Audiobook Description
The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. The greatest movie star of the past 75 years covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his thoughts on Marlon Brando, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, John Huston, his greatest roles, acting, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward, his innermost fears and passions and joys. With thoughts/comments throughout from Joanne Woodward, George Roy Hill, Tom Cruise, Elia Kazan and many others.
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.
The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, surprising. Newman’s voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty. The additional voices—from childhood friends and Navy buddies, from family members and film and theater collaborators such as Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt, and John Huston—that run throughout add richness and color and context to the story Newman is telling.
Newman’s often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Marlon Brando and James Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott, his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers around his relationship with Joanne Woodward—their love for each other, his dependence on her, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally and sexually.
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63097739-the-extraordinary-life-of-an-ordinary-man
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RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN: A MEMOIR by Paul Newman, David Rosenthal (Editor), Melissa Newman (Foreword), Clea Newman Soderland (Afterward) is an intimate and introspective memoir taken from thousands of pages of transcripts that Paul Newman recorded with his friend and screenwriter, Stewart Stern from 1986 to 1991. Family and friends were also interviewed with one stipulation, that also applied to Mr. Newman, which was anyone who spoke on record must be completely honest.
This is a surprisingly candid look into Paul Newman’s own life, the good, the bad and the ugly. I have lived in Cleveland and its suburbs my entire life and always find it interesting how many famous actors, athletes and writers have come from Northeastern Ohio. Mr. Newman’s birthplace of Shaker Hts. is very familiar to me with its economic and religious diversity. While he relates that he and his family were well off financially in his early years, emotionally he felt on his own or smothered by his mother for only his outer appearance. His and his mother’s relationship would be tumultuous for her entire life.
There are candid discussions for such a private man of his drinking and the effects it had on his and his families’ lives, the loss of his eldest child and only son, Scott to drugs and alcohol, and the guilt of adultery for years as he cheated on his first wife with his would be second wife, Joanne Woodward. He never felt as if he was a talented actor, but a lucky one. He also believed he had a learning disability due to his difficulty in school and later memorizing lines for plays and movies, but he was never diagnosed.
The later part of his life when he started his philanthropic organizations and camps for children, he continued to question his life and motivations. His love of car racing continued throughout his later life, and he was quite successful personally and professionally with his racing team. It was also interesting to hear about his view of or relationship with other actors and directors.
This was at times difficult to listen to because as he points out, there is a difference between the inner child and the outer self, the movie star persona who we all expect to see or meet. He was not an easy man (in his own words), but he does believe he always strives to do what is best especially as he has grown older. The Paul Newman narration is done by Jeff Daniels and is well done and easy to listen to.
This memoir was much more than I was expecting. Great for the person who wants some insight into the ordinary man, but not for you if you idealize the extraordinary star persona.
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Audiobook Information
| Listening Length | 8 hours and 46 minutes |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Newman, David Rosenthal – editor, Melissa Newman – foreword, Clea Newman Soderlund |
| Narrators | Clea Newman Soderlund, Jeff Daniels, Melissa Newman, Ari Fliakos, January LaVoy, John Rubinstein, Emily Wachtel |
| Audible.com Release Date | October 18, 2022 |
| Publisher | Random House Audio |
| Program Type | Audiobook |
| Version | Unabridged |
| Language | English |
