| Paul Newman: The Man Behind the Baby Blues His Secret Life Exposed by Darwin Porter Newman: An American Icon like you've never seen him before. Hardcover. $26.95. 521 pages, with lots of B&W photos ISNB 978-0-9786465-1-6 Available in bookstores everywhere in late August, 2009. |
by power, fame, and the American experience, Darwin Porter began observing the private lives of movie stars as a teenager when his mother worked for celebrities who included Sophie Tucker, Veronica Lake, and Linda Darnell. He’s been conducting interviews ever since, factoring the information into a half-dozen other critically acclaimed celebrity biographies. Their subject matter has included previously unknown aspects of the lives of Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Michael Jackson, Howard Hughes, and Merv Griffin. Technically, Darwin lives in a Victorian house in Staten Island, a borough of New York City, but as a frequent traveler associated with The Frommer Guides, he’s virtually never at home. |
A Gaggle of Lovers, Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Admirers recall Newman's tempestuous early decades.
hearts of American moviegoers lasted for more than half a century. Porter began gathering insider information on Paul Newman back in 1959, following an introduction by Tennessee Williams, and then continued collecting stories about Hud, Cool Hand Luke, and Butch Cassidy until the day Newman died. As revealed within the pages of this book, the private Newman was remarkably different from the public face he revealed to the world. The star summed up his life like this: "Whenever I do something good, right away, I've got to do something bad, so I know that I'm not going to pieces." He was filled with contradictions: Model husband. Errant husband. Ideal dad. Bad father. Macho heterosexual. Closeted bisexual. Loyal companion. Heartbreaking, two-timing lover. Revealed for the first time are Newman's heretofore suppressed and clandestine relationships with Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Gore Vidal, James Dean, Jacqueline Kennedy, Tennessee Williams, Steve McQueen, Judy Garland, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Geraldine Page, Montgomery Clift, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, Lee Remick, Sal Mineo, Lana Turner, Susan Strasberg, Anthony Perkins, and Audrey Hepburn. From pitfall to pinnacle, Porter exposes for the first time all those dark secrets, including why his son, Scott, really committed suicide after that fateful night he spent with his father. Also brought under the spotlight is the long-enduring marriage of the Oscar-winning superstar twosome, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Was this marriage as idyllic as it was portrayed? Or was it a sham that was deliberately conceived to deceive the public? At the peak of Newman's popularity and male beauty, a survey revealed that 46% of American women would have preferred him as a bed partner to any other male. Paul Newman, The Man Behind the Baby Blues provides one boudoir account after another as to what it was like to actually sleep with Paul Newman. |
 | |  | |  | |  |
| Click Here for access to a brief YOUTUBE description of this title. Music by Rachmaninoff videography by Piotr Kajstura Narration by Danforth Prince |
| The author dedicates this book to the sources who contributed to its compilation: Janice Rule Eartha Kitt Sal Mineo Anthony Perkins Robert Francis Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo William Inge James Leo Herlihy Lana Turner Maila Nurmi Shelley Winters Geraldine Page and countless others. GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN |
| what Confidential did to Tab Hunter. Whenever Joanne Woodward came up, Newman became all macho. He was sad in many ways. Having to pretend to be what he wasn't. But most of us Hollywood hunks in the 1950s had to do that." Matinee heartthrob Jeffrey Hunter "Hell, guy, you just can't seem to realize what's happening. You're the new kid on the block. Every gay and every horny broad in Hollywood wants to go to bed with Paul Newman. You're doing pretty well for a married man. I've always had this belief that if a married man played it right, he can have more fun than single blokes." Rod Steiger "Paul Newman has the potential of becoming a magnificent actor if he ever gets through this complex he has about playing boy-macho." Joan Crawford "Even Newman's baby blues couldn't lure the women away from those TV boxes. We should have stripped him down more and shot the film with him half-naked. That day will come for the movies, I predict.' Robert Wise, lamenting the failure of the Paul Newman film he directed, Until They Sail "Mr Newman! Mr. Newman! Would you like to see my body?" Sandra Dee, at 14 "I never got around to screwing Paul Newman, although I certainly intended to. He had as much sex in the 50s as I did, but whereas he got away with it, I didn't" Rock Hudson "Newman is just as much of a narcissist as Gore Vidal, but he disguises it completely, and like the most skilled of actors, puts up a mask to confuse the world. I suspect he will go far in an industry that is all about illusion. There is no self-awareness in this handsome young man at all. He is an obvious homosexual, but does not dare admit that to himself. He's a selfish rogue while pretending to be benevolent, supporting all the right causes. He has a facile charm but no depth. In spite of the hot sun out here, he already knows that California is a cold, harsh land. He does not want it to hurt him. So what will he do? What must he do? He will inflict emotional pain on others, therefore avoiding the paoin of having the blows strike him first. I predict Newman will turn into a cardboard figure. There will be no reality to him. He can't be real. A tragedy, really. But this is, after all, Lotusland." Anais Nin |
| What his contemporaries were saying about Newman before he settled down and became respectable: |
"Paul Newman had just as many on-location affairs as the rest of us, and he was just
as bisexual as I was. But whereas I was always getting caught with my pants down,
he managed to do it in the dark with not a paparazzo in sight. He might have bedded
Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor the night before, but he always managed to show
up for breakfast with Joanne Woodward, with those baby blues looking as innocent
as a Botticelli angel. He never fooled me. It takes an alleycat to know another one. Did
I ever tell you what really happened between Newman and me? If that doesn't grab
you, what about what went on between James Dean and Newman? Let me tell you
about this so-called model husband if you want to look behind those famous peepers."
(AS QUOTED BY MARLON BRANDO)
as bisexual as I was. But whereas I was always getting caught with my pants down,
he managed to do it in the dark with not a paparazzo in sight. He might have bedded
Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor the night before, but he always managed to show
up for breakfast with Joanne Woodward, with those baby blues looking as innocent
as a Botticelli angel. He never fooled me. It takes an alleycat to know another one. Did
I ever tell you what really happened between Newman and me? If that doesn't grab
you, what about what went on between James Dean and Newman? Let me tell you
about this so-called model husband if you want to look behind those famous peepers."
(AS QUOTED BY MARLON BRANDO)
| The Adventures of a Young Man on Broadway and in Hollywood |