Birthdate: January 26, 1925
Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
Soundbyte: "You can't be as old
as I am without waking up with
a surprised look on your face
every morning: 'Holy Christ,
whaddya know - I'm still
around!' It's absolutely
amazing that I survived all the
booze and smoking and the cars
and the career."
As rumours of his ailing health continue to dominate the entertainment headlines, legendary film actor and director Paul Newman has given the entire value of his ownership in Newman's Own - you know, the company that makes the salad dressing with Paul's smiling face on the label - to charity.
The total donation? $120 million.
Paul started Newman's Own with author A.E. Hotchner in 1982; after taxes, the company has turned 100% of their proceeds over to charity. Over the years they've expanded their products to spaghetti sauce, juices, popcorn, wine and even dog and cat food. Their web site boasts that as of February of this year, they've amassed over $220 million in donations.
Reading about this remarkable story is a nice change of pace from the ones that claim Paul is dying of lung cancer. Talk of his illness came up at the beginning of the year; it was reported that he'd had successful surgery for an "unnamed cancer". Paul denied the claims then, and his rep recently released a statement without confirming or denying anything.
“Newman says he’s doing nicely,” his spokesman, Jeff Sanderson, said in a message emailed to media outlets today in answer to queries about the cancer reports.
Reached by telephone in his Los Angeles office, Sanderson declined to elaborate or give further details.
“This is what I got from him. He says he’s doing nicely, and this is the statement I wanted to share with you, and that’s what I have,” Sanderson told Reuters.
“I spoke to his office. … this is the statement that came directly from him.”
[from Celebitchy]
Whatever the case with Paul, I commend him on his outstanding work for the "common good" and wish him well if he is, in fact, battling cancer.
[photo:google images]
[quote:source]
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