Robert Redford statement on Paul Newman’s death: ‘My life — and this country — is better for his being in it’
Paul Newman, Hollywood superstar, Oscar winner and star of “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Sting” and “The Towering Inferno,” died Sept. 26, 2008, at his home in Westport, Conn., at age 83.
The New York Times reported on Sept. 28, 2008, that the cause of death was cancer, citing a Newman publicist, Jeff Sanderson of Chasen & Company.
According to an obituary in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008, “Despite widespread reports that he was suffering from lung cancer, the actor made no announcement and lived out his last months in typically quiet fashion.”
Newman’s most famous co-star was Robert Redford, who issued this statement, according to Variety: “There is a point where feelings go beyond words. I have lost a real friend. My life — and this country — is better for his being in it.”
Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. According to Variety, Newman’s five daughters, Susan, Stephanie, Nell, Melissa and Clea (a son, Scott, died of a drug overdose in 1978), in a statement called their father “a rare symbol of selfless humility, the last to acknowledge what he was doing was special. Intensely private, he quietly succeeded beyond measure in impacting the lives of so many with his generosity. Always and to the end, Dad was incredibly grateful for his good fortune ... He will be profoundly missed by those whose lives he touched, but he leaves us with extraordinary inspiration to draw upon.”
The Variety obituary states that 1969’s “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” made Newman “the biggest star in the country.” The obituary says “a financial high water mark” for Newman was “The Towering Inferno” and that Newman and co-star Steve McQueen each made $1 million plus “a reported 20% of the gross.”
Paul Newman received 10 Oscar nominations, 9 for acting and one for Best Picture “Rachel, Rachel.” He did not win a competitive Oscar until 1987’s Best Actor for “The Color of Money.” He did not attend that Oscars ceremony. A year earlier, he received an honorary Oscar, “In recognition of his many and memorable and compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft,” according to the Internet Movie Database. He did not attend that ceremony either but gave an acceptance speech, via satellite, from Chicago.
In 1994, Newman received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
According to The New York Times of Sept. 30, 2008, Turner Classic Movies on Oct. 12, 2008, was featuring films of Paul Newman in a “24-hour marathon” that would include “Cool Hand Luke,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Hud,” and “Rachel, Rachel,” which Newman directed, starring wife Joanne Woodward.
(October 2026)
