By SEAN DALY Special to the Daily Press
CHICAGO — Paul Newman had to see the question coming. After all, in March 2000 he did look at talk show host David Letterman with those famous blue eyes and announce plans to make one final movie before calling it a wrap.
So Mr. Newman, is the new Mob drama “Road To Perdition” going to be your swan song?
“It’s probably closer to a vulture than a swan,” he quips, prompting a round of laughter from reporters gathered in a ballroom at the posh Ritz-Carlton Hotel. “I keep trying to retire from everything and I’ve discovered that I’ve retired from absolutely nothing. I don't seem to be able to retire.”
At 77, the Oscar-winning star of “The Sting” and “Cool Hand Luke” says he still has a few things to scratch off his To-Do list before packing it in.
For one thing, he is hoping for a big screen reunion with Joanne Woodward, his wife since 1958. “We’re looking at something down the pike,” Newman reveals, in between bites of scrambled eggs. “So there’s still a little vinegar left in the old dog yet.”
And apparently some salad dressing, too. “My favorite flavor is the Family Italian Recipe,” he shares, casually changing the subject to accommodate a shameless plug for his famous line of Newman’s Own organic food products. The Kenyon College graduate also offers a quick hint to spice up his best-selling line of spaghetti sauces: “Try adding bacon and green olives.”
“The spaghetti sauce is good to think about — morning, noon and night,” he laughs. “Think about the spaghetti sauce. And think about hustling other people to buy the spaghetti sauce.”
Not that he needs the customers. Since 1982, Newman’s Own products (yes, they have considered adding Butch Cassidy Beer) have grossed more than $110 million dollars, all of which has been donated to charity.
“These days, my spaghetti sauces out gross my movies,” he likes to joke.
Newman also operates The Hole in The Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut for children with cancer and other blood-related diseases.
“I don’t think that there’s anything exceptional or noble in being philanthropic,” he says, in a suddenly more serious tone. “It’s the other attitude that confuses me. I am really confounded at the stinginess of some institutions and some people. You can only put away so much stuff in your closet.”
Newman must be hoping some of his good karma will rub off on the July 12 release of “Road To Perdition,” the story of a 1930s Chicago hit man seeking revenge on the mobster who killed his wife and son. Newman co-stars as John Rooney, a powerful Mob boss caught in the middle of the feud.
“Rooney’s son Connor is a bad guy and his ‘adopted’ son Michael (Tom Hanks) is kind of a good bad guy,” the silver haired actor explains. “Rooney is forced to protect one at the expense of the other, so it’s an intriguing conflict.”
“Road To Perdition” is Newman’s first big screen role since “Where The Money Is” in late 2000.
He has appeared in more than 55 films since making his big screen debut in the 1954 klunker “The Silver Chalice.” “That was the worst film of the 1950s,” he confessed in a recent interview. “It adds luster and dimension to the word awful, but it gives me a kind of reverse pride because it gives every young actor hope. No matter how bad your early films are, there’s hope for a career.”
By all accounts, the only son of Arthur and Theresa Newman — proprietors of a successful Ohio sporting goods store — landed squarely on his feet. He earned a total of nine Academy Award nominations before finally taking home the Best Actor statue in 1987 for his portrayal of an aging pool shark in “The Color of Money.”
Newman recently completed a three-week engagement in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” at the Westport, Connecticut Country Playhouse, where Woodward serves as artistic director.
“It’s the first play that I’ve done in 35 years,” he says, likening the experience to “sticking a rifle in your mouth.”
Ironically, Newman made his television debut in 1955, playing a teenager in a musical version of that same play. (It was his only singing role.) Newman did appear in other stage productions — his Broadway debut came in the 1953 cast of “Picnic” — before eventually landing a film contract from Warner Bros.
These days, Newman says he is becoming more and more comfortable in the role of supporting actor.
“I’m realistic. I’m no longer a marquee star. I can’t open a film any more the way Tom Cruise can... But I can still get a good table in a restaurant,” he grins.
After being discharged from the United States Navy, Newman married Jacqueline Witte in 1949. They had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, who died in 1978 of a drug overdose. He exchanged vows with Woodward nine years later (daughters Elinor, Melissa and Claire followed), and their union remain one of the longest lasting in Hollywood history.
Newman is a four-time winner of the Sports Club of America National Championship, half-owner of the Indy Car motor racing team of Newman-Haas. A runner up in the 1979 LeMans 24 Hour race, he admits: “It’s been difficult for me to give it up. It’s been my one addiction. But I’m gradually retiring from racing.”
Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard that one before. (Sean Daly is a Santa Monica-based writer and is president of Showtime Entertainment.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2002. Read the original PDF.