Paul Newman Exits Stage Right
From here on out, Paul Newman will just be known as the salad dressing guy.
The Oscar-winning actor, who turned 82 in January, said during an interview on Good Morning America Thursday that, after 50 years in front of the camera, he's calling it a career.
"I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," Newman, who won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer in 1957, told GMA. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me…I've been doing it for 50 years. That's enough."
While the announcement should come as a disappointment for Newman fans everywhere, the iconic performer from Shaker Heights, Ohio, is going out on top, having just picked up an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award last year for his supporting role as Ed Harris' eccentric coot of a father in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls.
And it sure didn't look as if Newman had lost much of his va-va-va-voom when he hopped into a go-kart and trounced Jay Leno in a mini drag race through NBC Studios last yearand triumphed in the rematch, as well.
But the blue-eyed '60s (and '70s and '80s)-era sex symbol isn't packing his celebrity in for good, but rather just redirecting his energies elsewhere.
Newman says that he's planning to focus on the Dressing Room, the organic restaurant he opened in Westport, Connecticut, to help support local and regional farmers by utilizing homegrown ingredients and sponsoring a weekly farmers market, and on his Hole in the Wall Gang no-fee camps for children with life-threatening illnesses.
The race car enthusiast, entrepreneur and philanthropist is also the founder of the Newman's Own brand of salad dressings, pasta sauces, salsas and popcorn, which has raised more than $200 million for charityincluding the seed money to start Hole in the Wall Gangsince its inception.
Newman, star of such classic silver-screen fare as Cool Hand Luke, Hud, The Hustler, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Long Hot Summer, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Exodus, Absence of Malice and The Verdict, is a 10-time Academy Award nominee.
A year after he received an honorary lifetime achievement award in 1986, he finally pocketed a Best Actor win for The Color of Money, in which he reprised his Hustler role as Fast Eddie Felson.
He has also been nominated twice since, for Best Actor for Nobody's Fool in 1995 and for his supporting turn in 2002's Road to Perdition, and was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1994.
Newman has been husband to fellow Oscar winner Joanne Woodward, with whom he has three daughters, for 49 years. The actor also had three children from a previous marriage, but son Scott Newman passed away in 1978.
Transformers 2: Isabel Lucas In, Teresa Palmer Out? di Bonaventura Confirms No Broadside; Bay on the Actors Strike
Last month it was reported that Australian hottie Teresa Palmer had been cast in Michael Bay’s Transformers 2. Bay denies the casting on his personal blog, claiming that “Teresa Palmer was not considered for a role.”
To complicate things further, IGN is now reporting that another Aussie actress Isabel Lucas (pictured right), has been cast in the role of Alice in the sequel. Lucas is a newbie, and will be seen in the upcoming vampire flick Daybreakers, and the HBO miniseries The Pacific. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura promises that the big casting announcements will be made over the next several weeks.
“Ultimately, we’ll have a couple casting surprises for everybody soon,” the producer told MTV. “Michael’s got some really great stuff planned.”
Last year Michael Bay told reporters that he has “an amazing idea” for a transforming aircraft carrier but it was “just too expensive” for the first film, but teased that it might be featured in one of he sequels. When asked if Broadside would make an appearance in the sequel, di Bonaventura said:
“We never really talked about that, practically speaking,” he said. “There was some Japanese animated movie we saw where that occurred, and we were like ‘Wow! Look at that thing!’”
Transformers 2 is scheduled to begin shooting in early June, if the actors don’t go on strike. Bay lashed out against the strike yesterday:
“Oh my god. SAG wants more than Directors and Writers? That’s a smart tactic I guess. When are people going to understand, most importantly actors - we are at war - we are facing a major recession - our country is in dire need of being fixed - our country also has no money because we have given trillions to the Iraq war and we have NOT even started to pay for it - it is just paid right now by printing more money on presses - China owns our ass in every way. Why not strike on a business in a down fall. Just like the writer’s they made pennies on the four extra months striking - when you do the real math and they are paying the price for it still - so many writer’s out of work still!!! I want this business to thrive - I know the studio heads and they will punish those that defy them. Okay, be an idealist - but you will never get a better deal then the writer’s or directors - only the same - the studio’s will never allow it, don’t kid yourself. The working actors don’t want a strike - they have said so. Too many non working actors have a say which is crazy - maybe there are just too many actors?? Gosh I’m even a member of SAG, but I don’t feel I’ve earned the right to vote in this guild. One hunch, the leaders of these guilds seem to like the limelight they get in the press, it becomes more about the ego in the room rather than something smart. Striking is not smart. Through the history in America, strikes in businesses have only gained the union worker 6% at the max - so take the emotion out of it and go for the 6%. A path to strike is not smart for the the hundreds of thousands of people in this business. Sanity needs to prevail here - talk real and talk the same talk as your union brothers - not more!”
Let’s hope this strike doesn’t happen.
Amy Irving Biography
A dark-haired beauty with striking eyes and an intelligent air, Amy Irving seemingly came by her talent genetically: Her father Jules was an accomplished stage director and her mother Priscilla Pointer is a fine character actress. (Pointer has often been teamed onscreen with her offspring, playing either the mother or a motherly figure to characters essayed by Irving.) Although she actually began her career as a guest performer in episodic television and on stage, Irving shot to attention as Sue Snell, the sole teen survivor of Brian De Palma’s splashy “Carrie” (1976). Irving lent her astringent good looks and spunk to De Palma’s “The Fury” (1978), playing a woman with psychokinetic powers, and to her portrayal of an Indian princess in love with a British cavalryman (Ben Cross) in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavilions” (1984). She also triumphed on Broadway, first as Constanza Weber, the wife of Mozart, in “Amadeus” (1980) and again as Ellie to Rex Harrison’s Shotover in a 1983 revival of Shaw’s “Heartbreak House”. Despite having some misgivings over the role, Irving accepted the part of Hadass, the bride of “Yentl” (1983), a woman masquerading as a man, in Barbra Streisand’s directorial debut. Despite the inherent pitfalls, she imbued the role with a delicacy and intelligence that was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.
Despite her strong performances, for much of the late 1970s and into the 80s, Irving was better known for her on-again, off-again relationship with rising director Steven Spielberg. Their 1985 marriage overshadowed her career. With the perspective of hindsight, the actress told THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (April 17, 1994): “During my marriage to Steven, I felt like a politician’s wife. There were certain things expected of me that definitely weren’t me. One of my problems is that I’m very honest and direct. You pay a price for that. But then I behaved myself and I paid a price too.” Despite putting these pressures on herself, she continued with her career, turning in well-rounded portrayals of a woman who may or may not be the Czar’s daughter in “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (NBC, 1986) and a sophisticated New Yorker who is romanced by a pickle seller in “Crossing Delancey” (1988). Irving also displayed her sultry vocal abilities providing the singing voice of the animated Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (also 1988; Kathleen Turner provided the speaking voice). During the filming of “A Show of Force” (1990), the actress, cast as Puerto Rican TV journalist, fell in love with the film’s Brazilian director Bruno Barreto.
After an amicable split from Spielberg in 1989, she and Barreto moved in together and gave birth to their son in 1990. After playing a brassy blonde cocktail waitress in “Benefit of the Doubt” (1993), her husband gave her a fine role as a middle-aged schoolteacher finding romance in “Carried Away” (1996). Irving continued to return to the stage as well, headlining the West Coast production of Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles” (1990), playing a Brooklyn woman who suffers paralysis from her over-identification with German Jews in Arthur Miller’s Broadway play “Broken Glass” (1995), and teaming with Lili Taylor and Jeanne Tripplehorn as Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” (1997). Irving again teamed with Barreto to play an acerbic, overly-ambitious FBI agent in “One Tough Cop” (1998), based on the life of NYC policeman Bo Dietl, and as an American teacher in Brazil who finds unexpected romance in “Bossa Nova” (2000). The actress also revisited the role of Sue Snell in the sequel “The Rage: Carrie II” (1999).
Irving appeared as part of director Steven Soderberg’s high-powered acting ensemble in 2000’s traffic, playing the wife of Michael Douglas’ drug czar and mother to their troubled drug addict daughter, and the critically acclaimed indie “13 Conversations about One Thing.” In 2002 she reunited with Spacek in another feature film, this time a family-oriented flip side to their “Carrie” collaboration, Disney’s adaptation of author Natalie Babbitt’s children’s classic “Tuck Everlasting.” She also was featured in a recurring role on the ABC spy series “Alias.”
- Also Credited As:
Amy Davis Irving - Born:
on 09/10/1953 in Palo Alto, California - Job Titles:
Actor, Producer
Family
- Brother: David K Irving. born in September 1949
- Father: Jules Irving. died on July 28, 1979
- Mother: Priscilla Pointer. appeared with Irving in several films including “Carrie”
- Sister: Katie Irving. born in January 1951
- Son: Gabriel Barreto. born on May 4, 1990
- Son: Max Samuel Spielberg. born in June 1985
- Step-daughter: Helena Barreto. born c. 1977
Significant Others
- Husband: Bruno Barreto. Brazilian; together since 1989; met when cast in Barreto’s “A Show of Force”; has daughter from prior relationship
- Husband: Steven Spielberg. had on-again, off-again relationship from c. 1975; introduced by Brian De Palma; separated in 1979; reunited in 1984 when he escorted her to the Academy Awards; married on November 27, 1985 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; separated in 1988 over reports Spielberg was having an affair; divorced in 1989
- Companion: William Katt. dated before filming of “Carrie”
Education
- American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, California, 1971-72
- London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, London, England, 1972-75
- High School of Music and Art, New York, New York
- P S 44, New York, New York
Milestones
- 1954 Stage debut, “Rumpelstiltskin” at the Actor’s Workshop, San Francisco
- 1975 Made guest appearances on episodes of “The Rookies” and “Police Woman”
- 1976 Had featured role in the NBC miniseries “The Last Convertible”
- 1976 Film debut as Sue Snell in “Carrie”, directed by Brian De Palma
- 1976 TV-movie debut in “Panache”, a busted ABC pilot based on “The Three Musketeers”
- 1978 Reteamed with De Palma for “The Fury”
- 1980 Broadway debut succeding Jane Seymour as Constanze in “Amadeus”
- 1983 Received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as the bride-to-be Hadass in Barbra Streisand’s directorial debut “Yentl”
- 1983 Returned to Broadway in support of Rex Harrison in an acclaimed revival of Shaw’s “Heartbreak House”
- 1984 Co-starred as Dudley Moore’s pregnant girlfriend in the Blake Edwards’ comedy “Micki & Maude”
- 1984 Starred as an Indian princess romanced by a British calvary officer in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavillions”
- 1985 Married director Steven Spielberg after decade-long on-again, off-again relationship (November)
- 1986 Portrayed Anna Anderson, a woman who claimed to be the daughter of Russian Czar Nicholas II in the NBC miniseries “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna”
- 1986 Reprised her stage role opposite Harrison in the Showtime production of “Heartbreak House”
- 1988 Appeared off-Broadway in Athol Fugard’s “The Road to Mecca”
- 1988 Provided the singing voice of Jessica Rabbit in the combination live action-animated feature “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
- 1988 Starred as a upscale New Yorker who is matched with a pickle saleman in “Crossing Delancey”
- 1989 Divorced Spielberg
- 1990 Cast in “A Show of Force”, directed by Bruno Barreto; became romantically involved with Baretto
- 1990 Headlined the L.A. production of Wendy Wasserstein’s award-winning play “The Heidi Chronicles”
- 1996 Second film with Baretto, “Carried Away”; played a middle-aged schoolteacher embarking on a romance
- 1997 Appeared in Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”
- 1997 Returned to Broadway alongside Lili Taylor and Jeanne Tripplehorn in Chekhov’s “Three Sisters”
- 1998 Co-starred as a tough-talking FBI agent in “One Tough Cop”, directed by Barreto
- 1999 Reprised role of Sue Snell in “The Rage: Carrie II”
- 2000 Appeared as the wife of a drug czar in “Traffic”
- 2000 Reteamed with Barreto for “Bossa Nova”
- 2001 Acted in “The Vagina Monologues” in London
- 2001 Had featured role in “13 Conversations About One Thing”; screened at Toronto; shown at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival
- 2002 Cast in the family feature drama “Tuck Everlasting”
- 2002 Cast in the recurring role of Emily Sloane in the ABC spy series “Alias”
- 2005 Starred opposite Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning in the thriller “Hide and Seek”
- Starred in Arthur Miller’s stage play “Broken Glass”; played role on Broadway