Paul Newman spent his most recent lifetime on earth as a prolific actor, director, navy pilot, philanthropist, entrepreneur, auto-racing champion, husband, and father. He was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on January 26, 1925. After getting his high-school diploma, he enrolled in the Ohio University Navy program, served in World War II, completed his college education at Yale with a degree in drama, studied at Lee Strasberg’s renowned Actors Studio, and received his first official screen credit in a television series called Tales of Tomorrow in 1952.

His Broadway debut occurred in 1953, in the original production of William Inge’s Picnic, and in 1954 he made his film debut in
The Silver Chalice. The foreign press had the foresight to present him with a Golden Globe Award in 1957 as their “Most Promising Male Newcomer.” Until his retirement from acting in 2007, Paul starred in more than sixty movies, television shows, documentaries, and plays; produced and/or directed a dozen more television and film projects; and earned an Academy Award as Best Actor (for the 1986 film The Color of Money), a Best Supporting Actor Emmy and Golden Globe Award (for the
2005 TV production of Empire Falls), a Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture Director (for 1968’s Rachel, Rachel), almost fifty acting and directing nominations, and such prestigious honors as the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Screen Actors’ Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.

He and his first wife, Jackie Witte, were married from 1949 until 1958 and had three children—a son, Scott, who died in 1978 from an accidental drug overdose, and two daughters, Susan and Stephanie. He married his second wife, accomplished actress Joanne Woodward, in 1958, a marriage that by all accounts continued happily, quietly, and devotedly for the rest of his life. They had three daughters—Elinor, Melissa, and Claire—and made their home in Westport, Connecticut, thousands of miles from the celebrity-driven glare of Hollywood.

Paul’s passion for auto racing was ignited when he trained for the 1969 film Winning. He competed in and often won events sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and other racing associations until 2005, was a race team owner, and, in honor of his integrity and dedication to the sport, was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2009.

He was as intensely focused on his charitable work as he was on his acting career. The Scott Newman Foundation, founded in memory of his son’s life and untimely death, combats drug abuse among young people. The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is a residential summer camp for seriously ill children with locations throughout the world. Kenyon College in Gambion, Ohio, received a generous scholarship fund, and Catholic Relief Services donations toward its efforts to help Kosovo refugees. Through all these as well as his brilliantly successful, charity-devoted Newman’s Own food company, Paul Newman saw to it that when he went Home on September 26, 2008, after a battle with lung cancer, he left this earth richer, better, and more compassionate than he found it.

From Francine

Paul’s father was waiting for him at the end of the tunnel, silhouetted against the sacred white light, before Paul even reached Home. They emerged from the tunnel together, where Paul stepped into the ecstatic embrace of his son, Scott, before greeting the huge crowd of animals and friends from his forty-nine incarnations and from his stunningly productive eternal life here at Home. The Scanning Machine was both difficult and healing for him—he says that for all his blessings, he perpetually battled a deep sadness that he was aware of as far back as The Silver Chalice, not caused by his wives and children at all, but rooted in what he calls “my own tendency to withhold, so that I wouldn’t be destroyed if I felt I’d disappointed someone I loved, but of course by withholding I created the disappointment I was trying to avoid.” He was relieved to watch himself overcoming that particular demon over the years and finally “becoming the husband and father my wife and children deserved,” but he went immediately from the Scanning Machine to the Gardens of the Towers with Scott to ask his forgiveness for not “waking up sooner.” They’re often seen together now, loving and enjoying each other.

Paul’s chosen life themes of Aesthetic Pursuits and Humanitarian served him well. He says that while acting was never his passion, he enjoyed the process of it and appreciated it as a means to an end, with the end being the wealth and celebrity that allowed Newman’s Own, the charity that was his passion, to be such a success and, as a result, help countless people and animals in need.

He frequently wishes he’d chosen a less handsome face, to allow himself access to more “character roles,” and he tells the story of how his face almost jeopardized his career in its early days. Paul was told not to get his hopes up for long-term success, because he looked too much like Marlon Brando.

Paul quickly, blissfully resumed his life on the Other Side. He’s a popular lecturer on the subjects of philosophy and philanthropy, with a focus on the richness to be gained in giving rather than receiving, both financially and emotionally, and his seminars are virtually mandated for spirits who are preparing to reincarnate. He lives alone, quietly and modestly, in a small house with windows on only one side, so that he can look out on a thick forest of sequoias where wildlife thrives and visits him as if they’re all his pets. He socializes with an interesting variety of friends, including James Dean, Harvey Milk, Walter Cronkite, and Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and he’s often seen at operas and plays, especially those continuing to be written by his frequent hiking companion Tennessee Williams. He occasionally performs “for the exercise,” out of love for the material and the opportunity to play the rich character roles that were so elusive during his earthly career. While he continues to be attractive, his thirty-year-old visage at Home is more ordinary and therefore more within his comfort level.

He’s also added a valuable new passion to his work on the Other Side since he returned. He and his son, Scott, are among the legions of spirits dedicated to welcoming suicide victims, from earth and from the Holding Place, and staying by their sides through any Orientation and cocooning they might need until they’re able to resume their happy, peaceful, productive lives with their souls fully healed and God-centered again.

Paul believes that “usually those things that ‘go without saying’ are the exact things that most need to be said,” so he makes a point of expressing that Joanne Woodward was his “rock” and his “anchor” and they’re “too much a part of each other to be apart.” He clearly remembers all four of their lifetimes together—two as husband and wife, one as brother and sister, and one as brothers—and he frequently visits her and hopes that she is aware of his loving presence. He has no intention of incarnating again, but promises he’ll go right on making a contribution to life on earth “for as long as life on earth needs a helping hand.”