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The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. It was directed by John Guillermin, with Allen himself directing the action sequences.

A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros. (this was the first film to be a joint venture from two major Hollywood studios), it was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from a pair of novels, The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson.

The film was a critical success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and was the highest grossing film released in 1974. The film also features Jennifer Jones's final screen appearance.

Plot[link]

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2012)

Architect Doug Roberts returns to San Francisco for the dedication of the Glass Tower, which he designed for owner James Duncan. At 138 stories (1,800 ft), it is the world's tallest building.

During a routine systems check before the ceremonies, an electrical short in the upper floors starts a small fire in a storage room on the 81st floor, which goes undetected. Roberts confronts the building's electrical engineer, Duncan's son-in-law Roger Simmons, accusing him of cutting corners and taking a kickback. Simmons insists the building is up to standards, but Roberts knows the standards are not enough and demands to see the electrical specifications and wiring diagrams.

During the dedication ceremony, with several dignitaries in attendance, public relations chief Dan Bigelow turns on the tower's exterior lights to impress them and the other 294 guests arriving for a party in the Promenade Room on the 135th floor. The lighting overloads the system and Roberts orders it shut off. The building's security guards see smoke from the fire on the 81st floor and summon the San Francisco Fire Department. Roberts and engineer Will Giddings head to the 81st floor. Giddings pushes a security guard to prevent him from opening the door to the burning room shortly before it explodes, severely burning himself. Roberts tells Duncan of the fire, who insists that the party continue, believing a fire on the 81st floor will not affect the party. Firemen begin fighting the fast-growing blaze unbeknownst to the party guests, using Roberts' office on the 79th floor as a command post and the lobby as a mass casualty and staging area. SFFD 5th Battalion Chief Michael O'Hallorhan takes charge and forces Duncan to evacuate the party guests. Everyone is directed to the express elevators. Party guest and building resident Lisolette Mueller, who was romanced at the party by con man Harlee Claiborne, is one of the first to leave. She heads to the 87th floor to check on a family with two children she babysits and their deaf mother. Simmons admits to Duncan that he changed Roberts' electrical specifications, but at Duncan's insistence to stay under budget. Simmons asks Duncan how he saved the rest of the money in the building budget.

Duncan is aided by Senator Parker and Mayor Ramsey in the evacuation. The fire then breaks through to the main elevator bay, rendering the express elevators unsafe. Duncan attempts to divert guests to the scenic elevators as an alternate escape route. However a panicked group of guests manage to get into one anyway. On the way down, it stops and opens directly into the fire the 81st floor, killing the occupants. The elevator then returns to the Promenade Room where the doors open and one man runs out engulfed in flames in view of the horrified guests. Claiborne smothers the fatally-burned man with his tuxedo jacket, but it is too late. Bigelow and his secretary/mistress Lorrie are trapped in his office by a second fire on the 65th floor and killed . Security Chief Harry Jernigan and Roberts are then informed from the building's security station that Lisolette has been seen on a security monitor trying to get into the apartment on 87; the two men head up to assist. Jernigan takes the mother down to safety. Roberts and Mueller save the two children, but are halted after part of the stairwell explodes due to a ruptured gas line. They head up to the Promenade Room via a service elevator, but upon their arrival the stairwell door is sealed by spilled cement. Roberts escapes through a pipe shaft to alert security. Two firemen rescue Lisolette and the children by blowing open the door with C-4. Suppression by the fire department becomes nearly impossible as the building loses all electrical power, halting an elevator that O'Hallorhan and his men are on, forcing them to rappel down the shaft.

A rooftop helicopter rescue attempt results in further disaster when two women rush the aircraft, causing it to crash and explode due to the heavy winds, setting the roof ablaze. Naval Rescue teams attach a breeches buoy to the adjacent (fictional) 102-story Peerless Building and rescue a number of guests, including Duncan's daughter and Simmons' wife Patty. Roberts activates a gravity brake on the scenic elevator, enabling it to coast down to the lobby. Twelve people, including Roberts' girlfriend Susan, Mueller and the children, together with a supervising fireman and others enter the elevator. As it descends, an explosion rips the elevator off its track at the 110th floor, leaving it hanging by a cable. Mueller falls to her death before the others are saved by a helicopter rescue by O'Hallorhan. After all the women are evacuated in the breeches buoy, Simmons attempts to be the first man out. Duncan punches him in the gut, saying that everyone drew numbers and will all go when it's their turn, but that he will be the last man to leave, along with Simmons. However, as the fire reaches the Promenade Room, the remaining guests panic. Simmons forces his way onto the breeches buoy. Senator Parker tries to stop Simmons from getting on the buoy as it's not his turn. During the struggle, the buoy is taken out the window because of the combined weight of Senator Parker, Simmons, and two other men. Parker and another guest are pushed off of the buoy by Simmons to their deaths, but a few seconds later, an explosion destroys the rope holding the buoy, sending Simmons and the one other remaining guest still holding onto the buoy plummeting to their deaths.

A desperate plan is hatched by the top SFFD Fire Chiefs to explode the million-gallon water tanks at the top of the building above the remaining people in the Promenade Room to try and extinguish the fire raging below. A reluctant O'Hallorhan meets with Roberts and they set plastic C-4 to the six water tanks and the floors on the 138th floor, then return down to the Promenade Room. The remaining guests are ordered to tie themselves to heavy objects. O'Hallorhan, Roberts, Duncan, Claiborne and most of the party-goers survive as the tanks are blown, sending thousands of gallons of water through the ceiling and throughout the building, extinguishing the flames. The torrent sweeps away those not securely tied down, including Mayor Ramsey.

On the ground, Claiborne finds out through Jernigan that Mueller did not survive and is heartbroken, but is given her pet cat. Duncan consoles Patty over Simmons' death. Roberts says to Susan that he does not know what will become of the building, but perhaps it should be left alone as "a kind of shrine to all the bullshit in the world". O'Hallorhan says to Roberts that they were lucky tonight and that it could be much worse when fire safety is not taken into account. Roberts agrees to consult with O'Hallorhan in the near future. The fire chief drives away, exhausted.

Cast[link]

• Steve McQueen as Michael O’Hallorhan, San Francisco Fire Department 5th Battalion Chief
• Paul Newman as Doug Roberts, the Architect
• William Holden as James Duncan, the Builder
• Faye Dunaway as Susan Franklin
• Fred Astaire as Harlee Claiborne, the Con-Man
• Susan Blakely as Patty Duncan Simmons
• Richard Chamberlain as Roger Simmons, the Electrical Engineer
• Jennifer Jones as Lisolette Mueller
• O.J. Simpson as Harry Jernigan, the Chief Security Officer
• Robert Vaughn as U.S. Senator Gary Parker
• Robert Wagner as Dan Bigelow, the Public Relations Chief
• Susan Flannery as Lorrie
• Sheila Matthews as Paula Ramsay
• Norman Burton as Will Giddings, Electrical Engineer
• Jack Collins as Mayor Robert Ramsay
• Don Gordon as Kappy, SFFD Truck Co. # 15 Fire Captain
• Felton Perry as Scott, SFFD Engine Co. # 4 Fireman
• Gregory Sierra as Carlos, the Bartender
• Ernie Orsatti as Mark Powers, SFFD Engine Co. # 4 Fireman
• Dabney Coleman as SFFD Deputy Chief # 1

Small parts played by actors who appeared in The Poseidon Adventure, which Irwin Allen also produced, include John Crawford, Erik Nelson, Elizabeth Rogers, Ernie Orsatti, and Sheila Matthews. The acrophobic fireman who was afraid to rappel down the elevator shaft was played by Paul Newman's son, Scott. Maureen McGovern was the woman singing at the party.

McQueen and Newman[link]

McQueen, Newman, and William Holden all wanted top billing. Holden was refused, no longer in the league of McQueen and Newman. To provide dual top billing, the credits were arranged diagonally, with McQueen lower left and Newman upper right. Thus, each appeared to have "first" billing depending on whether the credit was read left-to-right or top-to-bottom.^[2] McQueen is mentioned first in the film's trailers. In the cast list rolling from top to bottom at the end of the film, McQueen and Newman's names were arranged diagonally as at the beginning. As a consequence Newman's name is fully visible first here.

In the 2010 biography by AE Hotchner, titled Paul and Me, reference is made to the commotion caused by Steve McQueen due to his apparent displeasure at having a lesser part. McQueen discovered that Paul Newman had twelve more lines than he did, something that was soon changed. According to the book, Newman's salary from the movie totalled $12 million.

Music[link]

The score was composed and conducted by John Williams, with orchestrations by Herbert W. Spencer and Al Woodbury. It was recorded at the 20th Century Fox scoring stage on 31 October and 4, 7 and 11 November 1974. The original recording engineer was Ted Keep.

Source music in portions of the film includes instrumental versions of "Again" by Lionel Newman and Dorcas Cochran, "You Make Me Feel So Young" by Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon, and "The More I See You" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon.^[3]

A snippet of a cue from Williams’ score to Cinderella Liberty titled 'Maggie Shoots Pool' is heard in a scene when William Holden's character converses on the phone with Paul Newman's character. It is not the recording on the soundtrack album but a newer arrangement recorded for "The Towering Inferno". An extended version is heard ostensibly as source music in a deleted theatrical scene sometimes shown as part of a longer scene from the TV broadcast version.

One of the most sought-after unreleased music cues from the film is the one where Williams provides low-key lounge music during a party prior to the announcement of a fire. O’Halloran orders Duncan to evacuate the party; the music becomes louder as Lisolette and Harlee are seen dancing and Duncan lectures son-in-law Roger. Titled "The Promenade Room" on the conductor's cue sheet, the track features a ragged ending as Duncan asks the house band to stop playing. Because of this Film Score Monthly could not add this cue to the expanded soundtrack album.

The Academy Award-winning song "We May Never Love Like This Again" was composed by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschorn and performed by Maureen McGovern who appears in a cameo as a lounge singer and on the soundtrack album of the score which features the film recording plus the commercially released single version. Additionally, the theme tune is interpolated into the film's underscore by John Williams. The song's writers collaborated on 'The Morning After' from The Poseidon Adventure which was also sung by McGovern, although hers was not the vocal in that film. Reportedly, Fred Astaire campaigned to Producer Irwin Allen to write a song for "The Towering Inferno" but ultimately his effort was deemed too old fashioned and thus dismissed.

The first release of portions of the score from "The Towering Inferno" was on Warner Brothers Records early in 1975 (Catalog No. BS-2840)

1. "Main Title" (5:00)
2. "An Architect's Dream" (3:28)
3. "Lisolette And Harlee" (2:34)
4. "Something For Susan" (2:42)
5. "Trapped Lovers" (4:28)
6. "We May Never Love Like This Again" – Kasha/Hirschhorn, performed by Maureen McGovern (2:11)
7. "Susan And Doug" (2:30)
8. "The Helicopter Explosion" (2:50)
9. "Planting The Charges – And Finale" (10:17)

A near-complete release came on the Film Score Monthly label (FSM) on 1 April 2001 and was produced by Lukas Kendall and Nick Redman. FSM's was an almost completely expanded version remixed from album masters at Warner Bros. archives and the multi-track 35mm magnetic film stems at 20th Century Fox. Placed into chronological order and restoring action cues, it became one of the company's biggest sellers; only 3000 copies were pressed and it is now out of print.

Reports that this soundtrack and that of the movie "Earthquake" (also composed by Williams) borrowed cues from each other are not accurate. The version of 'Main Title' on the FSM disc is the film version. It differs from the original soundtrack album version. There is a different balance of instruments in two spots, and in particular the snare drum is more prominent than the album version which also feaures additional cymbal work. Although the album was not a re-recording, the original LP tracks were recorded during the same sessions and several cues were combined. The film version sound was reportedly better than the quarter-inch WB two-track album master. Although some minor incidental cues were lost, some sonically 'damaged' cues – so called due to a deterioration of the surviving audio elements – are placed at the end of the disc's program time following the track "An Architect's Dream" which is used over the end credits sequence.^[4]

1. "Main Title" (5:01)
2. "Something For Susan" (2:42)
3. "Lisolette and Harlee" (2:35)
4. "The Flame Ignites" (1:01)
5. "More For Susan" (1:55)
6. "Harlee Dressing" (1:37)
7. "Let There Be Light" (:37)
8. "Alone At Last" (:51)
9. "We May Never Love Like This Again (Film Version)" – Maureen McGovern (2:04)
10. "The First Victims" (3:24)
11. "Not A Cigarette" (1:18)
12. "Trapped Lovers" (4:44)
13. "Doug's Fall/Piggy Back Ride" (2:18)
14. "Lisolette's Descent" (3:07)
15. "Down The Pipes/The Door Opens" (2:59)
16. "Couples" (3:38)
17. "Short Goodbyes" (2:26)
18. "Helicopter Rescue" (3:07)
19. "Passing The Word" (1:12)
20. "Planting The Charges" (9:04)
21. "Finale" (3:57)
22. "An Architect's Dream" (3:28)
23. "We May Never Love Like This Again (Album Version)" – Maureen McGovern (2:13)
24. "The Morning After (Instrumental)" (2:07)
25. "Susan And Doug (Album Track)" (2:33)
26. "Departmental Pride and The Cat (Damaged)" (2:34)
27. "Helicopter Explosion (Damaged)" (2:34)
28. "Waking Up (Damaged)" (2:39)

Reaction[link]

Critical reception[link]

The Towering Inferno met with positive reviews from critics, garnering an 77% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.^[5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film as "the best of the mid-1970s wave of disaster films".^[6]

Awards[link]

Award wins

The film won three Academy Awards,^[7] two BAFTAs and two Golden Globes.^[8]

• Academy Award for Best Cinematography – (Fred J. Koenekamp & Joseph F. Biroc)
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – (Fred Astaire)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – (Fred Astaire)
• Golden Globe Award for Most Promising newcomer – Female – (Susan Flannery)
• Academy Award for Film Editing – (Carl Kress & Harold F. Kress)
• BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – (John Williams)
• Academy Award for Best Song – (Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn) for the song "We May Never Love Like This Again"

Award nominations

• Academy Award for Best Picture
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – (Fred Astaire)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – (Jennifer Jones)
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction – (William J. Creber, Ward Preston, Raphael Bretton)
• Academy Award for Original Music Score – (John Williams)
• Academy Award for Best Sound – (Theodore Soderberg, Herman Lewis)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song – (Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn) for the song "We May Never Love Like This Again"

Legacy[link]

American Film Institute lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated^[9]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • "We May Never Love Like This Again" – Nominated^[10]

See also[link]

• Skyscrapers in film
• List of firefighting films
• San Francisco Fire Department

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Towering Inferno

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Towering Inferno

• The Towering Inferno at the Internet Movie Database
• The Towering Inferno at AllRovi
• The Towering Inferno Website
• DVD Review: The Towering Inferno (Special Edition) at The-Trades.com
• Irwin Allen News Network (The Irwin Allen News Network's Towering Inferno page)
• Various releases of music from the film, on LP and cd
• Towering Inferno Memorabilia Archive (photos, storyboards, tower/set blueprints, and more)

Paul Newman
Circa 1950s
Born	Paul Leonard Newman (1925-01-26)January 26, 1925 Shaker Heights, Ohio
Died	September 26, 2008(2008-09-26) (aged 83) Westport, Connecticut
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Residence	Westport, Connecticut
Education	Shaker Heights High School
Alma mater	Kenyon College (B.A.), Ohio University
Occupation	Actor, director, entrepreneur
Years active	1951-2008
Known for	Founder of Newman's Own
Home town	Shaker Heights, Ohio
Political party	Democrat
Spouse	Jackie Witte (1949-1958; divorced) Joanne Woodward (1958-2008; his death)
Children	Scott Newman (1950–1978) Shauna Newman (b.1951) Jack Newman (b.1953) Nell Newman (b.1959) Melanie Newman (b.1960) Melissa Newman (b.1961)
Awards	Academy Award in 1986 Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Golden Globe Award BAFTA Award Screen Actors Guild Award Cannes Film Festival Award Emmy Award

Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008)^[1] was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver, auto racing team owner, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations,^[2] three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.

Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.^[3] As of July 2011, these donations exceeded $300 million.^[3]

Early life[link]

Newman was born in Shaker Heights (a suburb of Cleveland). He was the son of Theresa (née Fetzer or Fetsko; Slovak: Terézia Fecková)^[4][5] and Arthur Sigmund Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store.^[6][7][8] His father was Jewish (Paul's paternal grandparents, Simon Newman and Hannah Cohn, were immigrants from Hungary and Poland).^[7][9] His mother, who practiced Christian Science, was born to a Slovak Roman Catholic family at Humenné, Ptičie (formerly Pticsie) in the former Kingdom of Hungary, Austria–Hungary (now Humenné in Slovakia).^[5][10] Newman had no religion as an adult, but described himself as a Jew, stating that "it's more of a challenge".^[11] Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his brother, Arthur, who later became a producer and production manager.^[12]

Newman showed an early interest in the theater, which his mother encouraged. At the age of seven, he made his acting debut, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. Graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.^[12]

Military service[link]

Navy portrait of Newman

Newman served in the United States Navy in World War II in the Pacific theater.^[12] Newman enrolled in the Navy V-12 program at Ohio University, hoping to be accepted for pilot training, but was dropped when it was discovered he was color blind.^[12][13] He was sent instead to boot camp and then received further training as a radioman and gunner. Qualifying as a rear-seat radioman and gunner in torpedo bombers, in 1944, Aviation Radioman Third Class Newman was sent to Barber's Point, Hawaii. He was subsequently assigned to Pacific-based replacement torpedo squadrons (VT-98, VT-99, and VT-100). These torpedo squadrons were responsible primarily for training replacement pilots and combat air crewmen, placing particular importance on carrier landings.^[13]

He later flew from aircraft carriers as a turret gunner in an Avenger torpedo bomber. As a radioman-gunner, he served aboard the USS Bunker Hill during the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. He was ordered to the ship with a draft of replacements shortly before the Okinawa campaign, but his life was spared because he was held back after his pilot developed an ear infection. The men who remained in his detail were killed in action.^[14]

After the war, he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Speech at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio in 1949.^[12][15] Newman later attended the Yale School of Drama for one year before moving to New York City to study under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.^[12]

Oscar Levant wrote that Newman initially was hesitant to leave New York for Hollywood: "Too close to the cake," he reported him saying, "Also, no place to study."^[16]

Career[link]

Early work and mainstream success[link]

Newman arrived in New York City in 1951 with his first wife Jackie Witte, taking up residence in the St. George section of Staten Island.^[17] He made his Broadway theater debut in the original production of William Inge's Picnic with Kim Stanley in 1953 and appeared in the original Broadway production of The Desperate Hours in 1955. In 1959, he was in the original Broadway production of Sweet Bird of Youth with Geraldine Page and three years later starred with Page in the film version.

During this time Newman started acting in television. He had his first credited TV or film appearance with a small but notable part in a 1952 episode of the science fiction TV series Tales of Tomorrow entitled "Ice from Space".^[18] In the mid-1950s, he appeared twice on CBS's Appointment with Adventure anthology series.

In February 1954, Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean, directed by Gjon Mili, for East of Eden (1955). Newman was testing for the role of Aron Trask, Dean for the role of Aron's fraternal twin brother Cal. Dean won his part, but Newman lost out to Richard Davalos. In the same year, Newman co-starred with Eva Marie Saint and Frank Sinatra in a live —and color —television broadcast of Our Town, a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's stage play. Newman was a last-minute replacement for James Dean.^[19] In 2003, Newman acted in a remake of Our Town, this time in the role of the stage manager.

His first movie for Hollywood was The Silver Chalice (1954). The film was a box office failure and the actor would later acknowledge his disdain for it.^[20] In 1956, Newman garnered much attention and acclaim with Somebody Up There Likes Me as boxer Rocky Graziano. By 1958, he was one of the hottest new stars in Hollywood. Later that year, he starred in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), opposite Elizabeth Taylor. The film was a box office smash and Newman garnered his first Academy Award nomination. Also in 1958, Newman starred in The Long, Hot Summer with Joanne Woodward, whom he met on the set. He won best actor at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival for this film.

Major films[link]

Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from 1950s cinema to that of the 1960s and 1970s. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation. Newman starred in Exodus (1960), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Hombre (1967), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977), and The Verdict (1982). He teamed with fellow actor Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).

He appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). They both also starred in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.

in The Hustler with Piper Laurie

In addition to starring in and directing Harry & Son, Newman also directed four feature films (in which he did not act) starring Woodward. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), based on Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box (1980), and a screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1987).

Twenty-five years after The Hustler, Newman reprised his role of "Fast" Eddie Felson in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Color of Money (1986), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He told a television interviewer that winning an Oscar at the age of 62 deprived him of his fantasy of formally being presented with it in extreme old age.^{[citation needed]}

Last works[link]

In 2003, he appeared in a Broadway revival of Wilder's Our Town, receiving his first Tony Award nomination for his performance. PBS and the cable network Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Newman was nominated for an Emmy Award^[21] for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.

His last screen appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, although he continued to provide voice work for films.

In 2005 at age 80, Newman was profiled alongside Robert Redford as part of the Sundance Channel's TV series Iconoclasts.^[22]

In 2006, in keeping with his strong interest in car racing, he provided the voice of Doc Hudson, a retired anthropomorphic race car in Disney/Pixar's Cars - this was his final performance for a major feature film.

Similarly, he served as narrator for the 2007 film Dale, about the life of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, which turned out to be Newman's final film performance in any form. Newman also provided the narration for the film documentary The Meerkats, which was released in 2008.

Retirement from acting[link]

Newman announced that he would entirely retire from acting on May 25, 2007. He stated that he did not feel he could continue acting at the level he wanted to. "You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."^[23]

Philanthropy[link]

Newman in 2007

With writer A. E. Hotchner, Newman founded Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982. The brand started with salad dressing, and has expanded to include pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, salsa, and wine, among other things. Newman established a policy that all proceeds, after taxes, would be donated to charity. As of 2010, the franchise has donated in excess of $300 million.^[3] He co-wrote a memoir about the subject with Hotchner, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Among other awards, Newman's Own co-sponsors the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, a $25,000 reward designed to recognize those who protect the First Amendment as it applies to the written word.^[24]

One beneficiary of his philanthropy is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children, which is located in Ashford, Connecticut. Newman co-founded the camp in 1988; it was named after the gang in his film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Newman's college fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, adopted Hole in the Wall as their "national philanthropy" in 1995. One camp has expanded to become several Hole in the Wall Camps in the U.S., Ireland, France, and Israel. The camps serve 13,000 children every year, free of charge.^[3]

In June 1999, Newman donated $250,000 to Catholic Relief Services to aid refugees in Kosovo.^[25]

On June 1, 2007, Kenyon College announced that Newman had donated $10 million to the school to establish a scholarship fund as part of the college's current $230 million fund-raising campaign. Newman and Woodward were honorary co-chairs of a previous campaign.^[26]

Newman was one of the founders of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), a membership organization of CEOs and corporate chairpersons committed to raising the level and quality of global corporate philanthropy. Founded in 1999 by Newman and a few leading CEOs, CECP has grown to include more than 175 members and, through annual executive convenings, extensive benchmarking research, and best practice publications, leads the business community in developing sustainable and strategic community partnerships through philanthropy.^[27]

Newman was named the Most Generous Celebrity of 2008 by Givingback.org. He contributed $20,857,000 for the year of 2008 to the Newman's Own Foundation, which distributes funds to a variety of charities.^[28]

Upon Newman's death, the Italian newspaper (a "semi-official" paper of the Holy See) L'Osservatore Romano published a notice lauding Newman's philanthropy. It also commented that "Newman was a generous heart, an actor of a dignity and style rare in Hollywood quarters."^[29]

Marriages and family[link]

Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward in 1960

Newman was married to Jackie Witte^[12] from 1949 to 1958. They had two daughters (Susan Kendall born in 1953 and Stephanie)^[12] and a son, Scott, who died in November 1978 from a drug overdose.^[30] He appeared in films including Breakheart Pass, The Towering Inferno and the 1977 film Fraternity Row. Paul Newman started the Scott Newman Center for drug abuse prevention in memory of his son.^[31] Susan is a documentary filmmaker and philanthropist and has Broadway and screen credits, including a starring role as one of four Beatles fans in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), and also a small role opposite her father in Slap Shot. She also received an Emmy nomination as co-producer of his telefilm, The Shadow Box.

Newman met actress Joanne Woodward in 1953. Shortly after filming The Long, Hot Summer, in 1957 he divorced Witte. He married Woodward early in 1958. They remained married for fifty years until his death in 2008.^[32] They had three daughters: Elinor "Nell" Teresa (b. 1959), Melissa "Lissy" Stewart (b. 1961), and Claire "Clea" Olivia (b. 1965). Newman directed Nell (using the stage name Nell Potts) alongside her mother in the films Rachel, Rachel and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

The Newmans lived away from the Hollywood environment, making their home in Westport, Connecticut. Newman was well known for his devotion to his wife and family. When asked once about infidelity, he famously quipped, "Why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home?"^[33]

Political activism[link]

Newman at a political rally for Eugene McCarthy in 1968

For his support of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California) and his opposition to the War in Vietnam, Newman was placed nineteenth on Richard Nixon's enemies list,^[34] which Newman claimed was his greatest accomplishment.

Consistent with his work for liberal causes, Newman publicly supported Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator Joe Lieberman, and was even rumored as a candidate himself, until Lamont emerged as a credible alternative. He donated to Chris Dodd's presidential campaign.^[35]

He attended the first Earth Day event in Manhattan on April 22, 1970. Newman was also a vocal supporter of gay rights.^[36]

Newman was concerned over global warming and supported nuclear energy development as a solution.^[37]

Auto racing[link]

A Newman Lola race car

Newman was an avid auto racing enthusiast, and first became interested in motorsports ("the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in") while training at the Watkins Glen Racing School for the filming of Winning, a 1969 film. Because of his love and passion for racing, Newman agreed in 1971 to star in and to host his first television special, Once Upon a Wheel, on the history of auto racing. It was produced and directed by David Winters, who co-owned a number of racing cars with Newman.^[38][39] Newman's first professional event as a racer was in 1972, in Thompson, Connecticut, and he was a frequent competitor in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events for the rest of the decade, eventually winning four national championships. He later drove in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans in Dick Barbour's Porsche 935 and finished in second place.^[40] Newman reunited with Barbour in 2000 to compete in the Petit Le Mans.^[41]

From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, he drove for the Bob Sharp Racing team, racing mainly Datsuns (later rebranded as Nissans) in the Trans-Am Series. He became closely associated with the brand during the 1980s, even appearing in commercials for them. At the age of 70 years and 8 days, he became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race,^[42] winning in his class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona.^[43] Among his last races were the Baja 1000 in 2004 and the 24 Hours of Daytona once again in 2005.^[44]

Newman initially owned his own racing team, which competed in the Can-Am series, but later co-founded Newman/Haas Racing with Carl Haas, a Champ Car team, in 1983. The 1996 racing season was chronicled in the IMAX film Super Speedway, which Newman narrated. He was also a partner in the Atlantic Championship team Newman Wachs Racing. Newman owned a NASCAR Winston Cup car, before selling it to Penske Racing, where it now serves as the #12 car.

Newman was posthumously inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame at the national convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 21, 2009.^[45]

Illness and death[link]

Newman was scheduled to make his professional stage directing debut with the Westport Country Playhouse's 2008 production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but he stepped down on May 23, 2008, citing health issues.^[46]

In June 2008, it was widely reported that Newman, a former chain smoker, had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was receiving treatment at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York City.^[47] Photographs taken of Newman in May and June showed him looking gaunt.^{[citation needed]} Writer A. E. Hotchner, who partnered with Newman to start the Newman's Own company in the 1980s, told the Associated Press that Newman told him about the disease about eighteen months prior to the interview.^[48] Newman's spokesman told the press that the star was "doing nicely," but neither confirmed nor denied that he had cancer.^[49] In August, after reportedly finishing chemotherapy, Newman told his family he wished to die at home.

Newman died on September 26, 2008, aged 83, surrounded by his family and close friends.^[50][51] His remains were cremated after a private funeral service near his home in Westport.^[52]

Filmography, awards, and nominations[link]

As actor[link]

As director or producer[link]

Additional awards and honors[link]

In addition to the awards Newman won for specific roles, he received an honorary Academy Award in 1986 for his "many and memorable and compelling screen performances" and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his charity work in 1994.

He received the Golden Globe New Star of the Year — Actor award for The Silver Chalice (1957), the Henrietta Award World Film Favorite — Male in 1964 and 1966 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984.

Newman won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for The Long, Hot Summer and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Nobody's Fool.

In 1968, Newman was named "Man of the Year" by Harvard University's performance group, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Newman Day has been celebrated at Kenyon College, Bates College, Princeton University, and other American colleges since the 1970s. In 2004, Newman requested that Princeton University disassociate the event from his name, due to the fact that he did not endorse the behaviors, citing his creation of the Scott Newman Centre in 1980, which is "dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse through education".^[55]

Posthumously, Newman was inducted into the Connecticut Hall of Fame, and was honored with a 37-acre (150,000 m²) nature preserve in Westport named in his honor. He was also honored by the United States House of Representatives following his death.

Published work[link]

• Newman, Paul; Hotchner, A.E. Newman's Own Cookbook. Simon & Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0-684-84832-5.
• Newman, Paul; Hotchner, A.E. Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Doubleday Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-385-50802-6.

See also[link]

• List of select Jewish racing drivers

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Dherbier, Yann-Brice; and Verlhac, Pierre-Henri (2006). Paul Newman: A Life in Pictures. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-5726-0. OCLC 71146543. 
• Demers, Jenifer. Paul Newman: the Dream has Ended!. Createspace, 2008. ISBN 1-4404-3323-2
• Lax, Eric. Paul Newman: a Biography. Turner Publishing, Incorporated, 1999. ISBN 1-57036-286-6.
• Morella, Joe; Epstein, Edward Z. Paul and Joanne: A Biography of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Delacorte Press, 1988. ISBN 0-440-50004-4.
• O'Brien, Daniel. Paul Newman. Faber & Faber, Limited, 2005. ISBN 0-571-21987-X.
• Oumano, Elena. Paul Newman. St. Martin's Press, 1990. ISBN 0-517-05934-7.
• Quirk, Lawrence J. The Films of Paul Newman. Taylor Pub., 1986. ISBN 0-8065-0385-8.
• Thomson, Kenneth. The Films of Paul Newman. 1978. ISBN 0-912616-87-3.

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikinews has related news: Hollywood legend Paul Newman dies of cancer age 83

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Newman

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Newman

• Paul Newman at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Newman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Paul Newman at AllRovi
• Paul Newman at the TCM Movie Database
• Newman's Own
• Newman's Own Foundation
• Paul Newman bio at h2g2
• Paul Newman at Emmys.com
• The short film A STEP AWAY FROM WAR (April 28, 1986) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

William Holden
Holden in a publicity photo, 1954
Born	William Franklin Beedle, Jr. (1918-04-17)April 17, 1918 O'Fallon, Illinois, U.S.
Died	November 12, 1981(1981-11-12) (aged 63) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Exsanguination following a fall
Occupation	Actor, wildlife conservationist
Years active	1938–81
Spouse	Brenda Marshall (m. 1941–1971) «start: (1941)–end+1: (1972)»"Marriage: Brenda Marshall to William Holden" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/William_Holden) (divorced)

William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the most popular and well known movie stars of all time, Holden was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years…100 Stars list as number 25. He starred in some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of all time, including such blockbusters as Sunset Boulevard, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch, The Towering Inferno, and Network.

Early life and career[link]

With George Raft in Invisible Stripes

Holden was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, the son of Mary Blanche (née Ball), a schoolteacher, and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist.^[1] He had two younger brothers, Robert and Richard. Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century.^[1] Growing up, Holden was raised in the Methodist church, and while some sources cite him as a Congregationalist, Holden identified himself as a Methodist throughout his life. His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three.

After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Contrary to legend and theatre publicity, he did not study at the Pasadena Playhouse, nor was he discovered in a play there. Rather, he was spotted by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937 while playing the part of an 80-year-old man, Marie Curie's father-in-law, in a play at the Playbox, a separate and private theatre owned by Pasadena Playhouse director Gilmor Brown. His first film role was in Prison Farm the following year.

Hollywood's "Golden Boy"[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), in which he played a violinist turned boxer. That was followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town.^[2]

With Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard

After Columbia Pictures picked up half of his contract, he alternated between starring in several minor pictures for Paramount and Columbia before serving as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he acted in training films for the First Motion Picture Unit. Beginning in 1950, his career took off when Billy Wilder tapped him to star as the down-at-the-heels screenwriter Joe Gillis, who is taken in by faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard, for which Holden earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.^[3]

Following this breakthrough film, his career quickly grew in stature as he played a series of roles that combined good looks with cynical detachment, including a prisoner-of-war entrepreneur in Stalag 17 (1953), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a pressured young engineer/family man in Executive Suite (1954), an acerbic stage director in The Country Girl (1954), a conflicted jet pilot in the Korean War film The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a carefree playboy in Sabrina (1954), a wandering college football star in Picnic (1955), a dashing war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), his most widely recognized role as an ill-fated prisoner in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), a World War II tug boat captain in The Key (1958), and an American Civil War military surgeon in The Horse Soldiers (1959), which also starred John Wayne.

With Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (1954)

He also played a number of sunnier roles in light comedy, such as the handsome architect pursuing virginal Maggie McNamara in the controversial Production Code-breaking The Moon is Blue (1953), as Judy Holliday's tutor in Born Yesterday (1950), as a playwright captivated by Ginger Rogers' character in Forever Female (1953) and as Humphrey Bogart's younger brother, a playboy, in Sabrina (1954), which also starred Audrey Hepburn. In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of Life.

With the pinnacle of his career in 1957 with The Bridge on the River Kwai, Holden starred in his share of forgettable^{[neutrality is disputed]} films during the 1960s such as Paris When It Sizzles (1964), also co-starring Audrey Hepburn, which he was forced to do by studio contracts. By the mid-1960s, his roles were having less critical and commercial impact.

Later career[link]

1960s

In 1969, Holden made a comeback when he starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch, winning much acclaim. Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Noel, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. This film was originally released in the United States as The Christmas Tree and on home video as When Wolves Cry.^[4]

Five years later, he starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno, which became a box office smash and the highest grossing film of Holden's career. He was also praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's classic Network (1976), a prescient examination of television written by Paddy Chayevsky, playing an older version of the character type he had become iconic for in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality.

In 1974 Holden won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of a cynical, tough veteran LAPD street cop in the television film The Blue Knight, based upon the best-selling Joseph Wambaugh novel of the same name.

In 1980, Holden appeared in The Earthling with popular child actor Ricky Schroder, playing a loner dying of cancer who goes to the Australian outback to end his days, meets a young boy whose parents have been killed in an accident, and teaches him how to survive. Schroder later named one of his sons Holden.

During his last years, Holden also appeared in When Time Ran Out and Blake Edwards's S.O.B.. His second Irwin Allen film, When Time Ran Out was a critical and commercial failure and heavily disliked by Holden himself; his final film, S.O.B., directed by Blake Edwards, was more successful and a Golden Globe-nominated picture.

Personal life[link]

Brenda Marshall, 1952

Holden was married to actress Ardis Ankerson (stage name Brenda Marshall) from 1941 until their divorce (after many long separations) in 1971. They had two sons, Peter Westfield (born November 17, 1943) and Scott Porter (born May 2, 1946; died January 21, 2005, San Diego, California). He also adopted his wife's daughter, Virginia, from her first marriage.

Holden was best man at the marriage of his friend Ronald Reagan to Nancy Davis in 1952; however, he never involved himself in politics.

In 1954, during the filming of Sabrina, Holden and Audrey Hepburn became romantically involved, and she hoped to marry him and have children. She broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy.^[5]

Holden met French actress Capucine in the early 1960s. They starred in the films The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964). They began a two-year affair; after it ended, she and Holden remained friends until Holden's death in 1981.^[6]

In 1964, Holden was again paired up with Hepburn in Paris When It Sizzles, but behind the scenes, the set was plagued with problems. Holden tried without success to rekindle a romance with the now-married Hepburn. That, combined with his alcoholism, made the situation a challenge for the production.

Holden maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) became a mecca for the international jet set.^[7]

While in Italy, Holden killed another driver in a 1966 drunk driving incident. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.^[8]

In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers which sparked her interest in animal welfare.^[9] After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch.^[10]

His younger brother, Robert W. "Bobbie" Beedle, was a Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in World War II, on January 5, 1945. After The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) was released, Beedle was remembered by his squadron-mates as having been very much like Holden's character, Lt. Harry Brubaker.

Death[link]

On November 12, 1981, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's autopsy report, Holden was alone and intoxicated in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, when he slipped on a throw rug, severely lacerated his forehead on a teak bedside table, and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. It is probable that he may not have realized the severity of the injury and did not summon aid, or was unable to call for help. His body was found four days later.^[7]

Holden had dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. No funeral or memorial service was held, per his wishes.

Holden is the actor "who had died while he was drinking," mentioned by Suzanne Vega in the 1987 song, "Tom's Diner".^[11]

In 2007, his stepdaughter, Virginia Holden Gaines, wrote a book, Growing Up with William Holden: A Memoir, reliving her memories of life with her father.

Filmography[link]

Features[link]

Short subjects[link]

• Reconnaissance Pilot (1943)
• Wings Up (1943)
• You Can Change the World (1951)

Awards and nominations[link]

Academy Award[link]

• Best Actor Nomination for Sunset Boulevard (1951)
• Best Actor Award for Stalag 17 (1954)
• Best Actor Nomination for Network (1977)

BAFTA Award[link]

• Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Picnic (1955)
• Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Network (1976)

Emmy Award[link]

• Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Award for The Blue Knight (1974)

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: William Holden

• William Holden at the Internet Movie Database
• William Holden at the TCM Movie Database
• Profile @ Turner Classic Movies
• William Holden Wildlife Foundation