The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir

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The one thing I’ve always admired is excellence. I recognize it in almost anything: plumbers, museum guides, limousine drivers, bank tellers—I delight in seeing it. Maybe we choose those arenas in which we have the best chance for excellence. For me, maybe that’s acting, or being somehow connected to the theater, or capitalizing on the way I look, or fooling people” Paul Newman was an ordinary man gifted with extraordinary good looks and extraordinary talent. Even if (in his own words) he probably would not accept that he had any talent at all. He had a reputation for being a private person so I was pleasantly surprised how much he shared his thoughts and feelings of his childhood, career, marriages and fatherhood. He sought therapy over the years and I'm sure that led to quite a bit of reflection about his life. He's self-deprecating, to a fault in my opinion, but it also shows he didn't have a massive ego. He knew he had flaws, he knew there was always room for improvement. I always liked him as an actor but after reading this memoir, I have mad respect for him as a man.

One of the very finest screen actors of our time. Newman spanned the gap between the golden days of Hollywood, the 40s and 50s with actors like Cary Grant and James Stewart and Clark Gable, and the present lot represented by Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise' Sir Michael Parkinson Newman's often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Brando and Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott, his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers around his relationship with Joanne Woodward - their love for each other, his dependence on her, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally and sexually.An insider’s account of the rampant misconduct within the Trump administration, including the tumult surrounding the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. Read by Jeff Daniels, Melissa Newman, Clea Newman Soderlund, Ari Fliakos, January LaVoy, John Rubinstein and Emily Wachtel In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman's family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor's life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.

Paul Newman is also candid about his own alcohol addiction and the abandonment of his children from his first marriage, but he seems to have pulled it together after Scott's death, devoting more time to his philanthropic endeavors (yep, I've got a bottle or two of Newman's Own salad dressing in my fridge), his passion for auto racing, and his family. And still his acting roles just seemed to get better as he aged ( The Color of Money, The Verdict)... Newman at his best...with his self-aware persona, storied marriage and generous charitable activities...this rich book somehow imbues his characters' pain and joy with fresh technicolor." -- The Wall Street Journal Throughout Newman's account of his life (narrated very well in audio by Jeff Daniels), there is a sense of real loneliness, at feeling like he wasn't always in control of his own life, and that he resented the intrusion of fame. He found it boggling how women eventually found him to be such a sex symbol, as he couldn't get a girl to even talk to him until after he had been discharged from the military. There were a lot of fascinating moments in this book: reading about his relationship with his parents (his mother treated him mostly like a prop and once he was married to his first wife, insisted they sleep in twin beds), his family's complicated relationship with Judaism and how he was the rare actor who chose not to change his name, his time working with Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio, his relationship with Joanne Woodward, the comparisons to Marlon Brando and James Dean, etc., plus the information from his daughter about his philanthropic efforts.When Joanne and I went to Paris to shoot a few scenes of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge there were photographers at the airport, and Joanne said to me: “Don’t be a jerk. Pose for them and then they’ll leave us alone.” So you agree to stand there and smile for a minute or two, hold your wife’s arm, etc. and you tell them, “I’ll see you, goodbye.” Then you walk to your car and about two-thirds of them follow and do exactly what you thought you were getting away from. They honor nothing, and they even chase the car. THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound.

Thisislike eavesdropping on a dinner party filled withfriends andcolleagues alllistening to andtalking about theman sitting at the head of the table, Paul Newman. Honest, funnyand oftenpainful conversationswhichwere found by his daughtersandwoven together into a fascinating memoir of their“anything but ordinary”father.Iloved the book and adored the man.” —Sally Field Newman's often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Marlon Brando and James Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott, his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers around his relationship with Joanne Woodward--their love for each other, his dependence on her, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally and sexually. To say he was an extraordinary man would be an understatement. he saw himself as a working actor, not a movie star, and insisted that everyone else did the same. There was no ego, no entourage, no hangers on. Only Paul, his script and his incredible spirit. One can say this about very few people, but he was a truly great man. It seems to me to be one of the great 20th-century lives: he was famously generous, with his extraordinary and unstinting work for his charities, he was a shining example of how to use global fame for the greater good, and most of all he was one of the great movie actors of this or any other age. [Directing Newman] was the highlight of my professional life.' Sam Mendes This was a painstaking collaboration that took his recorded conversations, and translated them into a well-coordinated readable, reasonable sized book. Read More: The Last Movie Stars Traces the Legacy of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in Six Dazzling PartsI'm about halfway through the audiobook, and I cannot stop listening. My respect for the man is not even slightly diminished by knowing about his personal struggles. His honesty and integrity manage to shine throughout his revelations about his battle with alcoholism and self-doubt. I'm so glad that I chose to listen to the audiobook because it is impeccably done. I suspected that I was going to enjoy learning more about this very private man's life but I had no idea that the book was going to be so excellently executed. My very sincere thanks to his family, friends, and coworkers - and to everyone else involved in the production of this outstanding combination autobiography/biography. It does this extraordinary man justice. Newman was predisposed to addiction and alcohol. He compensated his drinking with physical fitness and long saunas. The man with the fifty year marriage, the man of many and successful movies, the man who created celebrity philanthropy, the man who designed camps for terminally ill kids…was a closed book, a cypher, a functional alcoholic whose epic marriage was set by his cheating on his first wife for years with Joanne Woodward. You read a celebrity biography/autobiography you would like to know the person, the personality, Newman shows not much personality, a very private and quite person, no mention of co-stars, many films not mentioned at all, no mention of The Towering Inferno at all. The Last Movie Stars". Сериал, посветен на въпроса, как може да си звезда, и все пак да останеш женен за една и съща жена 50 години, да преживееш самоубийството на сина си, да участваш в движението за граждански права на Лутър Кинг, да дариш милиони за грижа за болни деца и наркомани като насмешливо сложиш лика си върху домашен сос из супермаркетите и същевременно живееш на ръба като автомобилен състезател.