble caus­es he inspired, the Deauville Fes­ti­val will hold a cer­e­mo­ny in his hon­or on Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 10, attend­ed by his daugh­ter, Clea New­man, ambas­sador of his phil­an­thropic legacy. 

Sev­er­al of the films that marked his career will also be screened dur­ing the Festival.

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