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Title details for The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man by Paul Newman - Available

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

A Memoir

by Paul Newman
David Rosenthal
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 2 copies available
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.
*Includes a downloadable PDF of all the photographs from the printed book

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    October 18, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593627594
      • File size: 252898 KB
      • Duration: 08:46:52

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 22, 2022
      Actor, race car driver, and philanthropist Newman (1925–2008) was a deeply private man living an intensely public life; this posthumous memoir features the Hollywood legend’s own voice as he “sets things straight” and “pokes holes in the mythology” that accompanied his celebrity. Adapted from interviews taped with his friend Stewart Stern before his death, Newman’s story unfolds in a humble, sometimes humorous narrative voice—“I’m aware that in some ways it’s my nature to deprecate everything I do”—punctuated with earnest awe of the turns his life has taken, astonishment at the intensity of his passion for wife Joanne Woodward, affection for his children and anguish that he could not shelter them from the vagaries of fame. Newman’s voice is interwoven with transcripts from friends, relatives, and colleagues (including Eva Marie Saint, Tom Cruise, Elia Kazan, and more) whose memories shed light on what transformed the summer stock actor into an international sex symbol and what curbed his struggles with alcoholism and grief from veering into tragedy. As compiled by editor David Rosenthal, these collective perspectives do more than offer a prismatic view of film industry glamour and dirty laundry: they elevate the book from a humble autobiography to a more nuanced, human portrait—with the “semblance of truth” that Newman craved when he went on the record. With equal parts grounded authenticity and inviting charm, this candid memoir captures the life of a legend.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Paul Newman and his friend Stewart Stern, a screenwriter, decided to compile an oral history of the Newman family. The only rule for contributors was complete honesty. They worked on the enormous project from 1986 to 1991. In this extraordinary oral-history-autobiography, Newman's family, friends, and colleagues provide insightful anecdotes and observations, some narrated by the contributors, others by professional narrators. Best of all, actor Jeff Daniels makes Newman's first-person remembrances funny, poignant, sexy, and always sincere. Daniels captures the essence of Newman's self-deprecating honesty as he recounts details of Newman's privileged yet terribly unhappy childhood; deep love and admiration for his wife, Joanne Woodward; guilt over his son Scott's suicide; love of high-speed racing, and reflections on his stage and film roles. What better way to experience this exceptional oral history? S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from January 1, 2023

      Between 1986 and 1991, actor Newman worked with screenwriter friend Stewart Stern on his memoirs, with nothing off-limits and Stern recording their years-long conversation (along with interviewing Newman's friends, colleagues, and family). This posthumous memoir was compiled from 14,000 transcribed pages of interviews that sat dormant for decades. Far from a typical Hollywood autobiography, Newman's memoir is less concerned about his films and more interested in intensive soul-searching to discover why he kept loved ones at a distance for most of his life. The multi-voiced audio production boasts a superb Jeff Daniels doing most of the heavy lifting, narrating the majority of the book as Paul Newman. Daniels captures the world-weariness and fragility of a world class actor who was still plagued with self-doubts, insecurities and alcohol use disorder. Newman's daughters Melissa Newman and Clea Newman Soderlund read the book's foreword and afterword. John Rubinstein reads Stern's contributions, while Ari Fliakos reads other male voices (including directors Sidney Lumet and George Roy Hill), and Emily Wachtel and January LaVoy read the various women in Newman's life (including Joanne Woodward, Patricia Neal, and Piper Laurie). VERDICT This gripping and emotionally wrenching memoir is given a top-notch multi-narrator production.--Kevin Howell

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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