A Decade by Decade Look at the Career of Paul Newman - Retiring at 82

Paul Newman announced last week that, at the age of 82, he is retiring from film work after a career spanning over 50 years with 40+ films. He has been nominated 9 times for Academy Awards (8 for acting and 1 for producing) finally winning on his 7^th try. He will continue with his auto racing and food product production but felt that film work was too demanding, especially trying to remember his lines. There have long been rumors that Robert Redford had finally found a project for the two of them but apparently a rumor was all it was and movie lovers will be left wondering what if?

If Newman does indeed hold to his retirement announcement then his last movie was the animated hit "Cars" from last summer. His last on screen performance was the HBO mini-series "Empire Falls" and his last big screen performance was 2002's "Road To Perdition."

I can't imagine a movie world where movie lovers can't look forward to a new Paul Newman movie but its better he go out while he can and not be forced to due to illness or worse.

I wanted to take a look back at his long and storied career with all the highs befitting his immense talent and all the lows befitting an actor working for money or simply choosing poorly.

1950's - Newman's film debut came in 1954's "The Silver Chalice," a film so bad that Newman would later take out a newspaper ad apologizing and advising fans to never watch it. His next film got him his first real notices as boxer Rocky Graciano in "Somebody Up There Likes Me." His next few films (The Rack; The Helen Morgan Story; Until They Sail) provided Newman with good roles that were little seen. 1958 saw the release of "The Long Hot Summer" and "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and the success of both films made Newman a movie star. He finished the decade with the forgettable "Rally Round the Flag, Boys" and the inspired "The Young Philadelphians."

1960's - 1960 saw the release of 2 movies, the first being a small film called "From The Terrace." Newman's next film was as the star of Otto Preminger's massive epic "Exodus." 1961 solidified Newman's place as one of the best young actors with his role as Fast Eddie Felson in "The Hustler," which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Later that year he appeared with Sidney Poitier in "Paris Blues." 1962 continued his hot streak with the impressive "Sweet Bird of Youth" based on the play by Tennessee Williams. 1963 resulted in three films starting with "Hud," which garnered him his second Best Actor nomination and was then followed by two box office flops, "A New Kind of Love" and "The Prize." 1964 was an odd year for Newman as he appeared in a supporting role in the Shirley MacLaine comedy "What A Way To Go" and then was badly miscast as a Mexican bandit in the Western "The Outrage." Newman's first career slump continued into 1965 with his appearance in the comedy "Lady L." Newman's slump ended in 1966 as he appeared in "Harper" as a private detective but then faltered again in Alfred Hitchcock's "Torn Curtain," which continued a first career slump for the great director. 1967 was a great year for Newman as he appeared in two of his best movies. First up was the underrated Western "Hombre" followed by what many believe to be his best film work in the title role "Cool Hand Luke." With that role Newman secured his third Best Actor nomination but failed to win. His career took a change of pace in 1968.After starring in the forgettable "The Secret War of Harry Frigg," Newman made his directorial debut with "Rachel, Rachel" starring his wife Joanne Woodward, who was nominated for Best Actress. Newman received his fourth Academy Award nomination, this time as Producer as the film was nominated for Best Picture. Despite a nomination from the Director's Guild, Newman was passed over for a Director nod from the Academy, much to the chagrin of his wife. Many believe it was due to jealousy amongst some of the old school directors who were not appreciative that Newman entered their ranks so successfully. 1969 started on a down note with the flop of his racing movie "Winning" but ended with the biggest hit of his career up to that time with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

1970's - Despite appearing in 11 movies in the decade, it was not a kind one to Newman. None of his Academy Award nominations would come in this decade and while he did appear in two blockbusters, he was better known for the duds he made. In 1970 he appeared in the highly forgettable "W.U.S.A." and followed that up in 1971 with the Christmas release flop "Sometimes A Great Notion," in which he starred and directed. In 1972 he starred in two more box office duds with "Pocket Money" and "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" and then directed the critically acclaimed but financial bust "The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds." 1973 started with a whimper with the forgettable spy thriller "The Mackintosh Man" and ended with the smash hit "The Sting," which re-teamed him with "Butch and Sundance" co-star Robert Redford. This is the only film Newman appeared in that would win the Best Picture Academy Award. Interestingly it would be Redford and not Newman that would get an acting nomination. The next year Newman struck box office gold again by appearing among an all-star cast in "The Towering Inferno." This would be Newman's last hit for many years. In 1975 he reprised his role as detective Lew Harper in "The Drowning Pool," which had the immense bad luck to open the very same day as another summer movie called "Jaws." 1976 brought together the interesting teaming of Newman with director Robert Altman in "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" and the film flopped. He also made a memorable cameo in Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie." 1977 brought Newman a role that is now considered a fan favorite as aging hockey player Reggie Dunlop in the hilariously filthy "Slapshot." Despite its popularity today the film was only a mild hit when first released. Newman finished the decade re-teaming with Robert Altman in the perplexing futuristic drama "Quintet," a film so bad I have never witnessed such a mad exodus by audience members from a theater. This is easily his worst film.

1980's - Newman began the decade with his second worst film and thus creating one of the worst one-two punch of bad films ever when he appeared in Irwin Allen's "When Time Ran Out," which signified the end of the enormously popular disaster movie genre. In 1981 Newman turned in a strong performance in an otherwise forgettable police drama "Fort Apache, The Bronx" and finally returned to form starring with Sally Field in the journalistic thriller "Absence Of Malice," which would bring Newman his fifth nomination for Best Actor. In 1982 Newman gave what many believe to be his greatest performance as an alcoholic lawyer given one last chance in "The Verdict" and would get his sixth nomination for Best Actor - still without winning. 1984 brought Newman's last film in which he both acted and directed, "Harry And Son," a critical and box office flop co-starring Robby Benson. 1986 finally brought Newman his long overdue Academy Award on his seventh try when he recreated his role of Fast Eddie Felson in "The Color Of Money." Obviously this was more of a career/make-up award as it isn't one of Newman's best performances in a film that fell somewhat short of expectations but was still a box office hit. Next up was his last directorial effort with 1987's critically acclaimed "The Glass Menagerie." He finished out the decade with two flops in 1989, "Blaze" and "Fat Man and Little Boy."

1990's - This was the decade Newman began slowing down appearing in only 5 movies. In 1990 he appeared with his wife in "Mr. And Mrs. Bridge," a box office flop that earned Woodward an acting nomination while Newman was overlooked. In 1994 he showed up in two movies, the first in a supporting role in the Coen Brothers comedy "The Hudsucker Proxy" followed by "Nobody's Fool," a wonderful adult comedy that brought Newman his eighth and final nomination for Best Actor. In 1998 he appeared in the mystery/thriller "Twilight" and in 1999 as Kevin Costner's father in the romantic drama "Message in a Bottle." Both films were critical and box office flops.

2000's - Newman only made three theatrical films this decade starting with 2000's "Where The Money Is," a caper film that was a huge dud. Newman then took a supporting role as Tom Hanks' boss and mentor in "Road To Perdition" and earned his ninth acting nomination, this time as Best Supporting Actor. After two small screen performances (Our Town; Empire Falls) he provided a voice over in "Cars."

And that's it. Quite a career for a great actor whom we can only hope will muster up the courage or ability to make just one more movie.