World renowned actor Paul Leonard Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio on January 26, 1925. Throughout Newman’s life, the talented performer tried various Hollywood roles on for size, but always managed to climb back into the “ladykiller” role that launched his career and made him famous.

Apart from being a celebrated actor, Newman was also an extremely charitable person. The successful food company he started, dealing primarily in salad dressings, earned millions of dollars annually. Paul donated every penny of his food company’s earnings to various charities around the globe.

Paul Newman never intended on being an actor. Growing up in an average family in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Newman wanted to be a professional athlete after falling in love with sports and spending days at his father’s sporting-goods store. He did act some as a child, however, in various school productions.

Newman’s football-playing days never panned out, and after graduating high school in 1943, Paul decided to join the U.S. Navy Air Corps after a brief stint in college. Newman’s new dream was to be a pilot, but he was declined due to being colorblind. Instead of flying planes, Newman manned a radio during World War II.

Paul left the military in 1946 and decided to give his football dreams another go. He got into Kenyon College on a football scholarship, but his time playing was short-lived. After run-ins with the law and a refusal to study hard, Newman settled on majoring in theater over his remaining two years.

Newman met his first wife in Wisconsin after college in 1949. He acted for a short time until his father’s death in 1950, and he then returned home to run the family business. Newman and his wife Jacqueline had their first child, Scott, soon after and, needing more of a career, Paul decided acting was to be it and he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama.

After running out of money to attend Yale, Newman took the chance of a lifetime. He went to New York on a whim and studied at the Actor’s Studio. He co-starred with Frank Sinatra in a 1954 television broadcast of Our Town and other actors he worked with included James Dean and Marlon Brando.

Eventually, Newman landed an understudy part in the play Picnic and asked the director if he could play the lead character on the road. The director refused, citing that Newman didn’t have the necessary sex appeal needed. This is where Newman’s legacy would be cemented. After completely changing his attitude, the noticeably different Newman was cast in big roles.

One such role almost immediately destroyed his career. The Silver Chalice, in which Newman played a slave, was received horribly. He went back to doing plays and, after James Dean died in a car crash, Newman took the lead in a teleplay and Hollywood once again took notice. They cast him in Somebody Up There Likes Me – making Newman the newest sensation.

This was only the start of his storied career. Newman starred in dozens of great films, including Exodus, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Slap Slot, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and he also directed features and won the Best Actor Oscar for The Color of Money.

After a life in the limelight, Newman died quietly in his home on September 26, 2008 after a long bout with lung cancer. There with him were his second wife, Joanne Woodward, and tight knit circle of family and friends.