The year after he was given an Honorary Academy Award (1986) ‘in recognition of his many memorable and compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft’, he finally won an Oscar for real for The Color of Money. Newman would enjoy an illustrious career lasting over fifty years. Come to think of it, he looked about as Italian-American as Pat Boone, but his powerful performance managed to pull it off.Īs Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me They also thought he would not be believable portraying an Italian-American. Of course, several of them still could not erase from their memories The Silver Chalice and his knobbly knees. Newman, you might be surprised to learn, was already 31 years old by then and a number of studio executives were against him inheriting the role. Once again James Dean was involved, or rather the ghost of James Dean, for he had been set to play Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me until his death in September 1955 necessitated a change of plans. In fact it turned him into a star overnight. Paul was not one of those guys who made the same mistake twice. The good news, of course, is that Newman’s career was not still-born, and he went on to do some great things, none of which saw him within a thousand miles of a pair of sandals or a toga. The picture originally ran an insufferable 142 minutes! Trust me, if this film comes on TV again and you are contemplating watching it, try slamming your fingers in a kitchen draw for 115 minutes instead. I have sat through The Silver Chalice from beginning to end, (I’m expecting my Victoria Cross in the mail at any moment), and believe me it is a hard slog, even the 115 minute cut version. Not unexpectedly, the ads merely drew an inordinate number of viewers to tune in out of morbid curiosity. In fact, when it was about to be shown on American TV nine years later, Newman took out ads in the Hollywood trades papers apologising for his inept performance in it, and warning viewers to steer clear of the thing at all costs. This last effort forced him into retirement. The Silver Chalice was the final film to be directed by Victor Saville, a man whose directing career had (somehow) lasted for 42 films, the best of them being South Riding (1938) and Green Dolphin Street (1947). ‘Love died in a Porsche’, she told friends. He was killed less than a year later and Pier was heartbroken. It wasn’t. During the shoot, Jimmy wandered over from the set of East of Eden to see how it was going, met Newman’s co-star Pier Angeli, and love apparently bloomed on the spot. It was billed as, ‘The mightiest story of truth and temptation ever produced’. James Dean and his manager had already rejected the role because they considered the script to be rubbish. Even his character’s name, Basil the sculptor, was an embarrassment. And it very nearly sunk his career there and then. After popping up in a dozen or so TV series between 19, when the television industry was still finding its feet, he landed the romantic lead in a sandals and togas drama called The Silver Chalice (1954). Not many superstars begin their careers with an out and out ‘lemon’, but Paul Newman certainly did.
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