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Paul Newman died in September 2008 at the age of 83, having written his latest will a mere five months earlier.
Newman was born in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Shaker Heights, where he ran the family’s sporting-goods business, married his first wife, Jackie, and had his first child, Scott, in 1950.
He moved to Connecticut, studied drama at Yale, and had his first success on the stage, in New York. Soon he was in movies and, almost overnight, became a star.
His many memorable films include The Hustler, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Prize, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He won the Oscar for acting for The Color of Money (1986), his only success in nine nominations. The movie Rachel Rachel, which he directed, was nominated for Best Film.
Car racing was his great passion, and he was also a major philanthropist, mainly through his food company Newman's Own, which he co-founded with writer AE Hotchner. The company's profits went to charities, including his The Hole in the Wall, for children with cancer.
Although a millionaire several times over, Newman's net estate was about $400,000. He was survived by his wife of 50 years, actress Joanne Woodward, and their three children. He was also survived by two children from his first wife, two grandsons and an older brother. Scott - his first child, his only son - died of a drug overdose in 1978.
Newman's will runs to 15 double-spaced typed pages plus a three-page codicil written a few months later. He initialled the bottom of each page. He identifies himself as Paul Newman, also known as Paul L Newman. His wife is Joanne Woodward Newman, also known as Joanne Woodward. He also wrote a codicil.
In his will, Newman immediately cuts to the chase. After revoking previous wills, he directs his executors to sell "any airplane and all race cars which I own at the time of my death," with the proceeds going into the residue. He left his Oscars and other theatrical awards to his charity, Newman's Own Foundation.
Newman's will is available online: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8413768/20081125NEWMAN
"Readers may have been surprised to learn that Paul Newman replaced Oprah Winfrey as the most generous celebrity of 2008. Oprah had occupied the number one spot by a wide margin for the first two years of the list. Before his death, Newman made a donation of nearly $21 million to his self-named Newman's Own Foundation."
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