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.
Kate Hudson Promotes WildAid
Kate Hudson Promotes WildAid
Continuing along with a day jam-packed with promotional stops, Kate Hudson was seen arriving at NBC Studios for a special guest appearance on the Late Night with Conan O’Brien show on Monday (June 9).
On the way inside, Kate kindly stopped for a couple of autographs for the fans who’d lined up in anticipation of her arrival before making her way inside to promote good pal David Babaii’s WildAid hair products.
Earlier in the day, Kate dodged questions about her romance with Lance Armstrong, telling Ryan Seacrest: “[Talking about a relationship] only causes more problems and more words taken out of context. Everything is always misconstrued.”
Hudson added: “It’s better to let … people speculate as much as they want to speculate. My main priority in my life is my son.”
Jessica Alba Brightens Up Today
Jessica Alba Brightens Up Today
It’s no wonder we spotted Jessica Alba in Manhattan yesterday. She’s in town to do press for her new movie “The Eye,” which comes out this Friday.
This morning, the “Dark Angel” babe was at NBC studios charming the folks over at The Today Show. And it seems that anchor Matt Lauer took a real liking to the expecting actress.
Regarding her adjustment to being pregnant, Jessica told Matt, “I’m good now. I’m past the nauseous stage. It wasn’t morning sickness, it was definitely all day sickness. And I was shooting a comedy at the time! You definitely have to go with the flow. You definitely have to surrender. But it’s a shock to a system. Again, I’ve never been one to emphasize anything on my looks or anything. It was just the polls, the magazines, they do it. It was never my thing. So I really don’t care.”
And with “The Eye” marking Alba’s first time wading into the waters of horror films, she confessed that she loved it. “I love horror movies. I love psychological thrillers. I love the fact nobody is being mutilated. Thirteen-year-olds can go and watch this movie. It’s a good, classic ghost story.”
With a baby on the way, the “Awake” actress revealed that she’s eagerly awaiting motherhood. “I’ve always loved kids and I’ve always wanted kids. It’s kind of perfect.”
Natalie Portman’s Vegan Shoes
Natalie Portman’s Vegan Shoes
It’s only Wednesday, and Natalie Portman is already having a busy week. As previously reported by the , she was at NBC Studios yesterday morning for the Today Show with her “The Other Boleyn Girl” co-star Scarlett Johansson.
Then yesterday afternoon the “Garden State” babe headed over to Te Casan in the West Village to unveil her new vegan shoe line.
For now, fellow vegans can only get the shoes at the Te Casan boutique, but soon they’ll be for sale on the store’s website.
Natalie looked positively lovely in a printed shirt/dress with dark stockings and some killer red high heels.