The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir

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Newman often had a shitty opinion of himself - spent time in therapy examining his life, his marriage to Joanne Woodward, his parenting, his acting, etc. Newman's piercing bright blue eyes were a huge part of what made him so strikingly handsome, but in Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, he discusses feeling as if his looks were obscuring his hard work.

Danger ejected him from this state of anaesthesia. Hence his obsession with racing cars, which began with a movie role as a grand prix driver in Winning but took him “outside that fictional experience into something real and quite primitive”. More culpably, he also urged his son, Scott – an addict and an unsuccessful actor, with whom his relationship was “a dance of death” – to take high-speed risks on the road. At one lacerating moment, Newman recalls that he considered shooting himself to rid Scott of “the affliction that was me”; in the event, it was the unhappy Scott who died prematurely. As seen in The Last Movie Stars documentary - t he raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an icon. The greatest movie star of the past 75 years covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his thoughts on Marlon Brando, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, his greatest roles, acting, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward, his innermost fears and passions and joys. With thoughts/comments throughout from Joanne Woodward, Tom Cruise and many others. Memoir is loosely applied here. This is the transcript of a recorded series of conversations between Paul Newman and screenwriter friend Stewart Stern in the late 80s- early 90s that two of Newman's daughters published years after their father's death, with added bits and pieces from other friends, family and industry colleagues to round out the anecdotes and memories. In this way, it is mostly Newman's own words, but it's impossible to know if this is how he would have chosen to present his story and his voice. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-08-12 12:01:01 Boxid IA40208707 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

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Paul Newman died in 2008 but he had been working on his memoirs since 1986. After he died his family and friends set about trying to finish this project. It took about 5 years and I think it was well worth the wait.

Drawn from conversations between the late actor Paul Newman and screenwriter Stewart Stern, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man sees the Cool Hand Luke star reflecting on a life marked by dizzying success and psychological pain. The interviews, which took place over five years from 1986, were seemingly forgotten until Newman’s children unearthed them in 2019 and turned them into this memoir-cum-oral history. 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.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” In 2008, Paul Newman died at the age of 83. While his kids figured the transcripts from their father's project were floating around somewhere, it took a decade to locate them. Piecing together what they found, they came up with this book, which is Paul's life in his own words with some relevant anecdotes from others, and it is an utterly fascinating read. The ultimate cool guy, who men wanted to be like and women adored. He was an American icon, a brilliant actor, a Renaissance man and a generous but modest philanthropist ... Newman entertained millions in some of Hollywood's most memorable roles ever, and brightened the lives of amny more, especially seriously ill children, through his charitable works.' Arnold Schwarzenegger