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Paul Newman’s Memoir He Wrote Before His Death to Come Out Next Year

Paul Newman, one of the brightest stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood, will release a new memoir this year, 14 years after his death.

The publisher said Wednesday that the memoir will feature the insights the Hollywood icon learned during his long career. The memoir is still untitled and will include the Cool Hand Luke star’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,” according to The Guardian.

New started work on the memoirs in the 1980s with screenwriter Stewart Stern. Stern spoke with several of the actor’s friends and colleagues for the manuscript. But when Paul Newman died in 2008, Stern forgot about the book. But someone recently found the manuscript at Stern’s home in Connecticut.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf will publish it next fall.

“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,” the publisher said, according to Fox News. “This result is a portrait of the actor in full, from his early days to his years in the Navy, from his start in Hollywood to his rise to stardom, and with an intimate glimpse of his family life.”

Anyone scrolling through Twitter recently may have noticed something weird. Paul Newman was trending. Despite being dead for more than a decade, the Slap Shot star was still getting headlines.

In September, a Twitter user asked an innocuous question. Name an actor with the most combined talent, attractiveness, and charisma. Newman’s name came up a lot in the responses

“Paul Newman was pound for pound one of the best actors, activists we’ve ever had,” one user wrote. “REMEMBER watching his movies with my grandma, HE WAS AND IS AN AMERICAN TREASURE!”

But it was his work away from the spotlight that kicked everything off. Because as interesting as Newman was on-screen, he was a lot more interesting away from the spotlight.

For instance, In 1988, Paul Newman founded the nonprofit The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to provide kids with serious disabilities or illnesses a place “to kick back, relax and raise a little hell.”

Newman built the camp to be a kid-sized version of the set from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And it’s still going running today.

So, along with talent, attractiveness, and charisma add a big heart to that list of qualities.