The Golden Couple Of Hollywood - Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward Love Story
Because the film depicts one of the greatest love tales that Hollywood has ever produced—albeit one that took place in real life rather than on the silver screen—you should sit down and watch The Long, Hot Summer before summer comes to an end if you want to witness the love of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
Author:James PierceReviewer:Emily SanchezJun 15, 20226 Shares516 Views
It's as though Paul Newmanand Joanne Woodward are standing there in front of you, even in ancient, black-and-white images. They were widely regarded as "Hollywood's golden pair," and their relationship as Academy Award-winning actors extended for five decades until Newman passed away in 2008. Since her husband's death, Joanne has chosen to remain out of the public eye, and the couple's three kids have worked tirelessly to protect the privacy she has fought so hard to preserve.
When it comes to Hollywood couples, they are like microwave dinners: fast, hot, and glanced at through a glass pane despite the fact that they are not supposed to. It's no surprise that in a nation of aspirations and dreams, Hollywood couples wind up looking more like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton than they do Cinderella and Prince Charming. When a celebrity is alone, they may generate bright lights and cameras in their faces, making it appear as though they have never left the set of a movie. Two superstars appear to draw twice as much attention as a single celebrity, especially if the pair is married, and certainly, if they divorce and establish new relationships with other people.
Although this is far from the rule, there have been a number of significant exceptions to the rule. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were married for over 60 years until their deaths, during which time they worked together as actors and campaigners (via The New York Times). Approximately twenty years from now stars Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn will be a match for Davis and Dee, however, the couple has opted not to marry (per Brides). With the late Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, we have the gold standard for a Hollywood marriage on our hands as well.
During their time at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio (according to History), they were both young actors who were both acting in the same Broadway show when they met. By the time the two ultimately decided to tie the knot in 1958, they had already established themselves as A-list celebrities on the red carpet. The couple would remain married for the next half-century, until Newman's death, which occurred in 2008. While their films have lasted the test of time, both of them have stayed dedicated to one another throughout the course of their respective careers.
Who Is Paul Newman?
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and motor racing enthusiast who was born in New York City and died in California. For his role in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money, he was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor. He also received three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Emmy Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a slew of other accolades. While driving for the Sports Car Club of America, he also won multiple national titles, and his race teams captured several championships in open-wheel IndyCar racing.
As a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food firm from which Newman contributed all of the company's post-tax revenues and royalties to charity, Newman made a name for himself in the industry. As of August 2010, the total value of these gifts had surpassed $300 million.
His parents, Theresa and Arthur Samuel Newman, who had a successful sports goods company in Shaker Heights, Ohio, were the inspiration for Newman's career. Newman's father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Poland and Hungary; Newman's mother, who practiced Christian Science, was born to a Slovak Roman Catholic family in the old Austria-Hungary to parents who were born to Slovak Roman Catholic families in the former Austria-Hungary. As an adult, Newman claimed to have no religious affiliation, but defined himself as "a Jew," claiming that "it's more of a struggle." In addition to raising Paul and his brother, Arthur, who went on to become a producer and production manager, Newman's mother worked in his father's store while raising them.
Newman's love for the theater began at a young age, which his mother pushed him to pursue. He made his acting debut when he was seven years old, in a school performance of Robin Hood, in which he played the court jester. After graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he temporarily attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was accepted into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He returned to Shaker Heights in 1944 to continue his education.
Paul Newman's Behavior On Set
Paul Newman was a trickster behind the scenes, according to people who were familiar with him. According to IMDb, Newman is a prankster at heart, and he was mistaken for the actor Marlon Brando early on in his career. Rather than reveal his true identity to the adoring crowd, Newman signed hundreds of signatures with the message, "Best regards, Marlon Brando," instead.
The pranks that Newman conducted on the set of the film were more complex than just signing someone's autograph for the camera. According to A.E. Hotchner, a friend and playwright, the actor spent a significant amount of time and money putting together a series of complex practical pranks. The writer believes that his friend's penchant for practical pranks stems from the fact that he has maintained a connection with his inner kid throughout life. "Paul always maintained that the best actors, including himself, were the ones who preserved the child within them, performing as they do with makeup and costumes and toy guns and all the other make-believes of their childhoods," Hotchner wrote in his 2010 memoir "Paul and Me" (quoted by the Daily Beast).
Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward First Meeting
Joanne Woodward always maintained that she wasn't very pleased with Paul Newman when they first met in their agent's air-conditioned office on a sweltering August afternoon. While she withered in a dress, hosiery, and shoes, Paul sported a chilly seersucker suit that he described as "like an ad for an ice cream beverage. There was no perspiration, large blue eyes, and a lot of curly hair," she recalled fondly of the time. "I thought to myself, 'Yuck. How horrible!'" she said.
However, despite their inauspicious initial encounter, Joanne and Paul's relationship would go on to become one of Hollywood's most beloved love tales, despite the fact that their private lives were spent mostly in Westport, Connecticut. With the strong love, connection, and respect they had for one another, they were able to overcome alcohol misuse, the death of a child, and the successes and failures of their respective performing careers. "They were quite odd, and it was a fantastic thing to witness," their daughter Clea Newman says in an interview with Closer, describing her parents as "partners in everything."
In 1953, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were both in their twenties and aspiring to be successful in the entertainment world. They starred in the film The Graduate. Other than sharing a common interest, the only other thing they had in common was that they were both represented by the same agency (via Southern Living). When the two actors sought sanctuary in their agency's air-conditioned office to escape the heat, it was via their agent that the two actors first became acquainted.
When asked about his first encounter with Newman in the office, Woodward said it was during an interview with "Today" (via Country Living). Woodward was of the opinion that her future husband was "simply a lovely face" at the moment. "Paul Newman: A Life," a biography of the actor written by Shawn Levy, describes Newman's attraction to Woodward as "intoxicating." The following year, the duo would co-star in the Broadway play "Picnic," with the 28-year-old Newman playing a supporting role and the 22-year-old Woodward taking on the role of an understudy for the lead role. Despite her initial apprehensions about Newman, the two became fast friends on set, and their relationship has continued since. Newman was married to his first wife, Jackie Witte, with whom he had three children at the time of the incident. The Los Angeles Times said that Woodward was rumored to be in a relationship with writer and intellectual Gore Vidal at around this same time period. However, the two were only pals, since Woodward claimed to be Vidal's boyfriend in order to keep his gay orientation a secret from Vidal. Following the success of the play, both performers packed their belongings and relocated to Hollywood, where they began their lucrative movie careers (per History).
Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward Fell In Love In The Film, "The Long Hot Summer"
The Long, Hot Summer Trailer
Despite the fact that they were cast opposite one other in 1958's The Long, Hot Summer, Paul and Joanne managed to keep their relationship platonic. They began an affair while filming on location in Clinton, Louisiana. The couple's daughter Lissy recalls how they were "inextricably linked to each other by every molecule of their existence." "The good, the terrible, and the ugly are all here. "They were tethered to each other." Joanne and Paul were married two months before the film's debut after Paul received a divorce.
A vagabond named Ben Quick (who happens to be rather attractive) travels into a little Mississippi town and becomes the focus of the film's storyline. Quick's father is well-known in the city, and not in a good manner, but he decides to stay—in no little part because of Clara Varner, whom he has fallen in love with (played by Joanne). Despite the fact that Varner's parents try to force the two together, Clara and Ben are too obstinate to see that they are meant to be together in the first place. When sparks inevitably begin to fly between them, a jealous rival orchestrates a tragedy that has the potential to pull them apart for good.
While filming the emotionally charged sequences, the two stars realized they were falling in love in real life, which was difficult to notice on the screen. As Clara and Ben begin to develop affections for one another, Joanne and Paul give each other looks that are far beyond the ability of any actor to replicate on screen. It's evident that those emotions are genuine—and it's difficult not to be affected by them. When the film was completed, Newman filed for divorce, and the two actors transformed their friendship into a romantic relationship. They got married only a few months after they began dating. Joanne and Paul have been happily married for almost 50 years while many Hollywood romances end in divorce or separation. "People stay married because they choose to, not because the doors are closed," Paul once stated about his marriage.
The Couple Appeared In Numerous Films Together
It should come as no surprise that two of the most well-known actors in the world would collaborate on a number of projects. Over the course of their partnership, the couple featured in a total of 11 films and miniseries (per Classic Movie Hub). Newman directed six films starring Woodward, including the 1968 picture "Rachel, Rachel," for which Woodward was nominated for a second Best Actress Academy Award, this time for her performance as Rachel (via Southern Living).
When asked about their connection, Woodward stated that their physical looks were not a significant factor in their bond. After a time, sexiness and attractiveness fade away, but being married to a man who makes you laugh every day is a real gift. "People stay married because they choose to, not because the doors are closed," Newman remarked when asked about his personal reasons for remaining married to Woodward.
The couple, apart from cracking jokes, were there for one other at terrible moments, such as when Newman's son, Scott Newman, from his previous marriage, died as a result of a cocaine overdose in 1978. (per Country Living). They had three daughters together, Nell, Lissy, and Clea, at the end of the 1960s and a decade into their marriage, and they were branching out into areas other than acting and filmmaking (via Country Living). Their political views were liberal throughout their lives, and they frequently donated money to Democratic politicians and organizations (via History). During the administration of Jimmy Carter, the president appointed Newman to a position at the United Nations Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.
Newman And Woodward Built Their Family Together
Their first few months together were spent living in a New York City apartment and traveling to Connecticut on the weekends. "Westport is an hour by rail from New York City, and it was rural and extremely charming in the late 1960s," a friend recalls. "Paul and Joanne came to the conclusion that it was a more pleasant way of life and a wonderful location to raise children."
They built a house for themselves and their daughters, Nell, 62, Lissy, 60, and Clea, 56, in an 18th-century barn on a vast forested property that they painstakingly refurbished. On the Saugatuck River, to be precise. Friends recalls that they had a "menagerie of dogs and cats," as well as "nice neighbors and lifestyles that were devoid of spoilt Hollywood stars."
There were some well-known neighbors, like Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, and Martha Stewart, but it was not Hollywood East as the name suggests. In an interview with Closer, Martha describes Joanne as a "homebody." Martha worked on a fundraiser for Paul's charity, The Hole in the Wall Gang, which is featured in Closer. "I spent a lot of time at his residence. With the exception of his auto racing, he led a modest existence."
Paul and Joanne's property in Westport also provided them with an opportunity to keep their daughters out of the spotlight. "They wanted us to have a childhood that was as normal as possible," Clea explains. "They were really hands-on in their approach. In regular schools, our teachers assisted us with our assignments, and we shared supper together while talking about our days. With Paul's alcoholism, the beauty of Paul and Joanne's marriage was put to the test. He enjoyed sipping scotch after a hard day of downing beers with friends. While Paul and Joanne have had severe, physically demanding conflicts, they have not succumbed, according to Paul. "I've packed up and gone a couple of times, just to realize that I have nowhere to go and that I'll be back in 10 minutes," she said.
Joanne, who earned an Academy Award for her performance in 1957's Three Faces of Eve, decided to put her career on hiatus while their girls were growing up. However, as time went on, she became increasingly unhappy and unsatisfied with her life. "If I had to do it all over again, I would pursue a job or have children." I wouldn't be able to accomplish both unless I was able to work from home. "I spent the better part of two decades feeling guilty," the actress admitted.
Newman And Woodward Remained In Love Throughout Their Marriage
During an interview with Town & Country Magazine, actor Ansel Elgort recalled a tale his driver told him about his favorite celebs to chauffeur around. "Paul Newman was voted the nicest person on the planet. He inquired about my personal information, but he also had his wife [Joanne Woodward] in the back car, and this guy was approximately 80 years old and he was having sexual relations with his wife. They were just enjoying one other's company and giggling, and his arm was wrapped around her and he was kissing her."
Newman was a sex icon in his own right during his time. The actor was dubbed "an immortal sex symbol" by Vogue, and his representations of anti-heroes in films such as "Cool Hand Luke" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" did as much to make women swoon as they did to establish his acting reputation. Despite this, while other men would leap at the chance to have affairs, Newman stayed loyal to Woodward and their relationship. When asked about his commitment to Joanne Woodward, Newman responded with a famous quote: "I'm committed to Joanne because she's my best friend." "I'm cooking steak at home. What is the point of going out for a hamburger?"
Despite the fact that Newman's biography published after his death said he had an 18-month affair and was an alcoholic — claims that Woodward and others strongly rejected — the pair lived their 50-year marriage in happiness (via Irish Independent). His wife and family were at his side when he passed away from lung cancer in 2008. He was 83 years old at the time of his death.
Joanne, 91, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, continues to reside in the Westport home where Paul passed away in 2008 at the age of 83, according to her family. "They were so out of touch with the times. He constantly went out of his way to help her, and they were always holding hands," Clea recalls. "They were madly in love with each other. He and her appreciated each other and laughed together more than any other couple I'd ever met before." Newman passed away in 2008, only a few months after they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Watching The Long, Hot Summer, on the other hand, will allow you to see where it all began.
Legendary Actor Paul Newman Dies at Age 83
Conclusion
A classic Hollywood power couple from the beginning. Despite the fact that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward first met in 1953, their five-decade-long affair didn't begin until years later when they co-starred in the 1957 film "The Long, Hot Summer." As soon as the on-screen chemistry was proven to be real, Paul divorced his wife Jackie Witte in order to marry Joanne.
Over the years, the pair would continue to work together as creative collaborators, appearing in films such as 'From The Terrace' and 'A New Kind Of Love' alongside one another, and Joanne would also direct Paul's first feature film, 'Rachel, Rachel'. The couple was actively involved in philanthropic endeavors and were ardent advocates of Democratic causes. The pair, who are the parents of three children, were married from 1958 until Paul's death in 2008 at the age of 83.
When asked why people stay married, Paul stated that "people stay married because they choose to, not because the doors are closed."
Jump to
Who Is Paul Newman?
Paul Newman's Behavior On Set
Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward First Meeting
Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward Fell In Love In The Film, "The Long Hot Summer"
The Couple Appeared In Numerous Films Together
Newman And Woodward Built Their Family Together
Newman And Woodward Remained In Love Throughout Their Marriage
Conclusion
James Pierce
Author
Emily Sanchez
Reviewer
Latest Articles
Popular Articles