Paul Newman's Real Name: Paul Leonard Newman

Quick answer: Paul Newman's full name was Paul Leonard Newman. He was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Shaker Heights. He died of cancer on September 26, 2008, in Westport, Connecticut, at age 83. He starred in The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. He won his Oscar for The Color of Money and founded Newman's Own (Library of Congress; BBC).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Newman, Paul, 1925-2008." One citation reads "birth name Paul Leonard Newman," and another gives "Paul Leonard Newman, b. 01-26-25, in Cleveland, Ohio." LOC also records "P. Loquesto Newman," a byline he used to sign a book postscript. The BBC obituary gives the same name and date and places his birth in the Shaker Heights suburb of Cleveland.

The BBC says his father, Arthur, ran a successful sporting-goods store and was Jewish, and his mother, Theresa, came from a Slovak Catholic family. Britannica says he served as a Navy radio operator in World War II and then graduated from Kenyon College in 1949. After his father's death in 1950, he ran the family store for a year. He then studied drama at Yale and moved to New York to study at the Actors Studio.

Career highlights

He made his Broadway debut in William Inge's Picnic (1953), where he met understudy Joanne Woodward, whom he married in 1958. His film debut, The Silver Chalice (1954), flopped. As boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) he broke through. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) brought his first Oscar nomination.

Britannica says "Fast" Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) perhaps best defined his screen persona of antiheroes. Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Hombre, and Cool Hand Luke (both 1967) followed. With Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill he made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and the best picture winner The Sting (1973). After six best actor nominations, the BBC notes, he won for reprising Eddie Felson in The Color of Money (1986). He directed Woodward in Rachel, Rachel and earned praise late in his career for Road to Perdition (2002).

The BBC says he began racing professionally in 1972, finished second at Le Mans in 1979, and co-owned a racing team. His Newman's Own food line, started in 1982, had raised more than $200 million for charity by 2006, including a camp for seriously ill children.

Name notes for searchers

Leonard was his middle name. "P. L. Newman" and "P. Loquesto Newman" appear as LOC variants from one of his books. He always acted as Paul Newman.