THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN : A MEMOIR

The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an 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, his greatest roles, acting, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward, his innermost fears and passions and joys. With thoughts/comments throughout from Joanne Woodward, Tom Cruise and many others. As seen in The Last Movie Stars documentary. Eye-popping...Astonishing naked honesty TelegraphA stunning memoir...stuns with brutal honesty...smolders with introspection Daily MailNewman at his best...Twice the book one could have dared to hope for, a narrative that is astute, introspective and surprisingly graceful Wall Street JournalIn 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newmans family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actors 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. Newmans 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. Newmans often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Brando and Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his