PAUL NEWMAN 1925-2008

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk PAUL NEWMAN 1925-2008 Screen legend Paul Newman has died from cancer, aged 83. But he always doubted his own acting ability, once claiming that "I only got by on looks and energy." Paul Leonard Newman was born on 26 Jan 1925 in the Shaker Heights suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Arthur, who ran a successful sports goods store, was Jewish while his mother Theresa came from a Slovakian Catholic family. He joined the US Navy, hoping to become a pilot but failed the physical examination when it was discovered he was colour blind. Instead he trained as a radio operator and rear gunner, spending most of his military service flying in torpedo bombers over the Pacific. He made his Broadway debut in 1953 in a production of William Inge's play Picnic which ran for nearly 500 performances. His film debut, a year later, came in The Silver Chalice, a biblical epic,which Newman allegedly described as "the worst motion picture of the 1950s". He had one of the most enduring marriages in showbusiness