Hollywood movie legend Paul Newman died on September 26, 2008 at the
age of 83 after a long battle with cancer.
Paul Newman died at his farmhouse near Westport,
Connecticut, his Los Angeles-based spokesman Jeff Sanderson said.
Robert Redford, his friend and co-star in Butch
Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and The Sting, said: "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."
A statement by Newman's family said: "His
death was as private and discreet as the way he had lived his life, a humble
artist who never thought of himself as 'big', surrounded by his beloved family
and the close circle of friends.
The actor became famous worldwide for his
philanthropy, especially through his range of Newman's Own sauces and
dressings, all the profits from which after tax went to his good causes.
He set up 11 Hole in the Wall camps - named after the
gang in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid - for chronically ill children.
It is thought that the camps have helped 135,000
children free of charge.
Newman finished chemotherapy treatment for cancer in
August and it was widely reported in the US that he had only weeks to live.
In June this year, a neighbour and business partner
said the actor told him about the disease the previous year.
In May, Newman pulled out of directing John
Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men for unspecified health reasons.
Broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson told Sky News:
"He was a link between a generation that had Cary Grant and James Stewart
and all those great people and Tom Cruise.
"He was that bridge between the two and in that
gap he was the best of the lot."
Newman retired from acting in 2006 after a 50-year
career that included Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958), Exodus (1960), The Hustler
(1961), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974) and The
Verdict (1982).
He switched to playing villains in two of the best
films of his latter years, Road To Perdition (2002) and The Hudsucker Proxy
(1994).
Newman, a keen amateur motor racing driver, was
nominated for 10 Oscars, winning best actor for his role in The Color Of Money
in 1987, as well as an honorary award for his humanitarian work in 1994.
In a statement his five daughters said: "Our
father was 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. In his own words: 'It's been a privilege to be
here.'"
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1925, Newman's
breakthrough came with his portrayal of Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There
Likes Me (1956).
He never looked back, becoming one of the biggest box
office draws of the 1950s and 1960s although, having trained in "the
method" at the Actors' Studio in New York he was always keen to take on
serious roles.
His long marriage to actress Joanne Woodward ran
counter to Hollywood convention and the pair lived in a 200-year-old
Connecticut house, far from the heart of the entertainment industry.
