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| Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward |
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| Footprinting Ceremony held on Saturday, May 25, 1963 |
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| For the second time in the Chinese Theatre's history, a couple of movie stars, married to one another, were imprinted at the same time on the same block. Paul Newman's film Hud for Paramount had opened the day before, and so Newman and his wife of five years, Joanne Woodward, were asked to make their imprints. |
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| Paul Newman. Date unknown. |
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| Paul Newman |
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Born: Paul Leonard Newman, January 26, 1925, in Shaker Heights, Ohio
Age at the time of the ceremony: 38
Died: September 26, 2008, in Westport, Connecticut, age 83
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Paul Newman quickly became one of Hollywood's great leading men, allowing us to see his remarkable gift across a very long career.
Both Newman's parents were immigrants; they owned a sporting goods store in Cleveland Ohio. Paul showed an interest in the theatre from the age of seven, appearing in a school production of Robin Hood. While attending Ohio University, Newman dropped out to serve in the US Navy during World War II, where he became a radioman, and trained pilots to do aircraft carrier landings. Newman's plane was grounded during the Battle of Okinawa, which saved his life.
After the war, Newman completed his college education at Kenyon College in 1949. During summers, Newman was with the Woodstock Players in Illinois, then later attended Yale University in their theatre depeartment, before leaving to train at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio in 1951. Newman made his broadway debut in William Inge's Picnic for 447 performances in the 1953-54 season (Joanne Woodward was an understudy).
Newman was initially reluctant to "go Hollywood," but was screen tested to play James Dean's brother in East of Eden. Instead, he made his screen debut in The Silver Chalice, which he later told people was terrible. Smarting perhaps from the experience, he returned to Broadway to star as the (very) bad guy opposite Karl Malden in The Desparate Hours for 212 perfs in 1955.
Newman's first quality role in films was in the boxing picture Somebody Up There Likes Me (released in July 1956), then he co-starred with Joanne Woodward in The Long, Hot Summer (released in April 1958). The two would marry in January of that year. Newman's first smash hit came with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (released in September 1958).
Now assured of his starring status, Newman returned yet again to the Broadway stage, working with director Elia Kazan on Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Geraldine Page for 375 perfs in the 1959-1960 season. They would both star in the film version, released in March 1962).
After this, Newman kept himself very busy: Exodus (released in December 1960), The Hustler (released in September 1961), and Hud (which played the Chinese in May 1963). These films made Newman a household name.
Newman chose to appear in some films which became key films of their times. Only some of them are: Harper (released in February 1966), Torn Curtain (released in July 1966), Cool Hand Luke (released in November 1967), Winning (released in May 1969), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (which played the Chinese in October 1969), WUSA (which played the Chinese in November 1970), The Sting (released in December 1973), The Towering Inferno (released in December 1974), Slap Shot (which played the Chinese in February 1977), Absence of Malice (released in December 1981), The Verdict (released in December 1982), The Color of Money (released in October 1986), Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (released in November 1990), and Nobody's Fool (released in January 1995)
In 2003, Newman returned to Broadway to star in a revival of Thorton Wilder's Our Town, and bagged a Tony Award in the process. It became a PBS special, airing in May 2003. His last film appearance was as a supporting player in Road to Perdition (released in July 2002). He undertook a role in the HBO mini-series Empire Falls in 2005, and did a voice for a character in the Cars films, beginning in 2006. He retired from acting in 2007 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Newman tried his considerable hand at directing: Rachel, Rachel (released in August
1968), Sometimes a Great Notion (released in December 1970), The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon-Marigolds (released in December 1972) and The Glass Menagerie (released in September 1987).
Newman died of lung cancer in September 2008 at the age of
83.
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| Joanne Woodward, Unknown date. |
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| Joanne Woodward |
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Born: Joanne Gignillat Trimmer, February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia
Age at the time of the ceremony: 33
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The luminous and etherial Joanne Woodward was always recognized as a great talent. With her distinct Sountern air, she captivated audiences, regardless of who she was playing.
Born to a book publishing executive father and a movie-loving mother, young Joanne was taken to the premiere of Gone with the Wind in December 1939, sitting in Lawrence Olivier's lap at the time. Growing up in Marietta, she graduated high school in South Carolina after her parents divorced. Having participated in high school theatre, she became a theatre major at Louisiana State University. After graduation, she headed for New York City.
Woodward rattled about the television studios in NYC until she became the understudy for the Broadway premiere of William Inge's Picnic in the 1953-54 season. Paul Newman had the lead role.
She made her film debut in the western Count Three and Pray (released in October 1955), with Van Heflin. She played an heiress being wooed by Robert Wagner in A Kiss Before Dying (released in June 1956), which attracted the attention of director Nunnally Johnson, who cast her in the lead of his film The Three Faces of Eve (released in September 1957); Woodward won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.
Now married to Paul Newman, they would star together in The Long, Hot Summer (released in April 1958). She starred in director Martin Ritt's film of The Sound and the Fury (released in March 1959), then took a role in Tennessee Williams' The Fugitive Kind (which played the Chinese in May 1960).
After her Chinese Theatre Forecourt ceremony, Woodward had an affair with Richard Beymer in The Stripper (released in June 1963), and starred with husband Paul in a comedy where she is mistaken for a hooker in A New Kind of Love (released in October 1963), and starred with Henry Fonda in the comic western A Big Hand for the Little Lady (released in May 1966), and played Sean Connery's wife in A Fine Madness (released in June 1966).
With Paul Newman directing her, Rachel, Rachel (released in August 1968), is perhaps Woodward's most compelling performance, playing a small-town schoolteacher. After starring in Newman's race-car picture Winning (released in May 1969), she followed that up by co-starring with him again in the radio station drama WUSA (which played the Chinese in November 1970).
She got to play "Dr. Watson" with George C. Scott in They Might Be Giants (released in June 1971), and etched an indellible portrait of a troubled mother in The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (released in December 1972), and played a New York socialite undergoing a crisis in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (released in October 1973).
Woodward starred with Sally Feild in the television mini-series Sybil, aired over NBC in November 1976. She then starred in a telvision movie of Come Back, Little Sheba, aired in Britain over ITV in Janauary 1978), co-starring with Lawrence Olivier; she mentioned the Gone with the Wind incident, and Olivier remembered it perfectly well.
Newman directed her again in The Shadow Box, aired over ABC in December 1980. Woodward wrote and directed Come Along with Me, which aired over PBS in February 1982, then re-grouped with director Newman for The Glass Menagerie (released in September 1987). She starred along with Newman as Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (released in November 1990), for Merchant/Ivory.
Woodward narrated Martin Scorsese's film of The Age of Innocence (released in October 1993), played Tom Hanks' mother in Philadelphia (released in December 1993), and starred with James Garner in Breathing Lessons, aired over CBS in February 1994. She took a small role in the HBO mini-series Empire Falls, airing in May 2005.
Since then, Woodward has provided the voice for several films and documentaries, such as Change in the Wind (released in August 2010), Gayby (released in March 2012), and Lucky Them (released in September 2013). She continues to live in Westport Connecticut. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Paul Newman / Joanne Woodward Forecourt block. Executed by John Tartaglia, Saturday, April 30, 1927. 56 x 59 inches overall. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Paul Newman / Joanne Woodward Forecourt ceremony, Saturday, May 25, 1963. Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman share a laugh after placing their handprints in the cement. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Paul Newman / Joanne Woodward Forecourt ceremony, Saturday, May 25, 1963. Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman have begun their ordeal by cement. |
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