In August 1952, a little-known 22-year-old actress named Joanne Woodward ducked into her agent’s workplace to flee the brutal New York City warmth.
Inside, she encountered an equally unknown 27-year-old Paul Newman, dressed impeccably in his seersucker go well with, with a full head of curly hair and people hanging blue eyes that will quickly grow to be well-known the world over.
He “looked like an ad for an ice cream soda,” Woodward recalled to Today, 50 years later, including, “and I thought, ‘Ugh, that’s disgusting.'”
Newman was much more dazzled at first sight and, fortunately, earned a possibility to make a greater impression once they each joined the manufacturing of a brand new stage present, “Picnic,” later that 12 months.
“She was modern and independent,” he remembered in Shawn Levy’s Paul Newman: A Life. “I was shy, a bit conservative. It took me a long time to persuade her that I wasn’t as dull as I looked.”
Indeed, any suspicion over Newman’s picture-perfect seems and alleged dullness quickly gave approach to a mutual appreciation and affection, paving the best way for a union that will function the gold normal for all {couples} who climate life’s unpredictable twists and bumps collectively.
Newman, already married, was unable to suppress his emotions for his co-star
At the time, there was one main impediment to the 2 appearing on their shared attraction: Newman was already married and had a younger son. He fathered a daughter shortly after “Picnic” opened on Broadway in February 1953, and one other woman arrived the next 12 months.
Newman and Woodward tried to maintain their relationship skilled. He even set her up with a good friend, playwright James Costigan, describing her as “a wonderful girl.” Yet the younger, engaging thespians could not hold aside for lengthy, notably as their burgeoning careers stored them in the identical social {and professional} orbit.
Fresh off the success of his first hit movie Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Newman revealed to his spouse, Jackie, that he was in love with Woodward. He quickly moved out of their Long Island residence, although she refused to finish the wedding.
By the time Newman and Woodward had been tapped to co-star in The Long, Hot Summer (1958), they now not bothered concealing their romance from the forged, crew or every other informal observer. Jackie lastly agreed to a divorce, clearing the trail for the co-stars to tie the knot in Las Vegas in January 1958.
Newman photographing his spouse Joanne Woodward of their Greenwich Village house, New York City, circa 1961.
Woodward struggled juggling motherhood and her profession
While Newman felt responsible in regards to the divorce, he and Woodward might lastly forged apart the burden of carrying on a bootleg relationship. They quickly settled into the subsequent part of their life as Hollywood’s golden couple.
Woodward and Newman with their daughters through the 2001: A Space Odysseyundefinedscreening in New York City on April 3, 1968.
During this time, Newman made the leap from heartthrob actor to big-time film star with movies together with The Hustler (1961) and Hud (1963). Woodward, in the meantime, appeared content material to sluggish her profession and lift their rising household; Just one 12 months after profitable an Academy Award for her efficiency in The Three Faces of Eve (1957), she gave start to the primary of their three daughters.
But the transition from Oscar recipient to motherhood wasn’t simple for Woodward, who later admitted she was by no means notably comfy with youngsters. She nonetheless harbored ambitions to make her mark on stage and display; Levy writes in A Life that she as soon as dug into her husband for being “selfish” after he declined to co-star in certainly one of her most popular tasks, each realizing that his involvement would assure the movie being made.
Newman finally reversed course and joined her for what turned A New Kind of Love (1963). Five years later, he made her the main focus of his large display directing debut, Rachel, Rachel. Woodward confirmed she might nonetheless pack a wallop as a dramatic actress whilst she aged out of the lead romantic roles.
Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman chill out on the seaside between races in a scene from the movie Winning, 1969.
Newman and Woodward loved working collectively whereas prizing separate pursuits
With Hollywood’s double normal for age and sweetness, Newman remained one of the crucial well-known film stars on the planet as he breezed by way of his 40s whereas Woodward’s trajectory stalled. The seeming mismatch of the still-virile main man and his critically revered however lesser-known spouse sparked inevitable rumors of a wedding on the rocks, prompting the couple to take out a full-page advert within the Los Angeles Times in 1969 to claim their dedication to 1 one other.
A Life signifies that Newman was having an affair with journalist Nancy Bacon round this time. The couple managed to get by way of what might have been an irreparable rupture to their union by flying off to England—the location of their honeymoon—for some much-needed one-on-one time.
American actor Paul Newman as racing driver Frank Capua in ‘Winning,’ directed by James Goldstone, 1969.
Their relationship survived, partly, as a result of every found an outdoor curiosity that, if not absolutely understood by the opposite, not less than obtained spousal endorsement. For Newman, it was a curiosity for auto racing that developed right into a full-throttle ardour following his flip as a driver in 1969’s Winning. For Woodward, it was an appreciation for ballet, each as a method of train and a type of inventive expression, that prompted her to grow to be a patron of a number of troupes.
Together, they campaigned for political candidates and remained dedicated to their major jobs, with Newman once more stepping behind the digital camera to direct his spouse in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972). And when it got here time to place apart work for the day, the couple retreated to their beloved property in a wooded part of Westport, Connecticut, which included a treehouse particularly earmarked for his or her privateness when visitors had been on the town.
Aging introduced maturity, however not the dimming of mutual affection
Tragedy struck in 1978 when Newman’s son from his first marriage, Scott, died from an unintentional drug overdose.
The news rocked all members of the prolonged household and seemingly sparked a shift within the couple’s priorities. Together they raised funds for the Scott Newman Foundation, targeted on substance abuse training, and Newman constructed on a formidable philanthropic document by launching his Hole within the Wall Gang Camps for kids stricken with debilitating sicknesses.
The shift additionally was mirrored of their display roles. Newman was now transferring into the “elder statesman” part of his profession, lastly nabbing an Oscar for The Color of Money (1986), whereas Woodward picked up an Emmy for enjoying an Alzheimer’s affected person within the TV movie Do You Remember Love? (1985). They additionally resumed their longtime collaboration with the Newman-directed, Woodward-headlined The Glass Menagerie (1987) and went on to co-star in Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990).
Despite the intense nature of their performances, the 2 maintained a playful appreciation of each other in public. Newman, who as soon as famously declared his monogamy by telling Playboy, “I have steak at home; why go out for hamburger?,” once more risked his spouse’s wrath by comparing her to a bottle of fine wine in a New York Times interview. Later, when Woodward visited him on the set of the 1998 movie Twilight, a mischievous Newman pulled a younger Liev Schreiber apart to touch upon her sexiness.
Sound bites apart, there have been instances when Newman merely wanted to be in his life companion’s presence. While filming Blaze (1989) in Louisiana, he abruptly known as Woodward and requested her to hitch him. Although she was within the midst of the spring semester at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College, with the hope of finishing a long-delayed diploma, she dropped every little thing to move south. “There’s no academic degree in the world that can compare in importance to the fact that the person you’ve loved for 31 years is missing you,” she famous, per A Life.
Newman and Woodward attend Newman’s Own George Awards on May 19, 1999, on the U.S. Customs House in New York City.
The couple continued making joint tasks into their golden years
During a 2002 Today interview, Woodward talked about that somebody as soon as requested her what their relationship was based mostly on.
“And I said he’s very good looking and very sexy and all of those things,” she recalled, “and what finally is left is if you can make somebody laugh.”
“And I keep her laughing,” Newman interjected.
They additionally stored the flame alive by way of their joint ardour for the craft that first introduced them collectively. Prominently concerned with the native Westport Country Playhouse, they revived a manufacturing of Our Town that leveraged its sold-out showings to a run on Broadway through the winter of 2002-03. They later joined up on the Playhouse stage to learn love poems for a 2007 Valentine’s Day efficiency.
The following January, three days after Newman marked his 83rd birthday, the husband and spouse celebrated their golden anniversary. It was a quiet affair for the growing older couple, with Newman battling lung most cancers and Woodward adjusting to the real-life onset of Alzheimer’s, however a memorable one all the identical. “I feel privileged to love that woman,” he told a small gathering of their children and friends. “That I’m married to her is the enjoyment of my life.”
Newman lastly exited, stage left, 9 months later, unable to assist his spouse to the end line of her personal well being battles. While not fairly the joyful ending they–and followers–hoped for, they however left behind the story of a wedding, with all its glories and imperfections, that was each bit as monumental as their respective careers.
