Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Wednesday that the book, currently untitled, will include Newman’s thoughts on “acting, directing, boyhood, family, fame, Hollywood, Broadway, love, his first marriage, his 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward, drinking, politics, racing, his ultimate ride to stardom, and aging gracefully.”
“Through Newman’s voice, and the voices of others, the book captures the paradoxical and unstoppable rise of a star who wrestled with doubts, believing he was inferior to Marlon Brando and James Dean, and yet transcended his “hunk” status to become an Oscar-winning actor, champion race car driver, social activist, and entrepreneur whose philanthropy has generated nearly a billion dollars for charitable causes,” according to Knopf.
The actor who passed away in 2008, had begun penning his memoir in the early 1980s. Screenwriter Stewart Stern was helping co-write and gathered material from Newman’s friends and co-workers. The manuscript was recently located in the home Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward shared in Connecticut where Woodward still resides.
